What's your take on Airbus' vision for the future?

Everyone has heard of sites like Travelocity and TripAdvisor. But what are some of the lesser-known sites that are also helpful tools for finding a great hotel room at a reasonable rate? Here are Budget Travel's picks for five sites worth checking out. When you want to upgrade to a hotel's best room Some rooms are nicer than others because of their size, views, or location within a hotel's structure. To get the most room for your money, check out which rooms are best by using new site Room77, which has photos and floorplans for rooms at hundreds of hotels. Call on the day of your arrival to see if you might be upgraded. The prime time for receiving upgrades is between 4 and 7 p.m. on the evening of your arrival, say experts. If you care about getting perks instead of a bargain-basement room rate DealBase is a price-comparison tool for hotel packages. Punch in your destination and travel dates, and DealBase will fetch a list of Web-only deals, many of which you won't find through your favorite online travel agency. For instance, DealBase recently found a deal from Kauai Beach Resort in Lihue, Hawaii, which included a family-sized room, buffet breakfast, valet parking, free in-room Internet access, and all taxes for $145 a night. That deal compares favorably with room-only rates on more heavily-advertised travel sites. When location matters most It doesn't matter how cheap a hotel is if it's too far from your favorite beach, your wedding chapel, or other key attraction. If you have to be near a particular location, consider searching for hotel deals via Bedmap, a search engine that shows nightly rates and TripAdvisor reviews and allows you to filter results by common requests, such as "free breakfast." If you're visiting one of 17 major U.S. cities or a few European capitals, the site can tell you how long it will take you to go from your hotel to your favorite destination by using Mapnificient. If you want your hotel to be near interesting nightlife, try Hipmunk's hotel search, which gives you the option of taking a map of hotel locations and overlaying it with a map of points of interest related to restaurants, stores, and dance clubs. Plnnr will also help you see how close major attractions are from your hotel. When you're the kind of person who is especially proud at finding the most impressive bargain basement hotel online You shouldn't forget eBay, which lists travel auctions and buy-it-now deals for hundreds of hotels in the U.S. and overseas. As always, take common sense precautions while shopping. For instance, you should only buy from sellers with good feedback ratings from dozens of other eBay users, and you should never send money by wire transfer to a seller on eBay. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL ">Hotels: When a best online price guarantee isn't best 8 ways to save on hotel rooms Ireland has the cheapest hotels in Western Europe

The current E. coli outbreak in Germany is a sobering reminder of how important it is for travelers to arm themselves with reliable (and relevant) health information before they head out the door. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is one of the best and most comprehensive resources we have for travel health information. The World Health Organization also provides in-depth reports on global health issues. The CDC currently reports 15 deaths associated with the E. coli outbreak in northern Germany, and 642 patients that have been diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure associated with E. coli. In the U.S., there is one confirmed and three suspected cases of E. coli in people who recently traveled to Hamburg, Germany, where they were likely exposed, the CDC notes. "At this time, a specific food has not been confirmed as the source of the infections. German public health authorities advise against eating raw sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy salads from sources in northern Germany until further notice," the agency stated. The CDC has a page on its website devoted to travel health notices. This is a good starting point for travelers preparing for any trip, no matter how near or far, exotic or not. The government agency also has a country search option where travelers can see the CDC's recommendations for a specific country. Before a trip to the Peruvian Amazon I took a few years back, my doctor actually pulled up the CDC recommendations before deciding which vaccinations to administer. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have an International Certificate of Vaccination, a handy yellow card (shown in the photo above) that travelers should keep with them in their travel documents case on which vaccinations are recorded, including the date and type of immunizations to help keep track of them all. Without mine, I would never have the answer to the inevitable question the doctor asks about what shots I've had and when (I got mine from my travel medicine doctor). Many vaccinations need to be administered between four and six weeks before traveling in order to be effective, so this is something to consider in planning for your trip. And not all doctors are travel medicine doctors, so a call to your healthcare provider would be advised to see if he/she is able to administer the vaccinations you need for your trip. If not, there are travel medicine doctors and clinics that specialize in travel medicine. Lastly, the CDC has a "Survival Guide to Safe and Healthy Travel," which covers all the other ways in which travelers can and should prepare for their trip from a medical perspective. More from Budget Travel: Study: No significant health threat from TSA's full-body screening Will Your Health Plan Cover You Overseas? How to fight a cold on the fly

