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...

What Dreams May Come From Varanasi

by Calvin Sun | Jul 14, 2010 | Doctor in the House, How's the weather?, India, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, What Dreams May Come

I'm now in Varanasi and I can't describe how chaotic this place is next to such beauty of the Ganges river. But before you read this entry, I should preface it with a scene from a movie that inspired me to travel to Varanasi in the first place. Watch this first,...

SOUTH KOREA: Golden Biscuit

by Annah Kim | Jul 13, 2010 | South Korea, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

So- for some reason, when I try to post the videos that I took yesterday... The blog rejects them. I'm going to try later but for now, I just wanted to give an update on how I fit in here. Everyone speaks to me in Korean- but I think that's also because there are very...

Hello From New Delhi Airport

by Calvin Sun | Jul 13, 2010 | India, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

What a nice airport; they even have a lounge specifically for American Express card holders (got a free breakfast and got to rewatch Silence of the Lambs on a plush couch) Now on my way to the Hindu spiritual capital of Varanasi, alone. This should be interesting.

Calcutta: Street Life, Mother Teresa, Bridges, & Thunderstorms

by Calvin Sun | Jul 12, 2010 | India, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

Some highlights while exploring Calcutta on my own: Tanmay then picked me up later that afternoon and took me and Steffi out on a boat ride by Vidyasagar Setu Bridge. He warned us not to touch or drink the water as "it has the very same consistency...

INDIA: Already Enamoured

by Calvin Sun | Jul 12, 2010 | India, Serendipitous!, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, The Nightlife

I've only been here for 24 hours, and I'm already hanging out with Steffi (my new German friend I had met yesterday at the airport), Tanmay (a mutual friend of Vaibhav who found me wandering in the streets of Calcutta), and a few of Tanmay's local...

SOUTH KOREA: Day 2

by Annah Kim | Jul 12, 2010 | Fail, Lessons Learned, Public Transportation, South Korea, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, Uncategorized Stories

So after my run and encounter with the old man this afternoon, I headed out for some sightseeing. Before I start, however, this is an example of the machines that I was talking about in an earlier post. 1. National War Memorial: So I hopped on the subway - line...

INDIA: It’s Good To Be Back

by Calvin Sun | Jul 12, 2010 | India, Serendipitous!, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

My journey from Singapore to Calcutta was not easy. Still recovering from a night in Singapore without sleep (albeit a fun one), I barely napped in my one hour flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur where I waited over 2 hours in line to check-in for my AirAsia...

SOUTH KOREA: Old Man Rants

by Annah Kim | Jul 12, 2010 | South Korea, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, Uncategorized Stories

So this afternoon, when Becky went off to work, I went for a run in the park next to her apartment. Cool thing - there are also these workout machines that use your weight (instead of adjustable weights) inside the park as well! So after you run on the track that runs...

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