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...

Goa, India

by Annah Kim | May 5, 2010 | *Countries, India, Pre-travel Preparations, Summer 2010: Southeast Asia & India, The Nightlife

Some Highlights that I want to hit from NY Times' Travel Journal: "BOLLYWOOD BOOZE CRUISE Before plunging into Goa’s various seaside idylls, jump into a Bollywood-style dance party on a sunset cruise along the Mandovi River... SPICY SOJOURN Returning from the...

Testing!

by Calvin Sun | May 1, 2010 | Pre-travel Preparations

Checking out different blogs before we head for SEA (Southeast Asia)!

Testing Posterous!

by Calvin Sun | May 1, 2010 | Pre-travel Preparations

First official post. Anything prior to this entry is just a future version of myself trying to recall fond memories of previous trips that had inspired The Monsoon Diaries in the first place (i.e. India, Egypt). Check out this blog, which is badass. "Learn to rules so...

Excerpts from Calvin D. Sun’s (ECAASU Board of Directors) Keynote Address at PURSUIT

by Calvin Sun | Apr 17, 2010 | Speeches

University of VirginiaSaturday, April 17th10:00 A.M. ESTWell that was certainly embarrassing. I don’t know why I signed up to do that but I hope that got your attention. I don’t know how breakdancing will save the world, but it did save MTV’s late...

Forming A Monsoon: Return to Cairo

by Calvin Sun | Jan 7, 2010 | Egypt, Epiphanies on the Road, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2009: Egypt

Only mere moments of a time prior, I had been paralyzed by fear in Cairo, unwilling to leave the train station because I was so afraid of wandering around a foreign country alone and without a plan. But Cairo is where I would harness an impetuously delusional...

Forming A Monsoon: Luxor-ious!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 5, 2010 | Egypt, How's the weather?, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2009: Egypt

From Alexandria I headed south towards Luxor. I took an overnight train from Alexandria to Cairo, wandered around the capital, and then took another overnight train from Cairo to Luxor. Around this point I was starting to get the hang of this...

Forming A Monsoon: To The Lighthouse – Alexandria

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2010 | Egypt, Walking Tours, Winter 2009: Egypt

From Alone in Cairo:10pm. I remember sitting alone in a train station in Cairo. The sun had set, it was getting dark, and I had nothing on me except for a backpack and a wallet. I had no hostel to stay at and I had no plan to follow. Throngs of people...

Forming A Monsoon: Alone In Cairo

by Calvin Sun | Jan 2, 2010 | Egypt, Epiphanies on the Road, Uncategorized Stories, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2009: Egypt

The surprise came, well, at a surprise. I was assured -- after my ill-advised bet that got me to Egypt in the first place -- that I wouldn't have to worry about a thing; I didn't need to plan that much, I didn't need to carry too many things, and that I...

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