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...

The Ferry Crossing From Spain To Morocco

by Calvin Sun | Dec 31, 2011 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Morocco, Spain

A few minutes after crossing back in and out of Gibraltar, we took a relatively cheap (2.15 euros) 30min bus ride from La Linea de Concepcion (Spain's border town by Gibraltar) to the Spanish port town of Algeciras. There's really nothing much to see...

Missed Connections: Kenitra

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2011 | Crisis, December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fail, How's the weather?, Lessons Learned, Morocco, Public Transportation

The good news is that we accomplished the challenge of making it to 3 countries/sovereignties in a single day. We got in and out of Gibraltar and got to see the Rock, we made it to the Algeciras ferry to Morocco, and we caught the 9:35pm train to Fez 5 minutes before...

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...

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