The Monsoon Diaries: How to travel the world with no time or money -

Grenada Más

by Calvin Sun | November 4, 2025 | Grenada, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End | 0 Comments

🇬🇩 190 down. 3 to go. After our 3 day stay in Dominica, we took a long hour-and-a-half drive back to the airport from our Portsmouth lodgings, stopping for a quick photo opportunity along the way. Dominica's airport is tiny. You...

Dominica-n’t Miss This

by Calvin Sun | November 1, 2025 | Dominica, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

From St. Vincent, we boarded InterCaribbean Airways JY 717 at 12:20pm. Their new airport, however, was built just 8 years ago and still has some operational quirks. The staff double-printed my first leg itinerary from St. Vincent to Barbados without including...

Dead Men Tell No Layovers: St. Vincent & The Grenadines in 12 Hours

by Calvin Sun | October 29, 2025 | Layovers, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 0 Comments

Fresh off a quick overnight in Grenada (courtesy of a free JetBlue voucher from last October's Welcome to Chinatown gala), we touched down at Maurice Bishop International Airport at 1:53pm. This marked the beginning of a 3-country Caribbean...

Getting Away With Robbinsville: The Akshardham Redemption

by Calvin Sun | October 6, 2025 | Camping, Layovers, New Jersey, October 2025: Camping in Robbinsville | 0 Comments

One of my more unique camping trips to have monsooned; this is what happens when you plan a camping trip months in advance just to visit a temple arguably worth seeing as a world-class destination. I was stuck at work all day Friday as Eddie took the initiative...

A Quick Halifax Check

by Calvin Sun | September 12, 2025 | Layovers, Lessons Learned, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Walking Tours | 0 Comments

After two days in Saint-Pierre (and a turbulent ferry ride to Miquelon and back), we boarded an hour-and-a-half direct Air Saint-Pierre 9am flight to Halifax, landing around 9:30am local time (Halifax runs an hour behind Saint-Pierre), Our onward...

Miquelon Impossible

by Calvin Sun | September 11, 2025 | Doctor in the House, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

Sometimes the most spontaneous detours leave the strongest impressions. That morning in Saint Pierre, we hadn't planned on leaving the island. But after completing two walking tours around St. Pierre and checking the ferry schedule, we realized we could still...

48 Hours in a Little Saint-Pierre-ce of France

by Calvin Sun | September 11, 2025 | Saint Pierre and Miquelon, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

After three days soaking in St. John's charm, we dropped off our rental car at YYT Saint John's airport to catch the rare 5pm direct flight (PH1127) via Air Saint-Pierre to Saint-Pierre & Miquelon: one of the few weekly connections between Newfoundland and...

Don’t Be Dildo-Dallying

by Calvin Sun | September 9, 2025 | Canada, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

While based in St. John's, we took a spontaneous day trip by rental car to the now-famous town of Dildo. You'll know when you arrive; they're incredibly proud of their distinctive name. Though a vocal minority has repeatedly raised referendums to...

St. John’s: The Eastern Edge of Everything Everywhere All At Once

by Calvin Sun | September 9, 2025 | Canada, September 2025: Newfoundland to Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

Months ago I decided to gift myself a week off after Labor Day...simply because I could. After a year as wild as this past one, I craved actual and intentional self-prioritization to restore some balance. Finding fares under $200, I booked a morning departure:...

Singapore Airlines Business Class FRA-JFK

by Calvin Sun | August 5, 2025 | Flying Fancy, Germany, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin | 0 Comments

After a slow morning walk and talking about our villain (antihero?) origin stories in Berlin, I hugged Daniela and Gabe goodbye, hopped on the tram for a few stops, went underground for the metro, and made it back to the hostel in time for a 1:30pm check out. Nisha,...

Okay So, Another Loss Of Property

by Annah Kim | Jun 1, 2010 | Fail, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, The Philippines, Uncategorized Stories

So- Lesson number... 5? This morning while I was exchanging my traveler's checks for cash, someone pickpocketed my blackberry off of me. It was sitting in my side pocket and I wasn't watching it as I reached for my passport. Nothing else was stolen! Just my only...

First Fail.

by Calvin Sun | Jun 1, 2010 | Fail, Lessons Learned, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, The Philippines, Uncategorized Stories

Annah just got her Blackberry stolen while she was exchanging traveler's cheques. The worst part is that she was using her phone only 3 minutes before she got pickpocketed. Despite 10 minutes backtracking our steps and searching for her phone in a random sunshower, we...

DAY 1: Manila, The Phillipines

by Calvin Sun | Jun 1, 2010 | Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, The Philippines, Uncategorized Stories

It's already been an ordeal this morning trying to find a working computer terminal at where we're staying, so I gave up and walked across the street to this gamer internet café to get this post up.So we finally made it into Manila last night at midnight. I have to...

Annah’s First Impressions Of The Philippines

by Annah Kim | Jun 1, 2010 | Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, The Philippines

Well, I only arrived in the Philippines a few hours ago and I've already started to learn a couple of things. 1. Driving back from the airport in a van sent from the hostel/hotel, I saw a lot of fun lights, felt the warm, humid air, and felt relatively comfortable....

JFK International Airport and Landing in Hong Kong

by Annah Kim | Jun 1, 2010 | Lessons Learned, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India

At John F. Kennedy International Airport, we arrived at check-in to learn that we need to have proof of our travels out of the Philippines printed so that we can prove to customs that we're not trying to immigrate into the Philippines, nor are we trying to avoid...

Arrival In Hong Kong!

by Calvin Sun | Jun 1, 2010 | Hong Kong, Lessons Learned, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, Uncategorized Stories

Annah, Corinne and I just arrived in Hong Kong, waiting on our connecting flight to Manila. Just bought 2 bottles of juices (strawberry dragonfruit FTW) to get access to this slow computer. I dread how slow internet might be when we hit SE Asia.So not even 2 hours...

The Things We Carried

by Calvin Sun | May 31, 2010 | Pre-travel Preparations, United States, What to Pack

We begin today! One of the original titles for this blog was going to be "The Rice They Carried." But sadly, I already had used that title for a docu-drama/mockumentary I made on Asian American stereotypes back in high school (The Rice They Carried). However, I'm no...

Recovering From A Going Away Party

by Calvin Sun | May 30, 2010 | Pre-travel Preparations, The Nightlife, United States

My going away party was last night. I'm going to miss this city. Currently going over last minute things for packing . . . I'm leaving in about 24 hours.

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