Meet The Greek Island Hoppers!

by Calvin Sun | May 9, 2023 | Introductions | 0 comments

It feels like there’s no limit to our Yacht Week collaborations. After our book launch last September, we headed to my apartment for an afterparty where a large contingency from our Tahiti Yacht Week crew there requested to repeat the adventure in Greece.

As if videos of our prior excursions with TYW wasn’t enough to tempt anyone to return:

So after enormous successes of our partnered trips with The Yacht Week in Sardinia on September 2021, 4 months later at Saint Lucia & Martinique, and then 3 months after that in the French Polynesia, we return for the 4th time with our old friends at TYW to the Greek Islands.

It’s a lot of reunions:

French Polynesia Yacht Week is ahead, seeing 6 returners in Megan, Amelia, Daniel, Gina, Jay, and Lyla
One of my annual ski trips to Vermont is tied, seeing 6 returners in Koichi, Lyla, Gina, Andre, Victor, and Nicole
Svalbard has 4 returners with Amelia, Alicia, Jeanette, and Sujay
South Korea also has 4 returners in Christina, Jenny, Sujay, and Paul
Sardinia Yacht Week is in third, with 3 returners in Gina, Jeanette, and Sujay
Martinique, Saint Lucia, & Guadeloupe Yacht Week is also in third with 3 returners in Jeanette, Paul, and Koichi
and non-trip related, the NYC Marathon is seeing 4 returners in Alicia, Gina, Mimi, and Jeanette!

Our top returners:

Evan “The Transporter” Danek, a 7 time monsooner having visited 15+ countries with me including West Africa, Prague & Budapest, Barbados, Pakistan, Unknown UAE, Afghanistan, and Off the Coast of Eastern Africa
Jeanette “Rock the Boat” Wong: 7 time monsooner to Svalbard, Cyprus, The Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Martinique, Saint Lucia, & Guadeloupe, Vancouver, and Wales!
Gina “Million Dollar Wakeboarder” Fortunato, a 7 time monsooner returning from Vancouver, Vermont, Breckinridge, the Ivory Coast, French Polynesia, Sardinia and Cyprus
Sujay “Fashionably Late” Sheth: 4 time monsooner returning from Svalbard, South Korea, Vancouver and Sardinia!
“Tina”, a 3 time monsooner returning from South Korea, Andorra and The Palawan
Kelly, a 3 time monsooner returning from South Korea, Japan, and The Baltic States!
Paul “The Shaman” Woo, a 2 time monsooner returning from South Korea and St. Lucia & Martinique
Amelia “Of Love of Kayaks”, a 2 time monsooner returning from Svalbard and French Polynesia
Koichi “Escape LA”, a 2 time monsooner returning from Saint Lucia & Martinique, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia
Alicia “Bidet” Shi, a 2 time monsooner returning from Svalbard and Egypt 2022!
Leslie “The Lamb Whisperer” Limo: returning from Wales
Gul “Strawberry Acai Refresher” Fashan: returning from Wales
Lyla “Clase Azul” Kamigaki: returning from French Polynesia
Daniel “The Virgin” Jeng: returning from French Polynesia
Jay “Vermut Rock” Shih: returning from French Polynesia
Melinda “Mundari Warrior” Kwok: returning from South Sudan
Megan “Our Favorite Bagel” Whyte: returning as our chef from our last Yacht Week trip in the French Polynesia
Victor Tran & Nicole Ng: Ski Trip monsooners returning for their first true international Monsoon
Mimi Chen & Gina Lee: My NYC Marathon volunteers going on their first true international monsoon

That said, we introduce our next generation of monsooners:

Calvin "O Captain! My Captain!" Sun - Expedition Leader | Emergency Physician | NYC

Megan "Our Favorite Bagel" Whyte - Returning Chef: Apr. '22 (French Polynesia)

