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...

The Last Bits Of My Journey

by Calvin Sun | Aug 10, 2010 | China, How's the weather?, India, Public Transportation, Singapore, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

Layover in Shanghai before returning home. Looking back I realize... And all good things shall come to an end... I party it up with some classy ladies in Singapore on National Day: I return the favor by having their apartment served:...

Homeward Bound

by Calvin Sun | Aug 10, 2010 | Epiphanies on the Road, Lessons Learned, Singapore, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, Uncategorized Stories, What Dreams May Come

What if life turned out the way it does in the movies? Sometimes they can: And I'm staring at a plane that will take me away from this place. Press play. And then start reading. This is our last goodbye I hate to feel the love...

Singin’ In Singapore!

by Calvin Sun | Aug 9, 2010 | Singapore, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

These are my last 2 days of my adventure, and I'm back in Singapore. It's only fitting I sandwich India with this lovely city/state/country. It's only fitting that I end my trip by running into Nikita back from Hyderabad. We left off at "That was...

India In A Nutshell

by Calvin Sun | Aug 8, 2010 | China, Doctor in the House, Fit for Foodies, India, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

Nothing I can write about my last country on this journey will do this subcontinent any justice. This isn't a place to visit or fetishize; it's a place that just is, and demands for you to just be. FOOD Home cooking - everywhere You...

INJURY!!! I Cry: Mahaballapuram

by Calvin Sun | Aug 8, 2010 | Doctor in the House, India, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Public Transportation, Serendipitous!, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

AHHHHH!!!!!!! And what kind of idiot falls into a well? Ok, let's set up the story.It was another crazy WTF coincidential reunion: While at the Chennai bus terminal yesterday, I was trying to seek out other foreigners to check if I was waiting at the...

Chinaman In Chennai

by Calvin Sun | Aug 7, 2010 | India, Serendipitous!, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

I'm in Chennai now, having taken a 6 hour overnight A/C Volvo semi-sleeper bus from Bangalore from 12am to 6am yesterday. All I can say about Chennai so far is that it's not as bad as I had been warned, but it's still a frustrating city to travel around in (no...

Thoughts on the Road

by Calvin Sun | Aug 6, 2010 | Epiphanies on the Road, India, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, What Dreams May Come

Last night: Overnight bus in the middle-of-nowhere, India. A song from a distant past begins to play on the iPod. The last time I heard this song I am also on a night bus: It is exactly 11 years ago in the middle-of-somewhere America and I am returning from a...

Can’t Get No More Than Bangalore!

by Calvin Sun | Aug 6, 2010 | How's the weather?, India, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

What I will miss the most from Bangalore will be the California-style cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow weather. It really is the best I've experienced in all of India, despite the massive pollution that probably has torn a hole in the ozone layer by now. And...

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