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,...

Gijón and Carry On to Ávila-ista Baby!

by Calvin Sun | Jul 20, 2025 | Fail, July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin

Leaving Gijón behind, we continued our journey south, weaving through the lush green hills of Asturias and the wide plains of León, before arriving in the storied, walled city of Ávila. The Journey South Our route today carried us past...

Gijón With the Wind

by Calvin Sun | Jul 19, 2025 | Doctor in the House, How's the weather?, July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Serendipitous!, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin

How’s my ankle holding up? I can be pretty decent at wound care if I say so myself. This is Day 0 — right after a 1500-lb bull stepped on it: Day 4: We arrived in Gijón after a full day of driving and checked into our spots in the Las Arenas area, one...

Bilba-oh No! Brake-ing Bad in Basque Country

by Calvin Sun | Jul 17, 2025 | July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin

With San Sebastián behind us, this morning Nishant, Kenny, David and myself booked a cab to pick up two rental cars from Enterprise, tucked beneath a mall complex just south of the old town. Moments after signing the paperwork, it seemed Nishant’s choice of...

San Sebastincredible

by Calvin Sun | Jul 16, 2025 | Fit for Foodies, July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin, Walking Tours

Leaving behind the festivities of Pamplona, we boarded the 11am Alta direct bus bound for San Sebastián. Our journey was quick, and within 2 hours from Pamplona, we found ourselves walking through the coastal paradise of the Basque Country. ...

How to Be Pamp-Blown-Away in One Day — and Survive a Bull Run

by Calvin Sun | Jul 14, 2025 | Crisis, Fail, Festivals, July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Serendipitous!, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

We arrived just in time for the final stretch of the San Fermin Festival aka the Running of the Bulls, and we’re therefore diving headfirst into the vibrant chaos of Pamplona during this festival -- To get here, I redeemed 90k miles for...

Meet the Monsooners of Tomorrowland 2025!

by Calvin Sun | May 2, 2025 | Introductions

This July 38 of us are heading back to Spain and Tomorrowland, both for the 3rd time with at least 51 others and about half of them returning for another monsoon: Mihaela “Compass”: 19 time monsooner (across 30+ countries!) to Libya, Syria,...

The Tagline I’d Be Proud Of

by Calvin Sun | Jan 13, 2025 | Epiphanies on the Road, Post-travel Reflections

Six years ago, during our entire week without a signal, data, or internet and wandering through the otherworldly landscapes of Socotra Island, Yemen, my friend and co-guide at the time, Pier Doyon, asked me a question that caught me off guard: “What would your...

Bujum-bura My Head in the Sand

by Calvin Sun | Jan 12, 2025 | Burundi, Epiphanies on the Road, Flying Fancy, January 2025: Central Africa, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, You're Going to Miss It...

It's nice to wake up in front of our airport gate, again. For the 3rd time and second to last time back in Addis Ababa as our home base for our Central Africa trip, it was another 2 hour and 45 minute flight from Addis Ababa and this time to...

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