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...

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.

CVS Pharmacy

by Annah Kim | May 29, 2010 | Doctor in the House, Pre-travel Preparations, Uncategorized Stories

So interesting bit -- I go to pick up my anti-malarial drugs and other SEA-related prescriptions from CVS to see that the pharmacy wrote "Asia" on my prescription bag?

Packing?

by Annah Kim | May 28, 2010 | Pre-travel Preparations

Suddenly it's come time to actually put all of the things that I will be needing on this trip into my backpack. Staring at that very large pack, I have no idea where to start. I've also come to the conclusion[s] that: 1. It really doesn't matter how it's packed en...

Death = Bad; Honesty = Good

by Calvin Sun | May 28, 2010 | Pre-travel Preparations, Uncategorized Stories, United States

So far on my goodbye tour, I've been taking down a mental survey of the kind of things people say right before parting... "Have fun!" - 2 people "I'm so excited for you!" - 2 people "Take care!" - 3 people "Please don't die." - 8 people "You're going to come...

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