gtrekker

The BBC Profiles provide an economic, historical, and political overview, with a section on current leaders. The Profiles also list the media outlets, which include television and radio stations and the press.

From Lonely Planet
The Singapore city experience can be a bit of a 'coin-flip'. Heads, you land on Orchard Rd - artificial, air-conditioned and milling with Stepford consumers. Tails, you hit the chaos and clatter of Keong Siak Rd and its surrounds in Chinatown, with its assault of humidity and hidden bars - an enclave of steamy intrigue and sensory overload....click for full article

National Geographic's People and Places feature provides a short overview of the destination and include a Features section with related articles, photos, and videos, depending on the destination.

Travel + Leisure Magazine's guide to the greatest hotels worldwide as selected by its team of reporters and editors.

Weatherbase provides historical weather information such as "average number of day above 90," "average number of days with thunderstorms," and other similar types of data.

Up-to-date information provided by the State Department on matters such as passport and visa requirements, safety and security, crime, health and medical issues, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. It also links to Travel Warnings for that country, if there is one.

Frommer's Forums are divided into countries, and all the messages relating to a country are presented in a list that makes it easy to browse through the topics.

Review site with hotel reviews and candid photos posted by users.

Virtual Tourist has user reviews on topics such as Hotels, Things To Do, Restaurants, Local Customs, Nightlife, Off the Beaten Path, Tourist Traps, Transportation, ... etc.

Asiarooms.com Travel Guides provide information on topics such as Culture, Tourist Attractions, Festivals, Things to do, How to get in, and Where to Eat.

Concierge.com destinations guides include information on getting there, getting around, lodging, places to eat, see and do, ... etc. Although Concierge.com may not have as many hotel recommendations as some guide books, they provide hotel photos along with the recommendations. The destinations guides also have links to articles about the destination published by Concierge.com or Conde Nast Traveler.

Frommer's has put a substantial amount of content online, making Frommers.com a good resource for travel planning. The site is easy to navigate since all the destinations are organized by similar topics such as "Getting There," "Restaurants," and "Suggested Itineraries."

USA Today's Country Guides have information on topics such as Money, Health, Accommodations, Entertainment, Top Things To Do and See, Getting There, Getting Around, Climate, and Map. You can also select the topics you are interested in and create a mini guide that puts all the information on one page for easy reading.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published April 2005
Some would call it torture: One of the world's longest nonstop flights (eighteen-plus hours), in economy class, without sleeping aids. Alan Richman lives to tell the tale. (Well, barely...)

We met in the coach cabin. She was a small blond with pigtails, assigned to the seat in front of me.
I smiled at her. She giggled. I was at least ten times her age, but I could tell she didn't mind. Neither of us thought it would end the way it did, with so much hostility, all of it emanating from me. Call me heartless, but how could I forgive her for what she did? Not long after we took off, she put her seat into full recline and left it there for the next sixteen hours. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2006
Asia's most strenuously efficient country, Singapore has lately been trying its hand at...fun. Pico Iyer gets with the program

Was I dreaming it, or was Singapore, with its customary efficiency, offering me just the symbols I wanted? I picked up a tourist brochure as soon as I arrived in the leafy metropolis this past spring and read that the Old Parliament House had become home to something called "New Age curries," and that the trendiest restaurants (Graze and One Rochester) had annexed the old British army barracks of Rochester Park, now a high-tech district called One North. The Convent of the Holy Jesus, a colonial-era girls' school, had been restyled as Chijmes, a complex of chic restaurants that serve, among other things, a Kahlua-spiked tiramisu. Tabletop dancing and bungee jumping were now legal in a city that had, until two years ago, banned Cosmopolitan and Sex and the City. The effect was uncannily like that of seeing the classic movie scene in which a prim, law-abiding young lady takes off her glasses, shakes loose her hair, and shows us what she's been made of all along. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2005
The low-fare frenzy is taking off in Asia, with expanded routes and cheap tickets promising to make the continent more accessible than ever. But how do its budget carriers really rate? To find out, we traveled east on a two-week odyssey, flying nearly 12,000 miles on 13 new airlines in seven countries. Our verdict: they're just the ticket ... click for full article