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

The Tourist Visa & E-Visa For Libya for USA Passports

by Calvin Sun | April 1, 2024 | Getting that VISA | 0 Comments

One month we're going somewhere straightforward, the other...emerging tourism in more off-the-beaten-path destinations like Libya. So what does it take to be one of the first Westerners to be issued visas as visitors and tourists?We first submitted copies of our...

Meet the Monsooners to Libya!

by Calvin Sun | March 11, 2024 | Introductions | 0 Comments

Like Syria, it's a great life where even if I'm heading to a place like Libya, a wonderful group of great people will always come along. It has happened before, it has happened again, and again, and it is happening again. People who follow through. People who...

Conjuring Some Majuro-ic

by Calvin Sun | March 3, 2024 | Flying Fancy, Hawaii, March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

After we took off from Pohnpei, we continued on United Airlines' island hopper Flight 133, which flies on Sundays and Wednesdays. Pro-tip: if you fly on the Wednesday schedule, you'll be lucky to add on a stop in Kosrae, another island of the Micronesia island...

The Pohnpei That Survived The Volcano

by Calvin Sun | March 3, 2024 | March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Micronesia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

After new passengers from Chuuk boarded, I finally got my chance to pee as they close the bathrooms during landing for cleaning. Delayed gratification. We then forged ahead to Pohnpei, taking off at 12:10pm. I recommend sitting on the right side when landing...

Onboard the Choo-Chuuk Plane

by Calvin Sun | March 3, 2024 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Crisis, Doctor in the House, March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Micronesia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 3 Comments

Here we go! I finally get to experience the United Airlines famed Pacific island hopper in the other direction after taking a part of it 4 years ago.Probably the most burning question is where to sit:If you're flying from GUM to HNL (eastwards), sit on the right...

The Pacific Island Hopper: UA 133/155

by Calvin Sun | March 3, 2024 | Crisis, Doctor in the House, March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Micronesia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

Can’t Stop Yappin’ About Yap Day

by Calvin Sun | March 2, 2024 | March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Micronesia, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

With Guam behind us, we flew on our midnight United Airlines flight 185 out to Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia, landing at around 1:30am in the morning. Yap is one of the 4 states of Micronesia and the land of stone money (more on that...

Can I Have a Piece of Guam?

by Calvin Sun | February 27, 2024 | March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper | 0 Comments

Good morning from Saipan: After a full day exploring Saipan, the next morning felt like it was moving pretty straightforward: I had gotten 9 full hours of sleep, was promptly picked up by our taxi driver and guide Sumon at 7:45am, and even got upgraded to...

Please Notice Me, Saipan!

by Calvin Sun | February 26, 2024 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fail, Layovers, March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Northern Mariana Islands, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

From Palau, and having snuck in 4 hours of sleep from 8pm-midnight, we boarded the 2:05am United Airlines Flight #158 to Guam, landing at 5:10am underslept and miserable. Since Guam is a U.S. territory, transiting in Guam work as if you were entering...

Palau Deck!

by Calvin Sun | February 25, 2024 | March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Palau, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

After 10 days in snowpowderalypse paradise, I returned from Niseko to CTS airport on an early morning shuttle bus to make my 2:10pm flight to Taiwan. Arriving in the evening, I met up with Stephanie Liu, a derm-pathologist doctor who found me on the...

More Than Blood, “Badagry,” or Your College Degree…

by Calvin Sun | Dec 30, 2023 | Crisis, Fail, Nigeria, Serendipitous!, Winter 2023: The Gulf of Guinea

With 2 full days in Lagos behind us, the 3 of us began our West Africa roadtrip westwards with a 2 hour and 45 minute's drive from Lagos to Badagry.About half an hour into the drive, Sapphire Residences texted me on What's App saying they just found I had left...

“La-go”s to Nigeria!

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2023 | Crisis, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Nigeria, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2023: The Gulf of Guinea

We shall not be deterred by obscure visa rules! Despite numerous people having signed up and then become demoralized by the concerns over safety as a tourist in Nigeria, the 3 of us remaining -- Letti, Sandy, and myself -- decided to forge ahead to make it here...

Meet the Gulf of Guineans!

by Calvin Sun | Dec 9, 2023 | Introductions

For the first time since May 2019 we were almost going to finally have a monsoon with all first time monsooners! But thanks to a late game time arrival by Priyanka (from our Syria trip!) and Karthik coming to visit his family in Lagos, both of them are going to...

La Gran Canaria In The Coalmine

by Calvin Sun | Nov 29, 2023 | Canary Islands, Crisis, Fail, November 2023: The Canary Islands, Spain, Weekend Trips

The plan was to get up at 8:30am, pick up our rental car parked on the street to drive to the airport by 9:15am, and board our 10:45am flight from Tenerife North Airport to La Palmas, Gran Canaria.However, in true adventure monsoon fashion everything went wrong...

Tender-ife

by Calvin Sun | Nov 27, 2023 | Canary Islands, Fit for Foodies, November 2023: The Canary Islands, Spain, What Dreams May Come

The original plan was supposed to be Libya in November. But due to world events and the difficulty of obtaining visas in time, I didn't want to try to push my luck that I had enjoyed 16 times over with Syria the month prior. So I moved Libya in April and...

Meet the Canaries!

by Calvin Sun | Nov 19, 2023 | Introductions

Let's get ready for our next monsoon! Switching Libya to April 2024, we decided on a last minute run for the Canary Islands this weekend and how wonderful I have 5 people sign up all at the last minute including: Kimmy “Kameel” Wu: 4 time monsooner to Saint Lucia,...

The Nigerian Tourist Visa for Americans/USA Passports

by Calvin Sun | Oct 18, 2023 | Fail, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?

It has never been a secret that a visa to visit Nigeria as a tourist has been one of the most difficult if not impossible to obtain: Traditionally travel companies would instead exploit a loophole and issue a business visas on arrival for exorbitant...

You’re Going To Miss … Syria

by Calvin Sun | Oct 5, 2023 | Introspection, Post-travel Reflections, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It...

Once again the premise is simple: Write about a trip without stopping.PRESS play and read the post with the music . . . < You're going to miss seeing familiar names on a roster and the 17 other monsooners willing to join you to a...

« Older Entries

Next Entries »