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...

Building A Brand: 2018 Logo Reveal

by Calvin Sun | May 29, 2018 | Epiphanies on the Road, How Did You Do That?, Introspection, What Dreams May Come

A little less than 8 years ago when this little blog called The Monsoon Diaries was first being developed, a concept of a backpacker with his pet llama was put together as our temporary logo by my college friend Brian Foo as he was designing the first...

A Return To Haiti: Project Medishare & Hospital Bernard Mevs

by Calvin Sun | May 28, 2018 | Community Service, Doctor in the House, Haiti, Project Medishare, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

I fondly remember 5 years ago when I came to Haiti with 4 other monsooners as we backpacked up from the capital city of Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien and gazed out from one of the most beautiful fortresses of colonial America. I had a great...

Meet The Monsooners Of Kuwait, Oman, & Qatar!

by Calvin Sun | May 26, 2018 | Introductions

For our upcoming May trip to Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, I present to you our next class of monsooners: I know you're a maybe Vi, but your message last night was so last minute, I'm diggin' your energy and sending over so much positive vibes so you...

Mosul, Iraq: Life Finds A Way

by Calvin Sun | May 9, 2018 | Epiphanies on the Road, How Did You Do That?, Iraq, May 2018: Kurdistan Iraq, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Travel Warnings, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Our drive this morning on the "Highway To Hell" into Mosul, Iraq: DISCLAIMER:Unless you have made adequate arrangements, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO WHAT WE DID TODAY. At of the time of posting, Mosul remains an active war zone. Although ISIS/ISIL/Daesh has...

Alqosh: Vestiges Of Assyria

by Calvin Sun | May 8, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, Iraq, May 2018: Kurdistan Iraq, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After an hour in Lalish, we drove towards the ancient Assyrian town of Alqosh, located 50km (31 miles) north of Mosul. Here Alqosh is primarily inhabited by ethnic Assyrians of the Chaldean Catholic Church and remains one of the few places on this...

Lalish: The Yazidi’s Last Stand

by Calvin Sun | May 8, 2018 | Fit for Foodies, Iraq, Kurdistan, May 2018: Kurdistan Iraq, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Trying to escape the thunderstorms that were about to overtake the site of the Battle of Gaugamela, we drove north towards Lalish. After a few checkpoints we reached a quiet area up in the mountains to reach the Yazidi village. ...

Finding The Battle Of Gaugamela

by Calvin Sun | May 8, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Iraq, Kurdistan, May 2018: Kurdistan Iraq, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Driving from Mar Mattai/Saint Matthew's Monastery and closer towards the besieged city of Mosul, we reached the fabled site of the Battle of Gaugamela. Also called the Battle of Arbela, here lies one of the greatest military victories in history...

Mar Mattai – An Oasis By Mosul

by Calvin Sun | May 8, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, Iraq, Kurdistan, May 2018: Kurdistan Iraq, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After an exhausting day driving around southeastern Kurdistan, this morning Abdallah and I set out at 9am west of Erbil towards Mosul. You would expect that we drove by a ton more military bases today. By 9:45am we had reached the main checkpoint between...

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