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,...

Welcome To The Rock: Gibraltar

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2011 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Gibraltar, How Did You Do That?, Spain

Gibraltar. It's a symbol of arbitrary lines. A country within a country. The U.K. owned Gibraltar lies in a small sliver of southern Spain where for a moment, you can hop over to a different country and back by simply walking over some line and flashing a...

The Drive from Seville to Gibraltar

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2011 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Gibraltar, How Did You Do That?

The challenge: 6 cities and 3 countries in 20 hours. Leave Sevilla in the morning, arrive at the La Linea/Gibraltar border by 12pm, spend 3-4 hours in Gibraltar, take a bus to Algeciras, catch the 6pm ferry to Tangiers, Morocco, catch the 9pm overnight train to Fez....

Holy Flying Buttress, Batman!

by Go Yang Park | Dec 29, 2011 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Doctor in the House, Lessons Learned, Post-travel Reflections, Spain

See that guy lurking in the corner? That's my illness...following me to Sevilla. I got sick Night 1 in Barcelona from sleeping with wet hair*, and then proceeded to beast my way through a freezing but unfortunately (or fortunately? can't decide), not...

Sexy Seville

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2011 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

Can't write much today because we're about to get picked up by a car to Gibraltar in about 2 min...but pictures do enough justice of being worth thousands of words, right? Why are you so pretty Seville? All you need to do in Seville if you got...

Sleepless In Sevilla

by Calvin Sun | Dec 28, 2011 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Spain

1. Woke up in Cordoba at 4:30am to catch a 5:30am ALSA bus 2. Arrived into Sevilla at 7:30am 3. Checked into our hostel at 8am. 4. It's now 11:30am and everyone is still sleeping. 5. Must be a tiring trip.

The Road To Alhambra And La Mezquita

by Calvin Sun | Dec 27, 2011 | Blitzkrieg!!!, December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fail, How Did You Do That?, Spain, What Dreams May Come

Pulled off seeing the two greats back to back today: Alhambra: A grand fortress built in the 9th century, later converted to a palace complex in the 13th century. It changed hands from Arabic to Christian dominance during its history and its detailed architecture...

The Oldest Restaurant in the World

by Calvin Sun | Dec 27, 2011 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fit for Foodies, Spain

This one's for the foodies: eating at the oldest restaurant in the world, Sobrino de Botin, founded in 1725. We first whet our appetite by pregaming at one of Hemingway's favorite bars: Cervicheria Alemana. And then we walk over to sample the staying...

Witnessing Guernica

by Calvin Sun | Dec 26, 2011 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Epiphanies on the Road, Spain, What Dreams May Come

Breaking stereotypes with an "Asian Firing Squad" (while having a highly recommended tapas brunch at Vinos Gonzalez): 2 items off the bucket list in one day and 2 more tomorrow; we are really cramming superlatives into a short amount of time. Despite...

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