The only differences between the fully released Traveler v87 and the v88 one currently in beta testing are a fix for the ITF Base Camp string (the text name), a small bug regarding Favorites getting lost under some circumstances, and a fix for broken Photography skill challenges. The biggest risk of running a beta version like that is the need to update it if and when 88a, b, c, etc. come out if one of the changes were found to be faulty or more fixes or features got added.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Traveler+Testing
But we still don't know why your game is crashing. I still think it's something external to the game causing it from you have described even if Traveler is ending up being the trigger. Guess we're waiting still for the next phase of this test, the rinse and repeat steps with Traveler back in play?
