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...

Constantinople And The Ottoman Empire

by Stephanie Quan | Jun 13, 2011 | Lessons Learned, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Türkiye (Turkey)

I haven't done much travel abroad. Well, "difficult traveling" that is. I've spent two spring breaks in London and Paris (which may as well have been as diffıcult as goıng to Maine and Quebec) and been on a tour of China with my family when I was 14 (a very very...

From Holy Crap To Holy Cappadocia

by Calvin Sun | Jun 13, 2011 | Crisis, Public Transportation, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Türkiye (Turkey)

With whatever luck I get with running into people, I'm cursed when it comes to waiting for people at the airport. Yesterday as I waited outside arrivals to pick up my travel partner Stephanie, she was waiting for me to pick her up inside at baggage claims....

Istanbul: Day 1

by Calvin Sun | Jun 12, 2011 | Fail, Let me tell you a Story..., Serendipitous!, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Türkiye (Turkey)

Before I begin my first entry of the summer, I must mention how Monsoon Diaries' has an unexplainable inclination for serendipity, and this time, excruciating near-misses: The MOMENT I stepped off my one-way flight from NYC to Istanbul, a friend of mine was getting on...

Just Landed In Istanbul

by Calvin Sun | Jun 12, 2011 | Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Türkiye (Turkey)

Just landed 10min ago. First order of business? Sipping on some Turkish coffee. Will write more when I...actually leave the airport and see things.

And Here We Go…

by Calvin Sun | Jun 11, 2011 | Pre-travel Preparations

"I'm leaving...on a jet plane..." See you on the other side of the world, folks.

Down To The Very Last Minute.

by Calvin Sun | Jun 10, 2011 | Pre-travel Preparations, What to Pack

The last exam of my first year of medical school ended 8 hours ago ago, which means I just started packing 3 hours ago. So what do you bring when you're on the road in 15 countries for 2+ months? [column width="47%"...

10 days left.

by Calvin Sun | May 31, 2011 | Pre-travel Preparations, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea

10 days left until 62 days in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, UAE, Nepal, Kashmir, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China, North Korea, and Singapore.

The Myanmar/Burma Visa Requirements For U.S. Citizens

by Calvin Sun | May 10, 2011 | Getting that VISA, Lessons Learned, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Myanmar, Pre-travel Preparations

I was just about to snail mail my visa application to the Myanmar Embassy in Washington D.C. until I realized that one of their permanent missions/consulates in NYC was only 2 blocks away from where I live. AWESOME. Thinking it was going to be a simple endeavor,...

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