Elena Vasquez

Elena Vasquez is a full-time traveler and the founder of Witty Passport — not a professional guide, just someone who never stopped booking one-way tickets. Over fifteen years and more than 50 countries across six continents, she's informally led friends and travel companions through Southeast Asia and the remote highlands of South America, and written the kind of destination guides she always wished existed — practical, specific, and built on real experience rather than recycled itineraries.

What Nobody Tells You About Swimming in the Dead Sea

· May 19, 2026
What Nobody Tells You About Swimming in the Dead Sea

Every piece of advice I’d gathered before this trip boiled down to some version of the same reassurance: wade in slow, float on your back, and you’re golden — the sting people talk about is exaggerated. That theory survived right up until I was knee-deep in the Dead Sea at Amman Beach Resort, Jordan’s midday … Read more

What Nobody Tells You About Dubai’s Beach Dress Code

· May 16, 2026
What Nobody Tells You About Dubai's Beach Dress Code

Every “what to pack for Dubai” list I skimmed before this trip said the same reassuring thing: bring a normal swimsuit, keep it reasonably modest, and you’ll be fine on any beach in the city. That advice turned out to be technically true and practically useless, and I learned why standing on JBR Beach — … Read more

What Nobody Tells You About the Greek Islands Sun

· May 15, 2026
What Nobody Tells You About the Greek Islands Sun

Mid-July, day two of my Naxos stay, and I’m peeling a tank top off my shoulder in a whitewashed guesthouse near Agios Prokopios beach when the fabric snags skin and I suck air through my teeth loud enough that my travel companion spins around from clear across the room. My shoulders weren’t merely pink — … Read more

What Nobody Tells You About Russian Banya Etiquette

· May 13, 2026
What Nobody Tells You About Russian Banya Etiquette

Most first-timers assume a Russian banya is basically a hotter Finnish sauna with better branding — that assumption falls apart within about ninety seconds of walking through the cedar door. Dmitri, my guide’s contact in Moscow and a man who’d clearly done this a thousand times, handed me a felt hat shaped like a wizard’s … Read more

What Nobody Tells You About Budapest’s Thermal Baths

· May 12, 2026
What Nobody Tells You About Budapest's Thermal Baths

Four seconds. That’s how long I had to decide whether to do something reckless before the whole scene disappeared for good. I was chest-deep in one of the outdoor pools at Széchenyi, watching my own breath merge with the steam rising off 38°C water into a frozen Budapest January, when an elderly Hungarian gentleman began … Read more