With hotel room prices steep and getting higher, especially in the big tourist-trap cities, would you opt to share a room with another traveler?  The drastic idea wasn’t so unusual until just over a century or so ago, before hotels or motels existed. Then roadside inns didn’t rent rooms, just beds. The more fortunate guests got a bed with only two or three other snoozers in it.

A start-up online hotel room-sharing program called Easynest is now booking people willing to share at many hotels and resorts. Potential clients are required to fill out personal data, choices, schedules and other information. Then, matches are offered. So far, the service is totally free, but if the program evolves successfully, a fee is a certainty.

Cruise lines have offered share-your-cabin service for a long time, but this may be the first it's available for hotel rooms. For more information about the new website that identifies itself as "Airbnb for hotels and resorts”, go to www.easynest.com

Southwest Airlines now flies Penguin One, a brand new Boeing 737-700 festuned with pictures of the Antarctic waddlers. The reason is that SW ahs been in cahoots with SeaWorld Florida for the past quarter-century, where penguins are one of the main attractions.

Regular passengers are already familiar with SW aircraft painted with images of other famed SeaWorld critters, Shamu One and Shamu Two. SW and other airlines continue to get away from the unillustrated aircraft paint jobs with pictures of eskimos, state emblems and other artwork. Cruise lines are following the trend by having huge murals on the bows of their ships designed by famed artists.

Senior travelers who enjoy both moonlight and national parks may consider this insanely far-fetched idea for their ultimate bucket list. Proposed recently by two members of the U.S. House of Representatives is a national park on the Moon.

According to thehill.com, the plan would establish the site where Apollo missions alit in 1969 and on following Moon landings. Both Democrats, Donna Edwards of Maryland and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, would have the government create what they’d call the Apollo Lunar Landing Sites National Historical Park.

Forget about hot dogs, boardwalks, surfing and beaches. The park would consist of various craft and other equipment used in the historic landings. Sort of like Gettysburg, with all the battle leftovers from Pickett’s Charge, Cemetery Ridge and Little Round Top.

There’s no mention of erecting a lunar (as in lunatic)  pioneer statue on the moon of the battling Ralph and Alice Kramden, nor a memorial to the embattled taxpayers who’d have to pay for it all.

Whenever we visit Las Vegas, we always make time for a special activity. It’s usually around midnight, and we stroll the sidewalk along the beautiful dancing fountains in front of the Bellagio Resort on the Strip.

As we admire the beautiful designs and colors of the enormous display, hidden speakers along the way play familiar music. Our favorite is Frank Sinatra singing, “Luck Be A Lady” from Broadway’s “Guys And Dolls”. The acoustics are so lifelike, we often stop and imagine Frank is right there singing just for us.

Travel website TripAdvisor apparently agrees with us about the Bellagio fountains. It recently named them the No. 1 landmark in the US. Scholars and historians could argue with the choice, because below the fountains on the list were such historic landmarks as Gettysburg National Military Park, the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu and New York City’s Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

Next time you’re in Sin City, add a stroll along the fountains to your itinerary, preferably when Sinatra’s voice fills the night air. Unlike just about everything else in the expensive town, the experience is absolutely free.