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

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 | 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, 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,...

When You’ve Never Been to Berlin

by Calvin Sun | August 4, 2025 | Let me tell you a Story..., Serendipitous!, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin, The Nightlife, Walking Tours | 0 Comments

If it's not already playing, press play. And then start reading. After 3 days in Amsterdam, Nisha, Sujay, Priscilla, Kenny, and myself boarded a 2pm direct train bound for Berlin. It was a 7.5-hour journey that gave us just enough time to reflect...

I Amsterdand We’re Back in Amsterdam!

by Calvin Sun | July 31, 2025 | How Did You Do That?, Let me tell you a Story..., Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin, The Netherlands | 0 Comments

From Tomorrowland, because apparently we still weren’t done, 7 of us rerouted north for one last hurrah in Amsterdam, linking up with Anthony Lui and his Dutch crew. While most of the group boarded planes home to brave the dreaded post-festival blues, we...

MAURI-TRAIN-IA: The Ultimate Train Journey | The Mauritania Railway (“Backbone of the Sahara”, The “Iron Ore Train”, or “The World’s Most Extreme Railway”) | All Aboard the Choo-“Choum” Express!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 23, 2020 | How Did You Do That?, January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Mauritania, Public Transportation, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Today we did a thing: We began in Nouadhibou where we picked up some supplies for the epic train journey ahead.If you're serious about this experience, you should definitely pack goggles, warm blankets, scarves, some sort of...

“Nouadhibou”-d Idea to Cross Over From Western Sahara to Mauritania!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 21, 2020 | Fail, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Mauritania, Public Transportation, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

After relaxing in Dakhla for 2 night, we drove to the border of Morocco and Mauritania early this morning. About an hour into the journey we suffered a flat tire, which luckily took about 30 minutes to sort out thanks to a friend of the driver's...

Is There A “Dakhla” in the House?

by Calvin Sun | Jan 20, 2020 | January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Western Sahara

A path lined by ghost towns, yet all filled with life. After 2 nights in Layounne we hit the road for Dakhla City at 9am. We stopped briefly at the one hour mark for large herd of wild camels to pass us: And about 3...

Daayyum, They’re “Laayoune” It Down On Us! (Reaching Western Sahara From Morocco)

by Calvin Sun | Jan 18, 2020 | January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Western Sahara

Our plan yesterday: Why it's controversial (more on that later): Even more controversial? Our last night in Agadir . . . After nursing our hangovers and saying our goodbyes to Crystal, sorrowfully dropping her at the airport to...

Get Da Fuq “Agadir”!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 16, 2020 | Fit for Foodies, January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Morocco

After 2 days trying to give Marrakech a second chance and nearly giving up, this morning we drove on south to Agadir, with a one hour random stop at CrocoPark, a crocodile-themed park just outside of Agadir. Amusingly we took on an...

We Wish You A “Marrakech”-mas! (or Marrakech Me Outside and Marrakech My Ass!)

by Calvin Sun | Jan 15, 2020 | Fail, January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Lessons Learned, Morocco, The Nightlife, Walking Tours

From Casablanca, we arrived into Marrakesh, Morocco’s third largest city that continues to teem with sights and sounds that emanate from its historical medina. Although a frustrating place to explore for many travelers as if the rest of the country learned its...

In “Casa-” You “-Blanca” Out, We Got Your Back!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 14, 2020 | January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Morocco, Walking Tours

After 10 days in Algeria, we headed to Oran airport for the 2:20pm Air Algiers flight to Casablanca . . . . . . arriving at 3:40pm on an otherwise uneventful 1 hour and 20 minute flight. But just as a reminder as how Morocco had been a...

“Oran”-ginally From Algeria!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 11, 2020 | Algeria, January 2020: The Saharan Odyssey, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Gooooood morning Tlemcen! This morning we hopped on a 3 hour morning drive back to Oran, where we dropped off our bags at the hotel and began our tour of the city with the Fort of Santa Cruz: The fort has changed hands as often as...

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