It happened on a trip to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town. It was a clear day—the first in a foggy, rainy week—and the type of weather that precipitated a trip up the mountain. Photography weather, and I was ready, snapping photos, capturing the fog covered mountainside, immortalizing my morning hike when the most menacing of messages appeared on my digital camera display screen: MEMORY CARD ERROR. And next to those three dreadful words, a large, compassionless symbol that seemed to blot out the sun: 0. Zero photos? 0 the display screen read, in all capital letters and Denda New font. (I googled it, because when something this horrible happens, it's important to know the type of font designed to deliver bad news.) I couldn't take any more photos. The card was frozen, dead. Maybe, I thought grasping at what little optimism I held onto, the card will work in my computer. But hours later in the café of my hotel, my laptop screen lighting my face in a dim glow, my card still read zero. Gone were the photos of my eco-stay in a Nqileni village, my visit to East London, the chicken peacefully nesting in my "hotel" bathroom. But were the photos lost forever? Turns out…no. After some research, a few frantic phone calls, and a Facebook status message eliciting advice from friends, I discovered there are some ways to recover your lost photos. Here are your options: 1. Stop What You're Doing Stop clicking, stop turning your camera on and off, stop everything. Clicking randomly could damage your lost photos further. Simply turn off your camera, and remove the card. You can begin file recovery at your computer by inserting your card into a card reader, or connecting your camera to the computer. Whatever you do, do NOT format your card. Doing so, will permanently delete any photos stored on the card. In the future, avoid turning off your camera or viewing photos while a picture is being written to the disk, and do not eject the memory card while the camera is still on. 2. Download Software There are many free and for-pay programs to help you recover your photos. Most services offer you a preview (or a free trial of the software) of resurrected photos so that you can choose to continue with recovery, or scrap it. Simply download the software, and follow the instructions to begin recovery. Note that for-pay services (typically $29-$49) are more likely to bring about desirable results than the free options. Options: Zero Assumption Recover, Recuva, Flobo Recovery, Pantera Soft, Photo Rescue 3. Take It to a Professional If you're not confident in your computer skills, or worry you could further damage your photos, consider having a professional help. Most photography or camera repair shops offer services to recover your lost digital memory, and save the photos to CDs. Prices vary (for example, I found three different prices in my neighborhood - $39.99, $59.99, and $129 per memory card); however, you only pay if there are photos that can be recovered. This was the option I ultimately chose. Fortunately, for me, I was able to recover all but a few of the photos using digital software at my local photo shop. Now, my only dilemma is what to do with the photos. — Madeline Grimes MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 25 Most Photographed Places on Earth Take Your Best Shot Digital Photo Editing

We spend a lot of time criticizing the TSA in our own country, but what about airport security outside of the U.S.? if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('fa4a632d-5708-48a7-82d5-2abc3aa802d2');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)We depend on other nations to keep us safe, but sometimes their airport officers can be maddeningly strict—or frighteningly lax. On the one hand, I don't want to criticize TOO much—we depend just as much on airport security abroad as at home to keep us safe. On the other hand, it's worth calling out when things go too far (or not far enough). This question came up in our office recently in response to an event at Heathrow Airport in which a woman was forced to get rid of the breast milk she was carrying before she was allowed through the security checkpoint. According to her blog, the Heathrow Airport specifies that you may carry baby milk if you "carry only what you need for the flight." When I checked the Heathrow Airport website, I found this statement: If you are travelling with an infant, these items can exceed 100ml and do not have to fit into the resealable bag. However, the amount must be sufficient for your trip only and you may be asked to open the containers and taste the contents. Since this woman was not traveling with an infant, whether or not the officers were in the right becomes a little more murky. Still, was it worth it to hassle a mother trying to transport food back to her child? It seems like determining whether or not the contents of the packages were breast milk should have been fairly simple. I've certainly had my share of frustration with airport security. I'll never forget the time I was denied boarding to a flight because I showed up—literally—thirty seconds too late. My traveling companion was just ahead of me and I saw him enter the plane just as I was turned away. I was furious, but no amount of complaining would convince the gatekeeper to change her mind. Then again, I've also been in airports where I was waived through security without so much as a second glance. It was fast and easy, but it didn't make feel particularly safe as I boarded that plane. All of this has me wondering—what's the most outrageous experience you've had with airport security OUTSIDE of the U.S.? SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Should TSA Pat-Downs Be Outlawed? 7 Surprising Items That Trigger Airport Security Confessions of an Airline Agent