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...

Why You Should Come With Us To Iran (And/Or Chernobyl)

by Calvin Sun | Jan 17, 2012 | Our Next Adventure, Post-travel Reflections, Pre-travel Preparations

We at The Monsoon Diaries have traveled to over 30 countries in the last 18 months, all while spending very little and keeping fulltime jobs, remaining as fulltime students, or both. We've been to beaten paths and off the beaten paths. We've survived war...

Running Into Gerard Butler…again

by Calvin Sun | Jan 4, 2012 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fail, Morocco, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

They say that 1st time is happenstance, 2nd time is coincidence... Let it be known that after our first run-in -- and now definitely after this second coincidental run-in, Gerard Butler now reads this blog, and I quote from June (left in photo):...

You’re Going To Miss … Spain & Morocco

by Calvin Sun | Jan 4, 2012 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fit for Foodies, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Post-travel Reflections, Spain, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It...

You're going to miss the freedom of wandering, the days that begun with nothing to expect, the trust in what's around the corner, the feeling of wanderlust, the time when you were free to do anything that you wanted. You're going to miss rambling...

12 Hours In Lisbon

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2012 | Blitzkrieg!!!, December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Doctor in the House, Fit for Foodies, Layovers, Lessons Learned, Portugal

In Portugal I harnessed the sun in the palm of my hand... ...while I dream of desserts from my last hour in Marrakech: We awake from these dreams, while we wait for the sun while overlooking Lisboa, the city of 7 hills: We...

It’s Not A Competition!!!

by Go Yang Park | Jan 2, 2012 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Portugal, Post-travel Reflections

Calvin is kicking kicked my ass in the blogging department!! But BOY do I have some great excuses for that! I brought the wrong charger to my netbook. Whoops. Calvin travels with all the force of a great Monsoon. Zzzz, so tired. I'm sick. Sleeping in trains, train...

Gerard Butler Is In Marrakech

by Calvin Sun | Jan 2, 2012 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fit for Foodies, Morocco, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Usually I would resort to these titles to grab your attention, but if you look at the picture above, you'll see it's more than a gimmick. It's for real: 5 minutes ago we ran into Gerard Butler in the maze of souks within the Marrakech medina. Being born,...

New Year’s In Marrakesh

by Calvin Sun | Jan 2, 2012 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Lessons Learned, Morocco, The Nightlife

Marrakesh......is a name of a song from my childhood. A nine letter word that existed only as melodies of an ATB track from the days of high school. Not until now could I attribute it to an actual place on Earth, in a sliver of land named Morocco. And...

Fantastically Fez

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2012 | December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, Morocco, What Dreams May Come

We ended up fixing our mistake and putting ourselves back on track. From Kenitra, we got on the 6:35am train heading to Fez, and got off 2 hours later at 8:30am. That was when Lonely Planet fails us again. It said that there would be a left luggage...

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