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

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...

The Coolest Hotel in Lapland (Literally)

by Calvin Sun | February 7, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

After sneaking in some sugar donuts just in time before Kahvila Lohihovi Oy closed at 5pm, we continued our 2 hour drive south from Ylläs to the Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos, about 30 minutes north of Rovaniemi on the shores of Lake Lehtojärvi....

Ylläs Hear Me Out

by Calvin Sun | February 6, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

How This Trip Happened On September 30, 2025, a monsooner named Yuhan — who's been on many trips with me — randomly invited me to watch her favorite anime that had a surprise 2-week return to theaters: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, originally released in 2006. I...

Sundance’s Last Dance: Park City, UT

by Calvin Sun | January 27, 2026 | How's the weather?, United States, Utah | 0 Comments

Once again we're gathering friends across time zones and milestones; some have flown in from Philly, others from NYC, one flying over from Dallas just for the weekend to make new friends, all converging together this week on a mountain town for a week of...

Freetown at Last

by Calvin Sun | Feb 8, 2023 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Doctor in the House, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Layovers, Sierra Leone

With 6 days of Burkina Faso behind us, it became to mentally prepare for my long marathon of flights back home.Facing numerous options to fly back home to NYC via Brussels, Lisbon, or Paris, I stumbled upon an incredible "West Africa" hopper itinerary on...

Walking With a S’Ouaga-dougou

by Calvin Sun | Feb 7, 2023 | Burkina Faso, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Serendipitous!, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

This morning at 8am we left our hotel at Niorida and made an early trip back to Ouagadougou by first stopping at Laongo Granite Park. Here, over 2000 sculptures carved into stone greet visitors, while also expressing the history, culture,...

The Fresh Prince of Tiébélé-Air

by Calvin Sun | Feb 6, 2023 | Burkina Faso, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

As if we hadn't had enough of these long West Africa road trips, today takes another toll on us with a 5 hour long road-trip to Tiébélé while passing through Pô, the city where the military first rebelled in 1983 to overthrow the president and brought...

Have You Watched Bobo Dioulasso Yet?

by Calvin Sun | Feb 5, 2023 | Burkina Faso, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

This morning we explored the old neighborhood of Bobo Dioulasso for a feeling of what life was like in old Burkina Faso when it was colonized and referred to as the Upper Volta.Its present name, Burkina Faso, was given by Thomas Sankara and translates as “The...

Just Sin-dou It!

by Calvin Sun | Feb 4, 2023 | Burkina Faso, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea

We woke up this morning at 5:30am for a 6am departure from our hotel in Banfora, where missing breakfast became an afterthought as we drove out for an early sunrise boat trip on the Tengrela Lake. Trusting our fate to the lake, we paddled out to...

I Came Ban-fora Good Time!

by Calvin Sun | Feb 3, 2023 | Burkina Faso, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After breakfast in Ouagadougou we set off at 7am for a grueling 10.5 hour drive to Banfora via passing through Dedougou and Bobo Dioulasso, with a handful of stops and a quick half an hour lunch. The ride was forced to be interesting over intense...

Burkina Faso La Ti Do!

by Calvin Sun | Feb 2, 2023 | Burkina Faso, February 2023: The Western Africa Hopper - Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea

I always follow through! I had originally planned to visit Burkina Faso last January right after my trip in Mali but when a coup d'etat took place in Burkina Faso's capital city on January 23, about 2 days before I was supposed to visit, I ended up deferring...

When The Grand Bassam Drops

by Calvin Sun | Jan 16, 2023 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Côte d'Ivoire, January 2023: Côte d'Ivoire, Layovers, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Weekend Trips

With extra time and running an hour ahead of schedule after a late morning in Yamoussoukro, Dayo and I agreed to cram in a 4 hour onward drive and detour to visit Grand-Bassam: a UNESCO World Heritage site and town in the southeastern part of the Ivory Coast,...

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