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

Dear Daughters,

by Calvin Sun | August 15, 2026 | Post-travel Reflections, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It... | 4 Comments

Dear daughters, In a rare moment of peace as your mom was recovering in the PACU and you were down the hall in the NICU, I found myself thinking about everyone over the years who made judgments about my lifestyle and said to my face: "Sure, you've been to every...

We Had Twins

by Calvin Sun | July 26, 2026 | Crisis, Doctor in the House, Let me tell you a Story..., Serendipitous!, United States, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

Identical twins. This was a birth by a thousand cuts. A story as old as time, for two lives as new as right now, where spontaneity gets sandwiched between a relentless tango with death. They were born after one of the hardest chapters of our lives: a rare...

Tomorrowland Babies

by Calvin Sun | July 25, 2026 | Festivals | 0 Comments

Four Tomorrowlands in, and this is the first I'll be writing about a trip I planned without having gone. What gives? It's not as if I didn't want to: Right as 40+ of my monsooners were heading off to Belgium, I was in a hospital room in Queens, meeting my...

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 Commando

by Calvin Sun | Jul 21, 2011 | Introspection, Let me tell you a Story..., Sri Lanka, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Travel Warnings, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

He seemed stern at first. Upright posture, concentrating on the world around him without giving too much away. He is a special forces commando from the Sri Lankan military. "We're not allowed to talk about what we do, not even to our wives." I understand what he...

Nostalgic In Chennai & Colombo

by Calvin Sun | Jul 20, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, India, Introspection, Lessons Learned, Let me tell you a Story..., Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Sri Lanka, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, The Nightlife

My last few hours in one of my favorite countries has been a riot. It seems fitting that India wouldn't let me down. Stephanie and I booked a flight out from Chennai to Sri Lanka at 10am the next morning, while Karen was flying out of Chennai to Kochin around...

South India In 2 Days & Auroville

by Calvin Sun | Jul 19, 2011 | Crisis, India, Let me tell you a Story..., Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Travel Warnings

Back on the road: literally hit the ground running. Stephanie, having no interest in seeing Madurai, stayed behind Mumbai an extra few hours while Karen and I headed to Madurai in the morning. After a stopover in Bangalore, we arrived at the "Taj Mahal of...

Pondicherry/Pondichery/Punducherry/Puducherry

by Stephanie Quan | Jul 19, 2011 | India, Let me tell you a Story..., Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

In an attempt to slow down, I decided to skip out on Calvin and Karen's Madurai adventure. Instead, I took a flight yesterday to Chennai and then a bus to Pondicherry. Woke up in Pondicherry this morning to a blackout. With no internet and no way to contact Calvin and...

The Dharavi Slum

by Calvin Sun | Jul 17, 2011 | Crisis, India, Introspection, Mythbusters, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

I learned today that in India, the word "slum" has an official definition where the land is owned by the government, and the property is owned by the people. Back when Mumbai was a port city and textile industry magnet, swaths of open land...

A New POV

by Stephanie Quan | Jul 16, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, India, Introspection, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

As a tourist (or traveler, a term Calvin prefers), we enter each city, see its sights, eat at the restaurants, and try to form a impression. This view, while vast geographically, is inherently shallow. Furthermore, up to this point in my travels, it has somewhat...

Mumbai Introspective

by Calvin Sun | Jul 15, 2011 | India, Introspection, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, The Nightlife, Travel Warnings

Mumbai: just the way I left it. It's been a day since 3 bombs killed 20+ people in 3 heavily populated areas of the center city, and Mumbaikars carry on as usual. The only noticeable signs of the attacks are the tan-clothes police officers stationed every 20...

Geometric Brilliance: Abhaneri & Chand Baori

by Calvin Sun | Jul 14, 2011 | India, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

Before I get into what's going on in Mumbai, I must give a recap from Jaipur. Although last year's trip to Jaipur was pretty cursory, I think I made up for it this time. Take a look at this trailer for Tarsem's "The Fall" and analyze it for a bit: ...

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