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,...

It’s Always A “Praia”-lly a Good Time To Travel!

by Calvin Sun | Jul 19, 2022 | Cape Verde, Getting that VISA, July 2022: Cape Verde, Walking Tours

5 days off in the middle of summer, and flights dropping down to $800 roundtrip from NYC to Cape Verde...what's not to like? Taking advantage of the new (just opened up 10 months ago!) Air Senegal Flight HC408 route, direct from NYC to DSS (NYC to Dakar), my...

You’re Going to Miss … Svalbard

by Calvin Sun | Jul 11, 2022 | Svalbard, You're Going to Miss It...

PRESS play and read the post with the music (and feel free to even watch it; it's very applicable) . . . You're going to miss hearing about trip to a region on Earth you never heard of before, signing up from as far back as 3 years to as...

The Tromsø Card

by Calvin Sun | Jun 28, 2022 | June 2022: Svalbard, Norway

After 6 days off the grid in Svalbard, 5 of our 15 decided to join my whimsical decision to visit Tromsø on the way back home.After a dramatic goodbye and making up for missing our bus to the airport, 6 of us took the 2:45pm flight out from Longyearbyen to...

Svalbard Day 7: Colesbukta

by Calvin Sun | Jun 26, 2022 | Fail, June 2022: Svalbard, Norway, Svalbard, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Last day. Our last stop before our voyage comes to an end is at Colesbukta, a former Russian coal mining settlement long since abandoned. A surreal paradise of the abandoned, let the buildings speak for themselves. Or the local...

Svalbard Day 6: Kongsfjorden & Engelskbukta

by Calvin Sun | Jun 25, 2022 | June 2022: Svalbard, Norway, Svalbard, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After some drama suturing up my knee last night, I slept in and skipped breakfast as our ship sailed into Kongsfjorden, an expansive fjord spilling with glaciers. By mid morning we then moored off Ny Ålesund, one of the northernmost settlements in...

Svalbard Day 5: Liefdefjorden, Jakobsenbukta, Monacobreen

by Calvin Sun | Jun 24, 2022 | June 2022: Svalbard, Norway, Svalbard, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After a day on pack ice northwest of Svalbard and recovering from karaoke the night before, today we sailed into Woodfjorden, Andrée Land. The name Woodfjorden is referring to the large amounts of driftwood that cover some beaches. We then landed at...

Svalbard Day 4: Northern Pack Ice

by Calvin Sun | Jun 23, 2022 | June 2022: Svalbard, Norway, Svalbard, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Today was a day of entirely sailing, where we headed into the unreal views of endless pack ice to the northwest of Svalbard. So I set up my office for the day: We watched endless beauty at 80º Latitude. A day totally...

Svalbard Day 3: The Northwest; Virgohamna, Smeerenburg & Ytre Norskoya

by Calvin Sun | Jun 22, 2022 | June 2022: Svalbard, Norway, Svalbard, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After breakfast on the ship for our third day we approached Virgohamna. Our group would luck out this morning in getting randomly selected first for kayaking, taking advantage of the low wind speed and calm waters here. So at 9am we...

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