3 Ways to Use Facebook to Travel Smarter

In an upcoming issue of Budget Travel we will be tackling the topic of traveler's diarrhea, also known by a bunch of nicknames including Montezuma’s Revenge and Delhi belly. Our coverage will include food and water safety tips you can use on the road to help you avoid the digestive track disorder. Yes, the topic may sound a bit gross, but it's a real concern of many travelers (and is more common than you might think). The Center for Disease Control estimates 20% to 50% of international travelers suffer from the malady, which includes stomach cramps, diarrhea, bloating, nausea and vomiting—conditions that can put a real damper on your dream vacation. The onset usually occurs within the first week of travel, with high-risk destinations including Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where food and water and sanitary standards may not be the same as at home. Some travelers swear taking regular doses of Pepto Bismol works as a preventative measure. Others have their own home remedies. We'll explore both sides of the aisle but we want to hear your stories, questions and concerns in this regard. What preparation do you do before your trip to check out local food and drinking water conditions? Are there foods you always avoid while on the road? Do you eat the ceviche? Street vendor treats? Skip the ice cubes? Do you pack products to keep your hands clean? Use over-the-counter products to prevent indigestion and other stomach ailments? What's in your travel kit. If the tap water is to be avoided, how do you remind yourself not to wash your toothbrush with it. What do you do when tap water is the only option? Please share your experiences. Your comments may appear in an upcoming Trip Coach column. More from Budget Travel: Health Precautions To Consider While Traveling No Significant Health Threat From TSA Screening Will Your Health Plan Cover You Overseas?

When searching for a hotel on Kayak, you can now filter the hotel listings by their TripAdvisor ratings. On Thursday, TripAdvisor reviews were made available on Kayak.com in the U.S. and on Kayak.co.uk in Great Britain. . According to Kayak and TripAdvisor, there are more than 60 million reviews and opinions on TripAdvisor. Kayak said it will be be adding the feature to its global sites and mobile apps in the near future. The news come just as TripAdvisor came under attack earlier this month by British advertising watchdog group Advertising Standards Authority, which deemed that TripAdvisor's claim that it "offers trusted advice from real travelers" is not a totally accurate one. It has long been a question of who is writing the reviews on TripAdvisor and how much oversight there is. ASA, an independent body based in London that investigates claims of whether advertisements are honest and truthful, this month issued a report about TripAdvisor.co.uk, sister site to TripAdvisor.com. ASA's concern is that while reviewers are asked to agree that their review was indeed their own genuine opinion of the hotel, that they have no personal or business affiliation with the hotel, and have not been offered an incentive to write the review, "we also noted that reviewers were not asked to similarly confirm that they had no competitive interest in the place they were reviewing, or were posting a review on behalf of a competitor or other interested party, and we did not consider that agreeing to a declaration in itself would necessarily prevent non-genuine reviews from being posted on the site," ASA wrote. Furthermore, ASA noted that reviews can be posted to the site without any form of verification, and that while TripAdvisor does monitor and address suspicious activity, it is possible that non-genuine content to make its way onto the site undetected. "We told TripAdvisor not to claim or imply that all the reviews that appeared on the website were from real travelers, or were honest, real or trusted," ASA concluded. How do you use TripAdvisor and do you feel that the reviews are genuine? More from Budget Travel: TripAdvisor tries to respond to fake hotel reviews TripAdvisor adds airline ratings to flight search Travel Product Concepts We're Rooting For

If you rack up frequent-flier miles, the last thing you want to have happen is for the airlines to delete them. Yet major airlines usually allow reward miles to expire if a frequent flier account is stagnant for 18 to 24 months. (Delta SkyMiles and Alaska Mileage Plan are rare exceptions in that their miles don't expire.) Good news: You don't have to actually fly within the allotted time to keep miles alive. Providing your frequent flier number when you make reservations for a rental car or hotel room will protect your miles while also earning a few more. In some cases, using a credit card affiliated with the airline counts as account activity—keeping your miles fresh. (Ask your credit card issuer or frequent flier customer service number for details.) For the rest of us, a simple way to keep miles active is to do a little shopping at the online malls that reward programs have, with links to businesses where you probably already shop, such as Old Navy, Target, and Starbucks. Sign in at one of these online malls with your frequent-flier number and buy a product. This will count as activity, keeping all of the miles in your account active. You don't need to use an airline-affiliated credit card to benefit, either. Just register at the online malls. Case in point: American Airlines' mall Sample product: H&R; Block At Home Deluxe tax preparation software. Buy it through the store and you'll reactivate miles in your account while paying only $25 for the service, or a 15 percent discount off the price listed on H&R; Block's homepage. You'll find an airline's shopping portal by visiting its website and looking for its shopping portal. For example, on Southwest.com, you'll find a link to Southwest Airlines's mall SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL RIGHT NOW Miles or Cash? New Sites Help You Choose the Best Deal Earn Miles or Higher Interest on Your Vacation Fund The Risks of Churning Mileage Credit Cards

It's late (or early). It doesn't matter which actually, because you're so jetlagged from a long international flight you don't know what time it is. All you want to do is get home, freshen up, and try to feel human again. And there it is, that long, unforgiving immigration line. Well, thanks to the Global Entry program — a voluntary initiative, which gives expedited clearance to pre-approved, low-risk travelers — fewer travelers are being forced to wait in said seemingly cruel queue. Now, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced a rule that would establish Global Entry as a permanent program (up until now it operated as a pilot program). The move would allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which overseas the initiative, to expand the program to additional U.S. international airports, opening it up to more global travelers. To date, there have been approximately 1.8 million admissions by the program's more than 260,000 members. CBP has also expanded the program to give eligibility to children under the age of 18 who meet the criteria and have the consent of a parent or legal guardian, making it more amenable to families. The way it works is that pre-approved members insert their passport or lawful permanent resident card into a document reader at a Global Entry kiosk stationed in the passport control area at participating international airports. They must then provide digital fingerprints for comparison with fingerprints that are on file, answer customs declaration questions on the kiosk’s touch-screen, and present their transaction receipt to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers before leaving the inspection area. The program is available to U.S. citizens and U.S lawful permanent residents, as well as Mexican nationals. Citizens of the Netherlands may also apply under a special reciprocal program. Canadian citizens and residents may participate in Global Entry through NEXUS, Canada’s version of a Global Entry program. Interested candidates can fill out an online application at Globalentry.gov and must pay a $100 non-refundable application fee. More from Budget Travel: Report: Allow one free checked bag, stop treating everyone like terrorists Airport security lines: How's life in the fast lane? Are Airlines Cracking Down on "Airplane Mode"?