Twenty-five years of media experience behind it, and the search rankings to prove it — that’s most of what you need to know about this site before you start reading.

I built ElysPlanet on the archive and audience of two blogs — ElysPlanet, which goes back to 2003, and TravelMore, which came after — fused back into one home. What you’ll find here splits into two lanes:

Elsewhere — travel stories based on actual, lived experience. Narrative essays anchored in a place and its socio-economic trade-offs, rather than a straight itinerary, paired with the Economist Traveler video series on YouTube, where the same trips get told again in a different medium. I call it Elsewhere instead of Travel on purpose — the point was never the packing list, it’s what the place is actually about.

Culture — entertainment and lifestyle for people who still read magazines, not just scroll past them. Real stories, given the space and the angle they deserve. Culture, not Lifestyle or Entertainment, because it already covers pageant profiles, personality pieces, entertainment news, arts, food culture, internet phenomena, and financial behavior coverage under one word.

Elsewhere looks outward — place, geography, going somewhere else. Culture looks inward — people, identity, what everyone’s watching and talking about. Two words, two directions, one site.

One story gets the spotlight on the homepage at a time.

Who’s Behind It

I’m Ely Valendez — journalist since 2001, blogger since 2003, and back to pairing the written word with video again after a decade spent in financial consultancy and wealth planning. If you’ve followed ElysPlanet from the beginning, welcome back — and if this is your first time here, welcome in.

Get in Touch

For collaborations and event invites: elyvalendez[at]gmail[dot]com. Watch the companion video series: youtube.com/@elyvalendez.