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,...

How Are The Kids?

by Calvin Sun | Jun 28, 2011 | Community Service, Fit for Foodies, Nepal, Serendipitous!, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Before I post up my entry on Everest, I should mention our unexpected detour to Hindu Vidyapeeth (HVP) last night. HVP is a non-profit educational trust that enrolls Nepalese children from regions as far as Myanmar and provides them a quality education and prepares...

Bus Ride From Hell Part 2

by Calvin Sun | Jun 28, 2011 | Let me tell you a Story..., Nepal, Public Transportation, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

I was warned about this. One day someone will ask me what is the worst bus I've ever ridden. Would it be a 16 hour overnight bus from Udaipur to Mumbai where the A/C dripped water on my face for half the time? Would it be a 10 hour overnight bus from Hyderabad to...

Bus Ride From Hell

by Stephanie Quan | Jun 28, 2011 | Let me tell you a Story..., Nepal, Public Transportation, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

The bus ride that no one but Calvin and I found hilarious, then not so hilarious In Nepal, the transportation is..well...not like Turkey's. So to travel approximately 200 km, we alloted a day each way. The ride to Pokhara, was a little uncomfortable and long,...

Pokhara By The Air, And Tibetan Refugee Camps

by Calvin Sun | Jun 27, 2011 | Fail, Introspection, Mythbusters, Nepal, Public Transportation, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, The Nightlife

Went paragliding this morning...and didn't die. Our place where we were staying, Karma Guesthouse (highly recommended! 250 rupees per person, which is around $3-4 USD), arranged it for us: It's about $78 USD to get on a 9:30am pickup van that took me to the top of a...

Pokhara By The Lake

by Calvin Sun | Jun 26, 2011 | Fit for Foodies, Nepal, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

Pokhara is a backpacker haven, especially for those looking for a respite from the hullabaloo of Kathmandu. But because of this allure, it's hard to get away from other tourists, unless you're going during low season (i.e. right now). But the downside to having...

“The Story With Animals Is The Better Story.”

by Calvin Sun | Jun 25, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, Introspection, Let me tell you a Story..., Nepal, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, What Dreams May Come

Doubt is useful for awhile. . . . But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.-- Life of Pi, Chapter 7In the course of 6 hours on the bus from Kathmandu to Pokahara I have finished Yann...

From Kathmandu To Pokhara

by Calvin Sun | Jun 25, 2011 | How Did You Do That?, Let me tell you a Story..., Nepal, Public Transportation, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

Other than metaphysical discoveries during the trip, our ride to Pokhara from Kathmandu was everything you'd expect from a local bus in the subcontinent: Departs 15 minutes earlier than scheduled As a result, had to be flagged down by 2 American travelers running as...

Kavorting About Kathmandu

by Calvin Sun | Jun 24, 2011 | Nepal, Serendipitous!, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

Last February I talked to a girl named Sadikchya Malla for 5 minutes at a conference. Now she's my personal tour guide in her native Kathmandu. I sought her out after remembering how she was born and raised in Kathmandu before coming to study at Syracuse University in...

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