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...

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...

Kathmandu. Holy Crap.

by Stephanie Quan | Jun 24, 2011 | Nepal, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

In a shisha bar listening to a band cover Pink Floyd. It may be low tourist season, but I'm having a ball. Momos, monkey temples, monsoon rains...pictures to come.

Cared for By Dubai, Winded By Kathmandu

by Calvin Sun | Jun 23, 2011 | Nepal, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, United Arab Emirates, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Our 16 hours in Dubai was no less than magical. It completely reaffirmed my belief in humanity; that there are people in the world who trust in the goodness of others and will help each other in realizing their personal legends. Our 16 hours here demonstrated...

Dubai: “Because We Can.”

by Stephanie Quan | Jun 23, 2011 | Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, United Arab Emirates

"If there is one thing I want you take away from this trip", Calvin's friend Mona said leaning around the taxi passenger seat, "it is that there are beautiful soulful people here. People who want to create and do good." Having spent the hour and a half getting...

« Older Entries

Next Entries »