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...

Funafuti-‘imes In Tuvalu

by Calvin Sun | Jan 13, 2019 | The Nightlife, Tuvalu, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

Today we go off the map once again! We woke up nice and early this morning in Nadi, Fiji at 4:45am. From there we would make our 07:30am 30-minute flight from Nadi to Suva. There the plan would be to disembark, check-in, stamp out of Fiji, and...

Nadi A Bad Time To Try Real Fiji Water

by Calvin Sun | Jan 11, 2019 | Fiji, Walking Tours, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

After delivering our postcards via the world's only underwater post office in Vanuatu, we then headed to the airport for the our 2-hour 4:00pm flight to Nadi on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. There we said our thanks and goodbyes to our guide and now...

…But but but, “Vanuatu”-leave Port-Vila!

by Calvin Sun | Jan 9, 2019 | Fit for Foodies, Public Transportation, The Nightlife, Vanuatu, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

Oh Vanuatu, how I "Vanuatu-leave" this place. I know it's quite a stretch of a pun, but my blogpost title is meant to be read out loud! Let's begin. After 2 days in The Solomon Islands, we headed boarded a 3:05pm flight out for Port Vila,...

I Found My Honi-ara In The Solomon Islands

by Calvin Sun | Jan 7, 2019 | Fit for Foodies, Solomon Islands, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

Finishing up our 3rd day in Kiribati, in the late morning we headed to Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport to catch our flight out to The Solomon Islands. Let's just say the Bonriki International Airport is still a work in progress.This was the...

Kiribati: Land Of The First Dawn

by Calvin Sun | Jan 5, 2019 | Kiribati, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

After 6 days in Nauru, the world’s least visited country, we forced ourselves up early at 3:00am for a 5:15am Nauru Airlines flight to currently the world's 3rd least visited country: Kiribati (pronounced "Kiri-bahs"). We wanted to head in pretty early...

Nauru, AKA The Marooned Diaries – New Year’s Eve In The #1 Least Visited Country In The World

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2019 | Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Mythbusters, Nauru, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

Above cover photo credit: Mikhael Chai -- thanks for that unplanned shot of me standing on the top of Nauru! I've already had my fair share of New Year's Eve celebrations in far flung corners of the globe:2010 in Cairo, Egypt2011 in Tijuana,...

The Marshall Islands: Home of Godzilla & Spongebob

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, March 2024: The Pacific Island Hopper, Marshall Islands, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2018: The Edge Of The World / Least Visited Countries

Another journey of a lifetime begins today: I head from one lonely part of the world to another.After a week of working overnight shifts at an isolated rural hospital in Rome, NY (about an hour out from Syracuse in upstate NY), I had an Uber pick me up...

Meet The Czechmates!

by Calvin Sun | Dec 24, 2018 | Introductions

Ann Wen, 7 time monsooner who first came along for Luxembourg, Australia, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait, asked if I would be free after my Dec 27-Jan 16 trip to the least visited countries in the world. Since she's never let me down, how could I? For "If you...

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