Evan "Florida Man" Danek - Returning Monsooner: Sept '19 (Eastern Coast of Africa + Indian Ocean), Summer '19 (Unknown UAE, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Uganda), May '19 (Barbados), Mar '19 (North Pakistan), Jan '19 (Prague & Budapest) | Financial Systems Manager, Chewy | Miami, FL

'Tina "Arms Dealer" Elise - Returning Monsooner: July '22 (Greece), Sept. '16 (Andorra), Dec. '14 (Palawan) | OH

Kelly "Elevator Technician" Joo - Returning Monsooner: Spring '23 (South Korea & Jeju), Sept. '18 (Japan), Aug. '15 (Scandinavia) | Seoul, South Korea

Amelia "Of Love & Kayaks" Shillingford - Returning Monsooner: Jun. '22 (Svalbard), Apr. '22 (French Polynesia) | NP | VT

Koichi "Broth" Sakamaki - Returning Monsooner: Jan '21 (St. Lucia & Martinique), Spring '17 (Luxeumbourg, Malta & Tunisia) | NYC | Finance

Lyla "Island Broker" Kamigaki – Returning Monsooner: Apr. '22 (French Polynesia) | Real Estate | NYC

Daniel "Drugs or Virgin" Jeng - Returning Monsooner: Apr. '22 (French Polynesia) | Software Engineer | NYC

Jennifer "Couchsurfer" Schultz - Returning Monsooner: Apr. '23 (South Korea & Jeju) | Syracuse, NY

Alicia "Polar Bear" Shi - Return Monsooner: Jun. '22 (Svalbard), Mar. '22 (Egypt) | NYC

Christina "Capsaicin" Lam - Dentist | NYU | NYC

Mimi "Chips Ahoy Flavored Pizza" Chen - Pharmacist | NYC

Michelle "Morning Lark" Liu - Real Estate | NYC

Sahar "My Best Friend Fell into a Trash Can Yesterday" M. - NYC

Victor "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" Tran - Google | Chicago, IL

Wesley "Vegas Pyramid" Huang - New York, NY

Marlena O. - NYC

Jeffrey "Field of Dreams" Wing | Advertising

Sidian "Aspro Páto!" Lan (Meteora only) - Return Monsooner: Jan '19 (Prague & Budapest), Aug '17 (The Balkans), Dec '15 (Extreme SE Asia), Nov '15 (Athens) | Travel & Tourism Operator | Athens, Greece

Melinda "Mundari Warrior” Kwok (Meteora only) - Return Monsooner: Mar '23 (South Sudan) | Engineer | KC Engineering | NYC

Andy "Book Club" Jeon - Pharmacist | NYC

YuHan "YuPhotography" Lee - SF

Vivian "Hong Kong Standard Time" Chen - Hong Kong

Helene Hedenstrand - Skipper

Eva "Soundboks" Gooijers - Onboard Chef

Umbi "Pretty Reasonable Skipper" Genovese - Returning Skipper & Route Manager: Sept. '21 (Sardinia/Corsica), Jan. '22 (St. Lucia/Martinique)

Alex "DJ Mr. Worldwide" EBS - Returning DJ: Jan. '22 (St. Lucia/Martinique)

Jeanette "Chief Risky Officer" Wong - Senior Monsooner: Jun. '23 (Svalbard), May '22 (Wales), Feb. '22 (Whistler), Jan. '22 (Saint Lucia), Sept. '21 (Sardinia & Corsica), Aug '21 (Balearic Islands), Jun '21 (Cyprus) | MRI Specialist | NYC

Gina "Million Dollar Wakeboarder" Fortunato - Returning Monsooner: Jan. '23 (Ivory Coast), Apr. '22 (French Polynesia), Feb. '22 (Whistler), Sept. '21 (Sardinia/Corsica), Jun '21 (Cyprus) | Finance | Denver, CO

Sujay "Dispensary" Sheth - Return Monsooner: Apr. '23 (South Korea & Jeju), Jun. '22 (Svalbard), Feb. '22 (Whistler), Sept. '21 (Sardinia & Corsica) | Radiologist | Chicago