Your Facebook friends can win you a trip to Britain

Not to sound like a broken record, but Chile's can't-miss travel opportunities just keep on coming. The latest deal to catch our eye is a $690 three-night sail through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego—the type of trip that generally qualifies as a major splurge—on Cruceros Australis's new 100-cabin Stella Australis vessel. (Let's call this, then, a minor splurge.) The trip departs from southern Chile's Punta Arenas and winds through the Strait of Magellan, Ainsworth Bay, and Alakaluf Fjord (among others), passing glaciers, waterfalls, and—if you're lucky—elephant seals en route to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. And while the relatively roomy cabins, starting around 178 square feet, have generously sized floor-to-ceiling windows for taking in all that dramatic scenery, the cruise also includes glacier-trekking excursions and guided wildlife-watching outings on tiny inflatable Zodiac boats, so you can really get the full frozen-ends-of-the-earth effect. The rate covers an external cabin and all meals and drinks on the 4-day trip—including local Chilean and Argentine wine—and is only available for this particular April 2 departure. (The lowest normal rate for a 4-day itinerary with Cruceros is $840, making this almost a 20% savings.) Still too steep for your vacation fund? Then enter our World's Best Cruiser contest! Send evidence of your cruising expertise (packing strategies, photo galleries, a collection of souvenir seashells from tropical ports of call—the wackier the better) to starcruiser@budgettravel.com by March 15. The winner will receive a free cruise!! See more from Budget Travel Top 5 Money-Saving Cruise Questions Answered How to Bring Wine Back From Abroad How to Take Great Vacation Photos

We were excited to learn yesterday that Chile plans to invest $4 billion to renew its airline fleet between 2011 and 2013. Even before this news, however, we've had Chile on the brain in a big way. In putting together our November issue a few months back, I came away with a new entry for my own personal Travel Bucket List: a week of stargazing, pisco sours, and midnight horseback rides at the Elqui Domos astro lodge, near Chile's Atacama Desert. But the country has several other new attractions to add to its appeal: This month the downright surreal 150,000-acre Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve is adding yet another weird hotel to its roster. The Andean rainforest reserve, 530 miles south of Santiago, already has one hotel shaped like a baobab tree (aptly named the Baobab Hotel) and a 13-room Magic Mountain Lodge, a conical, plant-covered cross between a gnome's hat and a hobbit-hole (pictured). Somehow, they're topping even those architectural marvels with their upcoming 19-room addition, A World Fungi, which will take the form of a giant mushroom. Considering that starting rates for the existing properties bust our budgets a bit, we'd opt to stay in one of the reserve's ten Canopy Village treehouse cabins, with five-person accommodations from about $83 per night, and just wander around the wackier buildings like a confused tourist, while taking advantage of all the other attractions on site—from hiking trails and hot springs to fly-fishing excursions and minigolf. (Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve, cabins $83, huilohuilo.com) In April 2010, the Transatacama railway made its maiden voyage, carrying passengers through a day-long exploration of some of the most scenic—or, at least, most historic—sections of the Atacama Desert, one of the world's driest expanses. The 62-mile round trip includes two meals, an on-board musical performance, and stops at the Precolumbian Cerros Pintados geoglyphs, with over 300 individual large-scale rock drawings; the colorful village of La Tirana, home to one of Chile's most vibrant religious festivals, Fiesta de la Tirana; and of course, a handful of abandoned mines and spooky, preserved mining towns. The train departs Saturday mornings from the coastal city of Iquique, and returns around 7pm. (Ferrocarríl Transatacama, classic tour $168, transatacama.com) A significantly less dusty experience awaits at the new (and exceedingly charming) Palafito1326 Boutique Hotel, opened in October 2009 in the village of Castro, on the Chiloé archipelago 726 miles south of Santiago. The 12-room property takes its architectural cues from the 19th-century houses of the Gamboa neighborhood in which it was built—propped up on timber stilts along the water's edge, using salvaged larch shingles for the exterior and native wood for the floors of the guest rooms. The overall vibe is upscale rustic: Think modern fixtures, a neutral palette, fluffy textiles woven from local wool, and large windows, many of which overlook the Gamboa River and Castro's fjord. Elevated walkways connect the rooms with large terraces and a light-filled communal living and dining room. (Palafito 1326, doubles from $92, palafito1326.cl) Have you been to Chile? If so, tell us your favorite places in the country! More from Budget Travel: 25 Breathtaking Winter Scenes Vote now in our Readers' Choice Poll Top Budget Destinations for 2011

In the future, you may be able to look up the names of most of the strangers in your hotel lobby, thanks to the Internet. Other hotel guests may be able to look up your name online, too, if you decide to let them. Is this a good thing? Many people already have profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networking sites, opting to allow total strangers see some information and photos about themselves—with more details available to an approved network of friends. Add to that the craze for geo-location devices, like the iPhone, that pinpoint your location on a map, and "check-in" services, like FourSquare, that let you publicly post where you are right now—or where you plan to be soon. Eventually, travelers may walk into a hotel lobby and choose to post online, via their portable Web-enabled device, who they are and where they are. They may also look to see information that other guests staying at the hotel have posted about themselves. Using a Facebook-integrated app, you can learn the names and interests of many of those other people in advance of speaking with them. This information may make it easier for you to strike up conversations. GoMio.com is aimed at the youth hostel market with its "Who Else Will Be There?" feature, which allows users to view the Facebook profiles of other users who will be at the same place at the same time. Grindr, the controversial gay mobile dating app, is debuting a version for heterosexual GPS-powered dating tool within a few weeks. Women walking into a hotel lounge, for instance, will be able to see photos and personal information about male users nearby, arranged by how physically close to those other users are. (Don't want someone to see your Grindr profile? Push a button to block your details from appearing on that user's device.) On the bright side, if you ever stayed in a hostel or hotel, you may recall feeling nervous when you walked into the common area and saw other guests who are roughly your own age. Which of them speak English? Where are they from? Do you have a mutual friend in common somewhere in the world? But looked at another way, is it risky to share this much information to strangers? After all, most people traveling are relatively isolated (from family, friends, and co-workers) and somewhat vulnerable. Do you really want to advertise the details of how far you've traveled and how long you're going to be around to any stranger that's signed up for a service? Let us know by posting a comment: Would you like to share your online profile with other guests at your hotel during a trip? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL What's the best social network for travel? (25+ comments) Where are you going in 2011? (200+ comments) New travel stress: Facebook oversharing (10+ comments)