Maugham is thought to have done his best writing during his trips to the Pacific Islands and the Far East. While staying at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1921, which he claimed stood “for all the fables of the exotic East,” Maugham penned The Casuarina Tree, a collection of stories reflecting colonial life in Malaysia and Singapore. Stay: You can’t beat the luxurious Somerset Maugham Suite at the Raffles (singapore.raffles.com), which boasts memorabilia related to the author. Dress to impress and head to the hotel’s famous Long Bar, birthplace of the Singapore Sling and a favorite haunt of Maugham and many other writers on the move. Then sit quietly in the Raffles’ Palm Court and eavesdrop on other guests as Maugham was known to do to get inspiration for his stories. The hotel, opened in 1887 and named for Singapore’s founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, was named a national monument in 1987 and subsequently restored to look like it did around the time Maugham was a guest. It also houses a small museum where you can see letters and memorabilia from Maugham and other celebrity guests and get a feel for what expat life was like a century ago.