Those infamous online crooks who notify us we’ve won sweepstakes or inherited millions from forgotten relatives have come up with a travel-related scam. Apparently they’re targeting seniors who’ve been frequent cruise and resort passengers.

Where they got the email addresses is suspect, possibly from greedy cruise ship crews and/or resort and travel agency employees. The scam works simply. You’re notified that you’ve won an all-expense-paid luxury cruise or hotel vacation at one of the popular lines or resorts, such as Club Med, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Cunard and others.

The late, great comedian Milton Berle once said, “Laughter is a vacation”. That should be a hint on planning a fun vacation, and do it with a laughter theme. For instance, check out the many stand-up comedy shows in New York, Los Angeles and especially Las Vegas.

Within a few blocks of each other,  any night on the Vegas Strip you can find a dozen or more comedy shows. Some name comics are permanent fixtures there, including George Wallace at the Flamingo, Rita Rudner at Harrahs, and Penn and Teller at Rio. Other comedy stars, including Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Howie Mandel and Robin Williams are frequent visiting performers at the major hotels.

We returned recently from a cruise to various cities on the Baja coast of Western Mexico. Everything went well on the beautiful ship, with great accommodations, food (no one got sick!), entertainment, casino, shore visits and all. However, boarding and unboarding the Royal Caribbean ship at the different Mexican ports was a royal pain in the butt.

Of course, tight security is necessary, but all the passport hassles requiring long lines were time-consuming and took away from the sense of freedom and enjoyment of the cruise. So, when you travel to foreign countries these days, expect the delays, but don’t make them any worse by ignoring passport requirements.

Your feet are tired and you’re loaded down with tourist stuff you bought from the street stands. You look around the strange city and realize you are totally lost. So, you hail a taxi. That should be easy, except there are different ways to get a taxi in many cities. Do you whistle and hold up your hand to flag a cab? Do you yell out the word, “Taxi?” Or do you just stand there, loaded down with packages, and hope a cabbie will notice you?

Generally, cab prices will be offered in one of two ways: by meter or by fixed price. If by meter, make sure when you enter the cab, the meter is on zero or at the fixed start-up price of the equivalent of one or two U.S. dollars. If the meter is higher, it is because the cabbie has left it on from a previous passenger, hoping you won’t notice.