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...

How It Feels To Be Home

by Calvin Sun | Dec 20, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Hong Kong, Post-travel Reflections

So I'm back home and the above photo describes exactly how I feel.

Heading Home

by Calvin Sun | Dec 19, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, Hong Kong

How can a trip be complete without something getting served? Thanks to Vicky for coming out to see me a day after getting her wisdom teeth pulled! We haven't seen each other for at least 6 years (since we were seniors in high school), and it was...

Hong Kong By Night

by Calvin Sun | Dec 18, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, Hong Kong, The Nightlife

I think my trip in Hong Kong has been defined by limitless amounts of good food. Like being in NYC Chinatown but much much better. After what seemed like a 15 course dinner, I wandered about a few hotels along the river: And then my brother Linus...

Dim Sum For The Soul (And The World’s Longest Escalator System)

by Calvin Sun | Dec 18, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, Hong Kong, How's the weather?

UPDATE: I added some videos of the drive in and through Hong Kong - Out of the Airport and into the Maw I have to say, the 60ºF weather here is a welcome respite from the biting 20ºF I experienced right before leaving NYC. It's funny to see so many people here walking...

Finally Out Of The Airport And Into The Maw

by Calvin Sun | Dec 17, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Hong Kong

I realized that Hong Kong is the city I've been to the most without actually being in it. I passed through Hong Kong's HKG Airport to get into Manila, Surabaya, Taipei, and scores of other destinations in Asia throughout my life but never once have I stepped...

In Vancouver

by Calvin Sun | Dec 17, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Canada, Hong Kong, Layovers, Uncategorized Stories

Well this is a first for me. Currently at a technical stop in Vancouver, Canada where I'm one of maybe 5 passengers who have remained on the plane for the subsequent flight to Hong Kong. I was awoken by a flurry of attendants engaged in a frantic buzz in...

Everything I Missed About Airports

by Calvin Sun | Dec 16, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Epiphanies on the Road, Hong Kong, Pre-travel Preparations

I won't lie, the first thing that came over me when I stepped into JFK Airport 30 minutes ago was "Again?!" "Ay, but I'm tired." Like a familiar scent the sterile linoleum gloss of JFK Airport reminded me everything I hated about flying: long lines, either...

Leaving For Hong Kong In 6 Hours

by Calvin Sun | Dec 16, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Hong Kong, Pre-travel Preparations, What to Pack

Stayed up late last night to do some bare bones packing: Toothbrush 2 shirts 2 pieces of underwear 2 pairs of socks 2 pairs of pants A keffiyeh A fleece A camera A pair of shoes I'll be in the air for about 20 hours and on the ground for around 24 hours, then...

« Older Entries

Next Entries »