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Driverless Taxis Waymo Introduced On City Streets

It had to happen sooner or later! With all the hoopla about automatic cars on the roads, soon you’ll be able to hail, hop on and hop off a driverless taxi. It could happen in a city wherever your future travel schedule takes you. As with Uber and Lyft, you’ll call with your smartphone app and go for a ride.

And just maybe, the inventors of the new taxis will add familiar features from traditional taxis to ease your ride. Such as: When you tell the automatic driver your destination, you must speak in a foreign language of taxi driver’s origin, such as Brazilian, Swahili or Mogadishu. Also, from the back seat, you’ll smell the automatic driver’s unwashed odor of sweat, flatulence, garlic, wine, chili or week-old fishcakes.

When you enter the Waymo cab, it will automatically take you on the longest and most expensive round-about route. And if you ride on a busy traffic evening to a downtown restaurant or theater, the pumped-up tab will be double the daytime rate. Finally a question: How much do you tip a non-human driver?

Scam Alert: I'll Take Your Picture .... And Your SmartPhone

It recently happened to a savvy senior traveler. She went ashore from the cruise ship to a busy marketplace. A friendly young man volunteered to shoot a photo of her with the colorful background.

She gave him her SmartPhone, walked over, stood in front of a large flower display and smiled. She then watched the friendly guy disappear into the crowd with her SmartPhone. Do we really need to offer a warning here?

April In Paris: All The World Loves The City Of Love

We last visited springtime Paris several years ago and stayed in a little hotel just across a narrow street from Le Sorbonne. From our room we could look into classroom windows and hallways as the students came and went. There was a flower and tree-lined square on the other side of the hotel where students and others gathered day and night to gab, drink, eat and otherwise act like students anywhere. We happily joined in.

We hit all the tourist sites, including the Napoleon’s Tomb, Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Siene River cruise, as well as other historical sites. Of course, we dined at the great restaurants, from little sidewalk eateries to the grand dining rooms of the Ritz Hotel.

We're not smokers, and that bothered us when eating inside and al fresco at Paris sidewalk cafés. Accustomed to the no smoking rules now in effect in most U.S. cities, it seems every Parisian, from teen to dotage, smokes endlessly.

San Francisco CA: Six Freebees For Seniors

Hotels, restaurants and shopping in city of the Golden Gate can cost tourists lots of gold. However, with smart planning, seniors can actually enjoy visits there without spending too much of it. Next time you’re in San Francisco, here are suggestions to help in your quest for free things to do.

Haight-Ashbury Memories: If you were part of the foggy, smoky 50s and 60s hippie generation, wander back to where it all started. Along with funky stores, you'll see poetry readers, musicians and ragged wanderers, making for great people-watching and video/photos.

Golden Gate Park: A thousand square acres of beauty and tranquility typifies the city's laid-back character. Make up a picnic basket and enjoy morning mists by Stow Lake. Visit the free-admission Conservatory of Flowers, de Young Museum, Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. Check the schedule for free events, music and fairs.