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

Grenada Más

by Calvin Sun | November 4, 2025 | Grenada, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End | 0 Comments

🇬🇩 190 down. 3 to go. After our 3 day stay in Dominica, we took a long hour-and-a-half drive back to the airport from our Portsmouth lodgings, stopping for a quick photo opportunity along the way. Dominica's airport is tiny. You...

Dominica-n’t Miss This

by Calvin Sun | November 1, 2025 | Dominica, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

From St. Vincent, we boarded InterCaribbean Airways JY 717 at 12:20pm. Their new airport, however, was built just 8 years ago and still has some operational quirks. The staff double-printed my first leg itinerary from St. Vincent to Barbados without including...

Dead Men Tell No Layovers: St. Vincent & The Grenadines in 12 Hours

by Calvin Sun | October 29, 2025 | Layovers, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 0 Comments

Fresh off a quick overnight in Grenada (courtesy of a free JetBlue voucher from last October's Welcome to Chinatown gala), we touched down at Maurice Bishop International Airport at 1:53pm. This marked the beginning of a 3-country Caribbean...

Getting Away With Robbinsville: The Akshardham Redemption

by Calvin Sun | October 6, 2025 | Camping, Layovers, New Jersey, October 2025: Camping in Robbinsville | 0 Comments

One of my more unique camping trips to have monsooned; this is what happens when you plan a camping trip months in advance just to visit a temple arguably worth seeing as a world-class destination. I was stuck at work all day Friday as Eddie took the initiative...

A Quick Halifax Check

by Calvin Sun | September 12, 2025 | Layovers, Lessons Learned, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Walking Tours | 0 Comments

After two days in Saint-Pierre (and a turbulent ferry ride to Miquelon and back), we boarded an hour-and-a-half direct Air Saint-Pierre 9am flight to Halifax, landing around 9:30am local time (Halifax runs an hour behind Saint-Pierre), Our onward...

Miquelon Impossible

by Calvin Sun | September 11, 2025 | Doctor in the House, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

Sometimes the most spontaneous detours leave the strongest impressions. That morning in Saint Pierre, we hadn't planned on leaving the island. But after completing two walking tours around St. Pierre and checking the ferry schedule, we realized we could still...

48 Hours in a Little Saint-Pierre-ce of France

by Calvin Sun | September 11, 2025 | Saint Pierre and Miquelon, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

After three days soaking in St. John's charm, we dropped off our rental car at YYT Saint John's airport to catch the rare 5pm direct flight (PH1127) via Air Saint-Pierre to Saint-Pierre & Miquelon: one of the few weekly connections between Newfoundland and...

Don’t Be Dildo-Dallying

by Calvin Sun | September 9, 2025 | Canada, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

While based in St. John's, we took a spontaneous day trip by rental car to the now-famous town of Dildo. You'll know when you arrive; they're incredibly proud of their distinctive name. Though a vocal minority has repeatedly raised referendums to...

St. John’s: The Eastern Edge of Everything Everywhere All At Once

by Calvin Sun | September 9, 2025 | Canada, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

Months ago I decided to gift myself a week off after Labor Day...simply because I could. After a year as wild as this past one, I craved actual and intentional self-prioritization to restore some balance. Finding fares under $200, I booked a morning departure:...

Singapore Airlines Business Class FRA-JFK

by Calvin Sun | August 5, 2025 | Flying Fancy, Germany, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin | 0 Comments

After a slow morning walk and talking about our villain (antihero?) origin stories in Berlin, I hugged Daniela and Gabe goodbye, hopped on the tram for a few stops, went underground for the metro, and made it back to the hostel in time for a 1:30pm check out. Nisha,...

Copan Mechanism

by Calvin Sun | Jun 23, 2013 | Fit for Foodies, Honduras, Summer 2013: Central America, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

The second largest collection of Mayan ruins after Tikal, the Copan Ruinas are about a 1km walk (10min) away from the quaint little town, and quite convenient to get to. Head into the parking lot that's 1km east from the town and turn left to enter the ruins...

Getting Out Of ‘The World’s Murder Capital’: San Pedro Sula

by Calvin Sun | Jun 22, 2013 | Honduras, How Did You Do That?, Mythbusters, Public Transportation, Summer 2013: Central America

To be honest, it wasn't that bad. Not once did we ever feel unsafe driving through San Pedro Sula on our way to Copan Ruins. In fact, it looked like any other city in Central America. Our group landed in 3 separate runs: Angela arrived at noon on Friday, Erick,...

The ‘Most Dangerous Place On Earth’ & ‘Murder Capital Of The World’

by Calvin Sun | Jun 22, 2013 | Honduras, Summer 2013: Central America, Travel Warnings

To be honest, I didn't know this until after booking my tickets...but we're about to fly into the "one of the world's most violent places" a.k.a. The Murder Capital of the World: San Pedro Sula, Honduras. You might be thinking, Oh, Calvin, you CHOSE this place...

Meet The Monsooners Of Central America

by Calvin Sun | Jun 3, 2013 | Introductions

Here's to celebrating the end of my 3rd year of medical school: 4 countries and 9 cities for less than $1100 *all-inclusive* of flights, transportation, lodging and food at $20/day for 9 days from June 22nd - June 30th. From spelunking impressive Mayan ruins to...

36 hours In Austin

by Calvin Sun | Apr 12, 2013 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, Texas, United States, Walking Tours

We found one of the most beautiful places in the United States, and it would've been a shame not to mention it in our latest Monsoon Diaries adventure.The story begins a year ago when I found a photo gallery on coolhunter.net called "Amazing Places to...

Dare We Dream For 2013?

by Calvin Sun | Feb 18, 2013 | Our Next Adventure

2013 Trips APRIL: Austin, Texas JUNE: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama OCTOBER/NOVEMBER: Iceland DECEMBER: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, ANTARCTICA I do not take credit for any of these pictures because at the time of posting, I haven't been...

You’re Going To Miss … Ukraine & Poland

by Calvin Sun | Jan 11, 2013 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Fail, Germany, Poland, Post-travel Reflections, Serendipitous!, Ukraine, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It...

Pictures courtesy of Mandy Cheuk, Simon Lu, Kai Tan, Cynthia Koo, and yours truly.With contributions by Cynthia Koo. If it's not already playing, press play. And then start reading. "...Because the only people for me are the mad ones, the...

Punta Cana For Rent

by Calvin Sun | Jan 6, 2013 | Dominican Republic, Fit for Foodies, January 2012: La Hispanola, The Nightlife

Punta Cana is usually synonymous with the word "paradise." And you really will find paradise once you see its beaches...but Punta Cana can also become synonymous with the word "commercialized." That's because the *entire* beachfront is owned by mega-resorts; nowhere...

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