The obviously American gentleman was eating dinner while reading at a cozy French restaurant, but I just had to interrupt with a somewhat rude question: “Why do so few older men travel alone in Europe?”

I’d been on the road for two months, touring the world as a travel writer, and this was the first American male I’d seen flying solo. He responded with just one word: “Fear.” I thanked him and went on my merry way, only realizing later I hadn’t asked, “Fear of what?”

The flat fact, however, is that older women are more comfortable traveling to foreign countries without a partner or tour group. You see them sitting in cafés, diligently scribbling in their journals and taking in the passing scene with genuine smiles. I formed easy friendships with many of these women everywhere from Abu Dhabi to Krakow, and learned quite a few frugal foreign-travel tips, which I’m delighted to pass on to men and women alike.

1. Hostels
I can’t stress strongly enough how much cheaper and more enjoyable it is to stay in a hostel. Other overnight residences are not only more expensive, they tend to segregate you from the reality of a city or region. Hostels throw you right into the mix, which nowadays includes travelers of all ages — not just the young.

Hostels usually provide breakfast, the heftier ones yielding leftovers from which you can use for lunch. Free Wi-Fi access and front-desk workers who can point you to unique sites worth seeing round out the many benefits of staying in a hostel.

To make reservations before you leave or while you’re on the road, Lonely Planet and Hostel World allow you to search by location, price and type of hostel, with photos and a description of the accommodations.

2. Food
Shopping local markets is a great way to interact with residents, learn about new foods, and how to prepare them. It’s amazing how easy it is to converse about food when you don’t share a common language.

You’ll want several Ziplock bags of varying sizes to store bread and dry foodstuffs. In France, I’d make a to-die-for baguette sandwich with any of their hundreds of cheeses, then stuff it into a large bag for train travel.

A couple extra tips: If you’re heading to Spain, I found a cheap and delicious dinner of tapas came free with sangria orders placed during “happy hour.” Most stores in Arab countries will offer you a cup of coffee just for stepping across their threshold, should you need a caffeine jolt while shopping.

3. Guide Books
Thanks to online guides, there’s no need to fill your luggage with heavy books. I printed out the pages I needed and created a list of vital foreign words I’d need, like “please,” “thank you” and “How much does this cost?” Omniglot has an easy-to-use website that will get you started.

Lonely Planet has some great PDF guides and you can buy them by the chapter (roughly $5 each). ArrivalGuides.com and Hostel World offer free online guides, but they’re not as comprehensive and the selection is limited.

If computers aren’t your thing, buy a bound guidebook, read it, and cut out only the pages you’ll need.

4. Trains
Boy do I love train travel. It’s cheaper than renting a car or flying, helps you meet new people, and usually drops you off close to the action in major cities. The trick, if you’re traveling to a rural destination, is to know the stops before your destination so you can be ready to hop off at a moment’s notice.

Another couple handy phrases you should learn in each language are “How much does a ticket cost?” and “From which platform does the train depart?”

It’s best to buy your Eurail train passes before leaving as it’s cheaper in the United States. My pass ran out once, however, and Eurail provided free shipping on the second one.

5. Money
Rule number one: Never, never, never exchange money at the airport. You’ll pay the highest rate possible. Instead, look for an airport ATM and take out the maximum amount (usually around $200). You’ll pay a fee, but not nearly as high as the airport exchange rate.

Rule two: If you’re going to travel a bit upscale, buy gift cards at a discount from sites like GiftCardGranny to purchase American services found in foreign countries. This might include airlines, hotels or car rental agencies for which you can realize up to 25-percent savings.

6. Plastic Safety
Notify all credit card companies you plan on traveling outside the U.S. so they won’t place a hold on your account for unusual activity.

Finally, note your credit/debit card numbers and foreign contact phone numbers and keep this info in a safe place, separate from the cards. I stored mine in my email account with a bogus “subject” line. You might need this info should your plastic be stolen or problems arise.

That’s about it, except I highly recommend you keep a journal. Traveling alone is lonely at times and writing out your thoughts and experiences helps fill in some gaps. As a bonus, you’ll have a personal record of your adventures.

Happy trails!

About the Author:

Kate Forgach is a Baby Boomer consumer specialist for Kinoli Inc. She has written about senior issues for 11 years and has been featured in USA Today, Detroit News, New Orleans Times-Picayune, New Yorker magazine, “ABC World News,” NBC’s “TODAY” show and many other media outlets.

If you ask a representative sample of baby boomers that are approaching their retirement years what they are looking forward to the most about retirement, the most common answer that comes back is, “travel”. There is something about the romance and fun of travel that appeals to us as we think about stepping out of the work world and doing things we have been hoping to do for all our lives. And travel has that sense of adventure that calls to us when we look forward to a time when our responsibilities are few but we have the resources to realize our dreams.

If travel is a major objective of your retirement planning, the earlier in life you get started planning your travel adventures, the more fun your trips will be. They say that anticipation is half the fun of a trip. So why not start now planning for your various destinations and the adventures you want to have when you get there?

If the baby boomer got a chance to travel during those child rearing years, you no doubt already have some solid travel disciplines in place to use for routine trips. Most of us have learned to travel smart from business travel or traveling to see family over the years. But it’s a good idea to review your preparation check lists when you start thinking of longer trips, perhaps to more exotic and unknown locations such as Europe, The Middle East or South America.

Remember that when you are retired and planning longer trips, that is going to present some unique challenges in terms of packing. Its one thing to pack for three days in Orlando but its something else entirely to pack for two weeks in Germany or Greece. It takes an experienced and prepared traveler to only take the essentials and to keep your packing light and efficient. Some core principles that will help you include:

Take things that don’t need pressing or a lot of maintenance. If you can use the same garment over several days, that cuts down on your bulk considerably. You can even rinse out wash and wear garments in your hotel room and hang them up in the bathroom while you sleep and they will good as new in the morning.

Don’t pack it. Buy it. It might pay to pick up some of your disposable items when you get to your destination. You can buy your toiletries and even a garment or two if something gets left behind once you arrive. And by not taking a lot of disposable items, you cut down on the chances you will have trouble with security.

Check your bags. You see people who try to drag everything on board with them to avoid baggage claim. These are your rookie travelers. Better to trust the airline with the bag and be prepared if your bag gets lost than to have all that struggle trying to get everything into bags you can take on board.

Be prepared to lose your bags. Just pack a small carry on with what you must have that first night in the hotel. Include small items for changing clothes, sleepwear and hard to replace toiletries so if you do find your bags didn’t make the trip, you can stay comfortable until they catch up to you.

Be smart and think ahead about where you are going and what you will need there. Read as much as you can about your destination and book your accommodations well in advance so you know you are expected even in a part of the world that is new to you. These kinds of preparations will make your retirement travel fun and exciting and keep you on the road regularly for many years to come.