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

Where Do You Go When You’ve Already Been Everywhere?

by Calvin Sun | May 17, 2026 | Camping, Epiphanies on the Road, Fit for Foodies, May 2026: Bobo's Farm, New York, Post-travel Reflections | 0 Comments

Where does one of the youngest most traveled person in the world still travel to after they've been to nearly every country in the world? Home, of course. I've hitchhiked onboard trains through the endless expanse of The Sahel, slept in guesthouses in...

It Zermatt-ers A Lot You Followed Through!

by Calvin Sun | April 3, 2026 | Border Crossing, Crisis, Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, How's the weather?, Serendipitous!, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Weekend Trips, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

Any normal person would have headed home after 4 consecutive days of 6+ hours of skiing black diamond powder at 3,330 meters followed by six hours of raving in a blizzard. But I am not a normal person. Unlike most people, I don't procrastinate on fulfilling...

Alpe “d’Huez” in Charge Here? We Couldn’t Wait Until Tomorrow, for Tomorrowland Winter

by Calvin Sun | March 28, 2026 | Festivals, France, How's the weather?, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps, The Nightlife | 0 Comments

We made it to a Tomorrowland Aftermovie! Click on the YouTube video below where it starts right where you see us dancing to Alok; me on the left, and Patricia right in the center in her lavender hoodie as the video slows in on her/us (well, really just her)....

Why Not “Disfrutar”?

by Calvin Sun | March 23, 2026 | Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, France, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Introspection, Layovers, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Spain, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps | 0 Comments

We got a lot going on in the world right now: There's now a war in Iran, the funding bill for our DHS still hasn't passed, and the entirety of the TSA has been working without a paycheck for the past month. With the war, I'd imagine both the region and Emirates...

Meet the Tomorrowland Winter Monsooners!

by Calvin Sun | March 2, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

Why do Tomorrowland just once a year when you can do it twice AND ski/snowboard at the same time? Introducing the following returning monsooners for this iteration of our favorite annual festival. Welcome back those returning with me for their 2nd, 3rd, or even...

All Aboard the Santa Claus Express!

by Calvin Sun | February 10, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, Lapland, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

I woke up to an Arctic sunrise again, this time to send Mel off on her early flight back at 7:30am; she had to return a day before the rest of us. After she left in an Uber to the airport, I cooked the last of what was left in the fridge at the Airbnb and saw...

For Richer, For Polar

by Calvin Sun | February 9, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, Fit for Foodies, How's the weather?, Lapland, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

I just woke up to this Arctic sunrise before everyone else in the Airbnb. I took the time to make some scrambled eggs for breakfast, brewed the coffee, and leisurely sat down to write this blog post as I waited for the rest of the group to come to life. What a...

The Coolest Hotel in Lapland (Literally)

by Calvin Sun | February 7, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

After sneaking in some sugar donuts just in time before Kahvila Lohihovi Oy closed at 5pm, we continued our 2 hour drive south from Ylläs to the Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos, about 30 minutes north of Rovaniemi on the shores of Lake Lehtojärvi....

Ylläs Hear Me Out

by Calvin Sun | February 6, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

How This Trip Happened On September 30, 2025, a monsooner named Yuhan — who's been on many trips with me — randomly invited me to watch her favorite anime that had a surprise 2-week return to theaters: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, originally released in 2006. I...

Sundance’s Last Dance: Park City, UT

by Calvin Sun | January 27, 2026 | How's the weather?, United States, Utah | 0 Comments

Once again we're gathering friends across time zones and milestones; some have flown in from Philly, others from NYC, one flying over from Dallas just for the weekend to make new friends, all converging together this week on a mountain town for a week of...

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...

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...

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