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...

This Weekend: HONG KONG In 24 Hours

by Calvin Sun | Dec 14, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Hong Kong, Our Next Adventure

So this weekend - don't ask me why - I'll be traveling to Hong Kong for a total of 24 hours, before heading back to NYC. Yes, just like my whirlwind trips to Taiwan and San Diego, it'll be another blitzkrieg mission to see as much as I can in a small amount of...

This Winter: MEXICO

by Calvin Sun | Nov 27, 2010 | Doctor in the House, Mexico, Our Next Adventure, Pre-travel Preparations

Monsoon Diaries will be heading to Mexico this winter. My fellow medical students and I will be undertaking an international medical development project with an organization called One Small House. For the last 10 years, One Small House has built homes for...

Monsoon Diaries By The Numbers Pt. 2

by Calvin Sun | Oct 11, 2010 | Post-travel Reflections

Just calculated the number of miles I traveled this summer: 39,030.04 miles or 62,812.76 kilometers That's 14,120.49 miles more than -- or approximately 1.6x -- the circumference of the Earth.

Planning Ahead

by Calvin Sun | Oct 10, 2010 | Our Next Adventure, Pre-travel Preparations

I'm deciding on the trip to happen next year, an 8-10 week hiatus of what possibly could be my last real summer vacation for many many years.The options in order of perceived difficulty:1) Europasia on a Rail: Trans-Siberian Railway Network from Russia - Mongolia -...

Sunny San Diego

by Calvin Sun | Sep 26, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, California, United States

The wedding went off without a hitch and joy was experienced by all. I managed to get some great shots of The Prado at Balboa Park, but it's mostly of family and happy people. Here are some of my favorites:

San Diego!

by Calvin Sun | Sep 24, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, California, United States

After a 5 hour flight from Newark, NJ to San Diego, I'm here! Beautiful sunshine, blue waters, unlimited palm trees. And just like what happened when I was in Taipei, no more than 56 seconds after updating my facebook status about being in San Diego, an old friend...

22 Hours In San Diego

by Calvin Sun | Sep 23, 2010 | Blitzkrieg!!!, California, United States

Tomorrow I'm bound for San Diego and pulling an emergency "Taipei" situation where I'll be there for 22 hours. Why emergency? Well, in 3 days I have my first medical school block exam back in Brooklyn and I'm not entirely prepared. But I can't let you down without...

OK, You PERVERTS And DRAMA QUEENS! (Most Popular Entries)

by Calvin Sun | Aug 16, 2010 | Post-travel Reflections, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

My first day of med school. Will I ever travel again? The Monsoon Diaries' 10 most POPULAR posts ...courtesy of Google Analytics 10. June 24th, 2010 - Mae Sot, Thailand - The Thing About Squat Toilets 83 visits, 83 unique visitors, 03:09 average visit time (winner for...

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