Singapore: A Region Guide for HomeAway

Singapore is a place quite unlike any other. The world’s only island city-state is known both as a global commerce and financial centre and as a hard-to-beat holiday destination, offering a wealth of world-class cultural institutions, extraordinary architecture and never-ending nightlife – all boosted by a unfailingly warm, equatorial climate. For travellers, it’s an amazing city, which is why when HomeAway, the world’s largest holiday home (vacation rental) company with over a million global listings, asked us to write them a guide on the city, we jumped at the chance.

The first in a series of Asia-Pacific region guides for HomeAway – the rest, from Dubai to Hong Kong to Sydney, will go live during March – Singapore was published last week. And you can read our regional overview below.

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Visit Aquitaine in South West France: An Expert Travel Guide for Oliver’s Travels

Fine wine, fantastic food, sunny weather and stunning beaches; it’s easy to see why the South of France attracts so many holidaymakers from the UK and beyond. The region is just one of several destinations covered by Oliver’s Travels, who offer luxury rental properties – from country cottages and swanky chalets to lighthouses and grand castles – across Europe.

Of course, choosing where to go and which glamorous villa to kick back in for a week or two is just one requirement on a holiday planning hit list. There are lots of other little choices that come into play. Do you set off in summer or winter? Do you hire a car or attempt to master the public transport network? Do you fly or take the ferry? Not to mention deciding which activities to try and, crucially, what and where to eat.

This is where we came in. Oliver’s Travels asked our expert travel writing team to produce a series of destination guides that would inspire holidaymakers and help them navigate the ins and outs of some of their most popular rental regions. We took on guides to a wide range of destinations, from Ibiza to the Algarve, Scotland to Mallorca.

Most recently, we wrote about Aquitaine in south-west France. Planning a visit? Then scroll down for an extract.

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Open House Weekend: Unlocking London – An Online Travel Article for Samsung

Open House London is one of highlights of the UK’s cultural calendar. A celebration of the capital’s one-of-a-kind architecture, design and city planning, which has been held in the city since 1992, it sees more than 800 usually-closed venues across London open their doors to the public. Visitors can take a peek inside magnificent private residences, check out the views from skyscraping offices and uncover history at ancient temples and churches.

Samsung asked us to write about this major cultural event for their in-house platform Global Live, and we obliged by giving their readers a run-down of the best buildings to see at the 2015 event. You can read our picks below…

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Why You Should Avoid Writing About a Travel Destination Only from Memory

Great travel experiences create vivid memories. Ask any traveller about a particular trip, and they will recall many strong sensory memories, from the incredible sight of a migrating herd of elephants to the gentle sound of waves lapping at shore; the overpowering smell of a bustling spice market to the sweet taste of a freshly-picked mango.

However, memory is not as reliable as it first appears. Press the same traveller on the exact number of elephants, or the route they took through the spice market, and you may find they struggle to give you an answer. The fact is, no matter how vivid your travel memories seem, there’s always key information missing from your recollection.

As travel writers, we do as much as we possibly can to record everything we see and do during our trips – in fact, making notes on your travels is a very valuable habit for travel writers – but it is not possible to record absolutely everything. So how do you ensure the travel article, guide or web copy you write when you arrive home is 100% correct, providing accurate and valuable information for your readers? Here are four ways to always get it right…

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