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,...

Frolick In Frankfurt

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2013 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Germany

Remember 8 months ago when we took a detour sidetrip with our 5 hour layover in Frankfurt? Well it's deja vu all over again, this time with a different group of 16 people (with the exception of Cynthia coming again, of course)!I'll spare you the repost of photos...

A Night In Warsaw

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2013 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Poland, Walking Tours

Last moments before hopping on a 3hr bus from Krakow to Warsaw: So it's 3am and you've arrived at Frederic Chopin Airport in Warsaw with about 4 hours before you're flight out. What do you do? Take the N32 bus of course. The N32 bus arrives...

Auschwitz Death Camp

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2013 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Epiphanies on the Road, Poland

The feeling of bleakness startles first. Then to step inside one of the gas chambers: There's nothing more I can write about Auschwitz that hasn't already been written: It really is devastating. Like the Killing Fields and Tuong Sleng Prison of...

A Morning In Krakow

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2013 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Poland, Walking Tours

After crossing the Polish border, we arrived in Krakow in the wee hours of 7am (this is 3 hours before everyone in Poland wakes up), just in time to catch the sunrise. So I woke up and keeping my eyes closed (groggy as hell) I opened the door of the van. This is...

Crossing Over From Ukraine To Poland

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2013 | Border Crossing, December 2012: Eastern Europe, How Did You Do That?, Poland, Ukraine, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Our last hour in Lviv -- a costume party at the Lviv Opera House: Afterwards, it was back on a bus heading to the Polish border town of Medyka. We figured that a bus would be more convenient than a train as buses have an easier time crossing the...

Lviv Today, Die Tomorrow

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2012 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Public Transportation, Ukraine, Walking Tours

As if our down to the wire panic attack to make the bus to Chernobyl wasn't enough, it was another down to the last minute effort to make a bus that would take us to the border town of Lviv in Western Ukraine. We ran back to our hostel (and having lost Andrew along...

The Chernobyl Diaries

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2012 | December 2012: Eastern Europe, Doctor in the House, How Did You Do That?, Mythbusters, Travel Warnings, Ukraine, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking . . . We swear our story is way better. Close your eyes. It is April 25, 1986. Imagine if you had to leave everything you knew behind: A split second decision no time to pack. Imagine not being allowed to return home...

Panic Before Chernobyl

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2012 | Crisis, December 2012: Eastern Europe, Fail, Public Transportation, Serendipitous!, Ukraine

So in pulling an all nighter after last night's festivities, I made a major mistake of letting everyone sleep a little more. Instead of giving them about an hour before having to leave the hostel, I decided to wake everyone up about 20-30min before. What ended up...

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