The Monsoon Diaries: How to travel the world with no time or money -

Where Do You Go When You’ve Already Been Everywhere?

by Calvin Sun | May 17, 2026 | Camping, Epiphanies on the Road, Fit for Foodies, May 2026: Bobo's Farm, New York, Post-travel Reflections | 0 Comments

Where does one of the youngest most traveled person in the world still travel to after they've been to nearly every country in the world? Home, of course. I've hitchhiked onboard trains through the endless expanse of The Sahel, slept in guesthouses in...

It Zermatt-ers A Lot You Followed Through!

by Calvin Sun | April 3, 2026 | Border Crossing, Crisis, Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, How's the weather?, Serendipitous!, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Weekend Trips, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

Any normal person would have headed home after 4 consecutive days of 6+ hours of skiing black diamond powder at 3,330 meters followed by six hours of raving in a blizzard. But I am not a normal person. Unlike most people, I don't procrastinate on fulfilling...

Alpe “d’Huez” in Charge Here? We Couldn’t Wait Until Tomorrow, for Tomorrowland Winter

by Calvin Sun | March 28, 2026 | Festivals, France, How's the weather?, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps, The Nightlife | 0 Comments

We made it to a Tomorrowland Aftermovie! Click on the YouTube video below where it starts right where you see us dancing to Alok; me on the left, and Patricia right in the center in her lavender hoodie as the video slows in on her/us (well, really just her)....

Why Not “Disfrutar”?

by Calvin Sun | March 23, 2026 | Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, France, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Introspection, Layovers, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Spain, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps | 0 Comments

We got a lot going on in the world right now: There's now a war in Iran, the funding bill for our DHS still hasn't passed, and the entirety of the TSA has been working without a paycheck for the past month. With the war, I'd imagine both the region and Emirates...

Meet the Tomorrowland Winter Monsooners!

by Calvin Sun | March 2, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

Why do Tomorrowland just once a year when you can do it twice AND ski/snowboard at the same time? Introducing the following returning monsooners for this iteration of our favorite annual festival. Welcome back those returning with me for their 2nd, 3rd, or even...

All Aboard the Santa Claus Express!

by Calvin Sun | February 10, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, Lapland, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

I woke up to an Arctic sunrise again, this time to send Mel off on her early flight back at 7:30am; she had to return a day before the rest of us. After she left in an Uber to the airport, I cooked the last of what was left in the fridge at the Airbnb and saw...

For Richer, For Polar

by Calvin Sun | February 9, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, Fit for Foodies, How's the weather?, Lapland, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

I just woke up to this Arctic sunrise before everyone else in the Airbnb. I took the time to make some scrambled eggs for breakfast, brewed the coffee, and leisurely sat down to write this blog post as I waited for the rest of the group to come to life. What a...

The Coolest Hotel in Lapland (Literally)

by Calvin Sun | February 7, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

After sneaking in some sugar donuts just in time before Kahvila Lohihovi Oy closed at 5pm, we continued our 2 hour drive south from Ylläs to the Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos, about 30 minutes north of Rovaniemi on the shores of Lake Lehtojärvi....

Ylläs Hear Me Out

by Calvin Sun | February 6, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

How This Trip Happened On September 30, 2025, a monsooner named Yuhan — who's been on many trips with me — randomly invited me to watch her favorite anime that had a surprise 2-week return to theaters: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, originally released in 2006. I...

Sundance’s Last Dance: Park City, UT

by Calvin Sun | January 27, 2026 | How's the weather?, United States, Utah | 0 Comments

Once again we're gathering friends across time zones and milestones; some have flown in from Philly, others from NYC, one flying over from Dallas just for the weekend to make new friends, all converging together this week on a mountain town for a week of...

The Cheapest Way Into Buenos Aires: Montevideo

by Calvin Sun | Dec 9, 2013 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fail, Public Transportation, Uruguay, Walking Tours, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

...is via Montevideo, Uruguay. Compare one way flight from NYC to Buenos Aires for about $950 USD, to a one way flight from NYC to Montevideo for $400 USD (It's that cheap if you buy at least 6 weeks ahead, but even if you don't, the most expensive it gets is...

How to Pack For Antarctica

by Calvin Sun | Dec 8, 2013 | Antarctica, Pre-travel Preparations, What to Pack

How do I pack for 4 days of this.... With this? I start with my clothes -- 3 short sleeved synthetic (quick drying) shirts, 2 long sleeved synthetic shirts, 3 cotton shirts, 2 cargo pants, 5 underwears, 5 smart wool socks, 2 heavy smart wool socks, 2 dress...

Dare We Dream For 2014?

by Calvin Sun | Dec 7, 2013 | Our Next Adventure

2014 Trips April: South America Late April: Pirates of the Caribbean December: Extreme Southeast Asia April 2014: SOUTH AMERICA April 9th - April 22nd View Monsoon Diaries 2014 in a larger map When I went to South America for...

The Pakistan Visa Requirements For U.S. Citizens

by Calvin Sun | Nov 27, 2013 | Camping, Doctor in the House, Getting that VISA

With my American passport, I'm no stranger to visa red tape and bureaucratic hell. I had to go through it for North Korea, for Iran, for Myanmar, and lately, for Pakistan. But what was supposed to be a routine and well paved out path to acquire a visa for my...

Goodbye Iceland: The Blue Lagoon

by Calvin Sun | Nov 4, 2013 | Iceland, October 2013: Iceland, Serendipitous!

So I calculated that I've gotten only 7 hours of sleep in 72 hours during this trip. Gross. Decided to sleep in this morning, getting a whopping 5 hours more and thus totaling my sleep count to 12 hours in the last 96 hours. But not surprisingly, still feeling...

The Golden Circle And Beyond

by Calvin Sun | Nov 3, 2013 | How Did You Do That?, Iceland, October 2013: Iceland, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Today we rented out 2 cars (5/pp per vehicle) to take on the Golden Circle at our own leisurely pace. This ended up costing around $60-$70 USD per person for the whole day (including car rental insurance), which was a little cheaper than taking a public...

From Reykjavik To Jokusarlon: This Is Iceland

by Calvin Sun | Nov 2, 2013 | How Did You Do That?, Iceland, October 2013: Iceland, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Today was the Iceland I've been looking for. Today, as always, we tried to do the impossible: What would usually take 2-3 days with 2-3 days worth of expenses for transport and lodging, we ended up doing in 17 hours without any of the extra...

A Reykjavik Rendezvous

by Calvin Sun | Oct 31, 2013 | Fit for Foodies, Iceland, October 2013: Iceland, The Nightlife

Sadly penis museum and geothermal swimming pools were deferred in favor of more exploring and taking advantage of being around the city during the Airwaves Music Festival: We glimpsed a possible sighting of Banksy's work: ...pretended to be...

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