The travel industry calls it the shoulder season, and it spans between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. It’s the time of year when travel business is at its slowest. If you thought prices were down during the past summer, wait until you see the bargains you can get this autumn. Check out how low hotel, cruise and flight prices have gone, down, down, down.

When traveling, the idea is to relax and have fun. That’s a perfect goal, but if you want to do it safely, there are those nagging little warnings that should always be somewhere in your head.

If you’re getting up in years, awareness of your surroundings and some positive paranoia can help make your trip safer. If you listen to that little voice of reason at the right times, it can make your travels more enjoyable and less worrisome.

1. Your travel motto should be: if it seems to good to be true, it ain’t true. This applies to promises from taxi drivers, time-share deals, 99-cent buffets, food served from street vending carts and everything else that smells fishy.

It seems to happen every time. We check out of a hotel, knowing our online travel agency has booked us a great room for a special deal of $98 each for three nights. So, the bill should be $294. Right? Wrong! The desk clerk hands you a bill for $387.

It’s the same with that cruise bargain you bought, five nights round trip from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas. When you boarded, you even got a free upgrade to a better cabin. The price quote from your agency was $835. When you checked out, the bill was for $1,127.

Your flight is snowed in at Chicago O’Hare and the announcement is that it’ll be 45 minutes late. That means at least 145 minutes. It’s way past your normal bedtime, you’re yawning and your eyes are drooping. All you want to do is catch some pre-redeye shuteye. Here are some suggestions:

1. Whenever you fly, anticipate in-airport delays. Keep a snooze kit in your carry-on. It could include a lightweight blanket or sheet, sleep mask and inflatable pillow.

2. It’s tough trying to get comfy in a single cramped airport seat. If the airport isn’t crowded, find a bench where you can stretch out.