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

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...

Meet the Lappi Wedding Party!

by Calvin Sun | January 26, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

Meet the Sundancers!

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

From a trip planned over a year ago after a bunch of friends joined me in Killington 2024, we are flying out to Park City, UT for our first time at the Sundance Film Festival for their final time in Park City, UT! Welcome back those returning with me for their...

Niger At Last: A Second Chance

by Calvin Sun | December 10, 2025 | Border Crossing, December 2025 Annex: Niger, Fail, Flying Fancy, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Niger, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come | 1 Comment

11 months ago, I sat on the tarmac in Niger's International Airport at Niamey, watching my trip evaporate due to visa complications. The Niger Embassy in Washington D.C. had stopped issuing visas to Americans entirely. But I don't give up. In late...

Yemen Day 4: Mukalla Drive

by Calvin Sun | December 5, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Yemen | 0 Comments

Al-Mukalla Pulling ourselves away from a desert mirage paradise at Haid Al-Jazil, we swapped our armed guard at another checkpoint during the 2 hour drive to Mukalla. You point that thing away from me! After a long wait at one of the...

Yemen Day 3: Where Reality Surpasses Dreams at Haid al-Jazil-lion Miles Away From Reality

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Haid Al-Jazil As the afternoon began to wane, we continued onto our accommodation for the night at the Haid Al-Jazil Resort Hotel, named after what it overlooks and its location perching dramatically on a cliff overlooking the Wadi Do'an. You'll find remarkably...

Meet The Vikings

by Calvin Sun | Oct 8, 2013 | Iceland, Introductions

Before our December trip to Antarctica, we're practicing with a 3-4 day visit to Iceland and during the peak season of witnessing the natural phenomena known as the Aurora Borealis. Iceland is considered as part of Western Europe and thus can be a very...

Mt. Starr And Manzanar

by Stephanie Quan | Sep 30, 2013 | California, Camping, Guest Posts, How Did You Do That?, Post-travel Reflections, United States

Two weeks ago, my lab group did a camping trip in the Sierras. We drove up on Friday to the East Fork Campground (9000 ft). Hiked up Mt. Starr on Saturday (Class II scramble. 7 miles round trip. 12825 ft). And drove back on Sunday. On the way back, I stopped in the...

The Panama Canal

by Calvin Sun | Jul 1, 2013 | Epiphanies on the Road, Fit for Foodies, Lessons Learned, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Panama, Post-travel Reflections, Summer 2013: Central America

I never really got to sleep. By the time I posted the last entry, we were already out the door by 10am for Chinese-Panamanian dim sum, which according to our well-traveled guide Manuel (Tatiana's friend in Panama who showed us around last...

A Night In Panama City

by Calvin Sun | Jun 30, 2013 | Fit for Foodies, Lessons Learned, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Panama, Summer 2013: Central America, The Nightlife, Walking Tours

After a truly awful border crossing experience earlier today, we were welcomed at the Albrook bus terminal with the hospitality of Tatiana, a Panama City native and who offered to drive us around her city. This would be the first time Tatiana and I would meet, as she...

Border Crossing From Hell From Costa Rica To Panama

by Calvin Sun | Jun 30, 2013 | Border Crossing, Costa Rica, Fail, Panama, Summer 2013: Central America

I've done quite a few overland border crossings in my travels, but none was quite as bad as the one I just did today from Costa Rica to Panama. This is probably as bad as it gets but today was probably way out of the ordinary and we were simply unlucky to get...

Frickin’ NATURE: Manuel Antonio National Park

by Calvin Sun | Jun 28, 2013 | Costa Rica, Fail, How's the weather?, Summer 2013: Central America, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

There's been a few recurring inside jokes we've been throwing around during the trip, one of them being nature's tendency to constantly amaze us, and at the same time screw us over. Today was one of those days where it tried to screw us over. Today we...

Quaint Quepos

by Calvin Sun | Jun 27, 2013 | Costa Rica, Fit for Foodies, Summer 2013: Central America, Walking Tours

Today we explored the lovely little town of Quepos, which was once underwater filled with mangroves (thanks for that Jenn Gao!), and is so small it only takes 3 hours to see everything, even if you're walking really really slowly: We struck up a...

“The Most Beautiful Sunset In The World”

by Calvin Sun | Jun 27, 2013 | Costa Rica, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Summer 2013: Central America, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Forbes Magazine lists it as one of the 12 most beautiful national parks in the world (the list is actually pretty thorough). A contributor to Forbes and the author of "Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?" remarked that this was "the most beautiful sunset in the...

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