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,...

Meet the Monsooners to Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau!

by Calvin Sun | Nov 18, 2022 | Introductions

Introducing our next group of monsooners joining me for my first West African monsoon since Mali! . . . And I'm especially grateful to those returning with me -- Evan Danek, 9 time monsooner to Off The Eastern Coast Of Africa / The Indian Ocean, North Pakistan,...

Galápagos Day 5: North Seymour

by Calvin Sun | Nov 13, 2022 | Galápagos Islands, November 2022: Galápagos Islands

On our last morning and right before our 11am flights back to Guayaquil and Quito, we woke up at an early 6am call for a quick last minute morning visit to North Seymour: An island formed at the same time and by the same process - an uplifting of undersea lava -...

Galápagos Day 4: Santiago & Bartolomé

by Calvin Sun | Nov 12, 2022 | Galápagos Islands, November 2022: Galápagos Islands

For our fourth and last full day in the Galápagos, we arrived at Sullivan Bay on the eastern coast of Santiago Island. Here we took a break from all the fearless wildlife and focused instead on the lesser known geology and volcanic origins of the...

Galápagos Day 3: Genovesa & Darwin Bay

by Calvin Sun | Nov 11, 2022 | Galápagos Islands, November 2022: Galápagos Islands

After a 5-6 hour sail last night to reach the northern island of Genovesa by 2am, we woke up to a 7th grade science throwback: Darwin Bay is a must-visit site for evolution supporters and birdwatchers. Starting with a 9am landing on a white...

Galápagos Day 2: Santa Cruz

by Calvin Sun | Nov 10, 2022 | Galápagos Islands, November 2022: Galápagos Islands

The next morning we woke up for breakfast and coffee ... along with a sea lion who hitched a ride on our boat with friends last night and had kept some of us up! Our first stop this morning was Black Turtle cove, which we could only reach by our...

Galápagos Day 1: Baltra Island & South Plaza

by Calvin Sun | Nov 9, 2022 | Galápagos Islands, November 2022: Galápagos Islands

Our Galápagos adventure begins! After a full day in Guayaquil, we woke up at 6:30am and headed first thing in the morning to GYE airport on the domestic side. Once arriving at departures, we registered and paid the $100 USD in cash (they only accept cash)(...

Gua-Wh-yaquil Always Travel

by Calvin Sun | Nov 8, 2022 | Ecuador, Fit for Foodies, Galápagos Islands, Layovers, Walking Tours

So what's life like after publishing your first book? Staying grounded for an abnormally long 3 months (it's not often you get a book out in the world!), I took the edge off with 2 weekends of camping. However, very little else...

Mykines: A Puffin Disney World

by Calvin Sun | Aug 27, 2022 | August 2023: The Faroe Islands, Faroe Islands, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

As Bruce was leaving a day earlier, we took that as an opportunity to not only drop him off with a free ride to the airport on Vagar island and then continue onwards for 10:45am Ferry #36 at Sørvágur. Bruce's flight departure, however, was then delayed an hour,...

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