Go for the Gold: Part 3

In the spirit of Olympic competition, here’s a little trivia:

Trivia Question #1: What do Xiao Qin, Yang Wei, Jason Lezak, Stephanie Rice, Felicity Galvez and Michael Phelps all have in common?

Answer: They are multiple gold medal winners of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Trivia Question #2: What do Jessica_Nunemaker, The_Colonel, Shanimal44 and Shereshe all have in common?

Answer: Their travel stories and vacation destination reviews are considered the GOLD standard for review writing on Viscape. What does this mean? They are in contention for winning the “Be a Travel Writer” contest, which has a free trip to Key West or Belize as the prize.

Trivia Question #3: What does it take to earn multiple gold medals at the Olympics?

Answer: Crazy talent, freakishly long feet (in some cases), and 8-10 hours of concentrated practice a day! Oh, yeah — and of course, believing in yourself and NEVER giving up!

Trivia Question #4: What does it take to write a great travel destination review for Viscape’s contest?

Answer: Creativity, quirkiness, a great story and scenic pictures from one of your vacation adventures! Oh, yeah — and of course, believing in your writing and storytelling abilities and NEVER giving up!

Here are a few tips for achieving Viscape’s gold standard of travel writing:

1) Add pictures and videos: remember, Viscape = “a visual escape!”
2) Be edgy and a little zany — humor and hilariousness go a long way with our judges.
3) Always think: How can I convince someone else that this is a must-visit destination? And how can I make my writing jump off the page and speak to people?
4) The contest closes when we reach 1000 reviews, so start writing now and don’t miss your chance to win fame, glory, bragging rights and a crazy fun trip!

Here are a couple gold standard examples:

Ideal Place for a Beach Bum by The Colonel

In November, I was hauling in yellow and red snapper from a boat between a shore and coral reef. It was still in the high 80s; the clouds were lovely, gigantic frigate birds soared overhead for spare fish. I realized with sadness that my fishing trip was soon to expire. The most stress for the day would be walking the 50 yards up the beach to a tiki bar, where our guide would prepare and cook the fish on the beach. The sun brightening, flip-flops removed in favor of warm sand, my wife and I dutifully trudged along. Read more…

Catch of the Day – Ben Kay in Belize with Yellow Snapper.

Bargain Shopping for Dummies by Shereshe

We were standing in the middle of the main bazaar in Istanbul. “Please, please, come try my Turkish delight!” For the past 15 minutes I was convinced every guy in this row was hitting on me. Come to find out, Turkish delight is the traditional sweet candy in this country. Oops. Read more…

Shereshe in Istanbul getting ready for a long day of bargain shopping.

Editorial Retraction: Monday’s blog post stated incorrectly the number of Viscape listings in Hawaii, Orlando and Paris and the population of China. Please visit the post to see corrections. http://blog.viscape.com/2008/08/travel-industry-take-note-of-china/