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

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 | 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,...

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...

A Wedding In Islamabad – Day 2: The Baraat / The Shaadi

by Calvin Sun | Mar 15, 2019 | March 2019: North Pakistan, Pakistan, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

(continued) This will be the third international Muslim Desi wedding I've attended (the first was in Kashmir in 2011, the second in Lahore and Karachi in 2014), so I'm amused to consider myself an "expert" now. We continue with Day 2 of a desi wedding:...

Some Lahorious S-Wagah

by Calvin Sun | Mar 15, 2019 | Border Crossing, How Did You Do That?, March 2019: North Pakistan, Pakistan, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Thanks to Ann Wen again for help with the blog title!A lot of this has been repeated the last time I was in Lahore, but the highlight that I came back for would be the Wagah Border between India and Pakistan. LahoreAfter the Mehndi/Rasm-e-Heena ended...

A Wedding In Islamabad – Day 1: The Mehndi / The Rasm-e-Heena

by Calvin Sun | Mar 13, 2019 | March 2019: North Pakistan, Pakistan, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

View this post on Instagram Ali weds kulsoom !! #shootbywajahat #mahasphotography @mahawajahatkhan #weddingphotography @brideofthedayy @xproductionsmedia #signature #shoot #bridalshower #femalephotographer #pakistanifashion...

Flying The Qatar Airways QSuite Business Class (777-300ER From Dallas To Doha)

by Calvin Sun | Mar 11, 2019 | Flying Fancy, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Qatar

So nice it deserves its own post. The OccasionAfter the past weekend speaking at MAASU 2019 Spring Conference in Boulder, Colorado, and hot on the heels of an upcoming destination wedding in Islamabad 5 years in the making (and one I wouldn't miss for...

Meet The Wedding Party!

by Calvin Sun | Feb 20, 2019 | Introductions

5 years ago I crashed a random wedding in Lahore where of all the “WTF small world moments” I’ve had in my life I would run into an acquaintance named Ali Raza, whom I had first met briefly when I spoke at CUNY Baruch only a year prior.Flabbergasted, we then...

We Czeched All The Boxes But Left Hungary For More

by Calvin Sun | Jan 23, 2019 | Hungary, January 2019: Prague + Budapest

Special thanks to my newly christened co-guide Ann for inspiring not only this trip, but also this blogpost title!After 50 hours in Prague, 11 out of 16 of us continued onwards for a day in Budapest. Seeing that this would be my third time in Budapest...

Czechmates For Life: Prague

by Calvin Sun | Jan 20, 2019 | Crisis, Czech Republic, Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, January 2019: Prague + Budapest, Layovers, Lessons Learned, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Weekend Trips, What Dreams May Come

The last time I was in Prague 19 years ago, I was 11 years old. And I haven't been back since. So does it count if I really don't remember anything but this photo? NO IT DOESN'T. Last month, when 7-time monsooner (Luxembourg,...

Suva Up!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 15, 2019 | Fiji, Fit for Foodies, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

All good things must come to an end in Tuvalu! After breakfast we walked across the street 2 minutes over to the airport to check into our 12:20 flight back to Fiji, but this time to the capital city – Suva. No computers here, but rather tickets are...

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