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

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...

Tomorrowland After The Fire

by Calvin Sun | July 29, 2025 | Belgium, Festivals, Fit for Foodies, Serendipitous!, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin | 0 Comments

How’s my ankle holding up before Tomorrowland.... This is Day 0 — right after a 1500-lb bull stepped on it: Day 8: Day 4: Day 17: Not bad, right? Turns out I can be pretty decent at wound care when the stakes are high. Last year was cancer, this year...

Melilla-ll Your Dreams Come True

by Calvin Sun | July 23, 2025 | Ceuta & Melilla, July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

After a long road trip across nearly the entire circumference of Northern Morocco, we reached our hotel by 2:00am local time earlier this morning at Hotel Melilla Puerto, trying our best to ignore all the kids trying to get in behind us due to a recent concert nearby...

Olympic Paris

by Calvin Sun | Jul 25, 2024 | France, July 2024: Le Tren Bleu

On the Tuesday after Tomorrowland, we enjoyed coffee and breakfast outside our hotel at Natural Caffé before checking out: Taking the 1:21pm Eurostar train from Brussels to Paris, we arrived at around 3:30pm, getting us to our beautiful and...

Tomorrowland 2024: Life

by Calvin Sun | Jul 23, 2024 | Belgium, Epiphanies on the Road, Fit for Foodies, Introspection, July 2024: Le Tren Bleu, Post-travel Reflections, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, You're Going to Miss It...

From Bruges the 14 of us boarded one of the frequent half an hourly trains to Brussels. Once back at Brussels train station and parting ways with Maria, Kenneth, Juliet, and Edgar who would eschew Tomorrowland for 5 days in Antwerp and Ghent, the...

All In Bruges

by Calvin Sun | Jul 18, 2024 | Belgium, July 2024: Le Tren Bleu

Quite nice to watch the movie In Bruges again on the plane while typing this, After 3 days in Amsterdam, our group of 10 headed out at 9am to catch a direct 10:08am train to Brussels, with a quick connection onwards to Bruges. Arriving at the...

When Amsterdam Meets the Monsoon II: A More Perfect Union

by Calvin Sun | Jul 17, 2024 | Fit for Foodies, July 2024: Le Tren Bleu, The Netherlands, Walking Tours

From the Dolomites our wonderful little group of 6 began our drive back to Venice Airport at 7am to drop off both our rental cars. We first said our goodbyes to Kenny and Ainsley (who had come only for the 3-4 days with us in the Dolomites), at first in the...

Dolomites Be Back!

by Calvin Sun | Jul 14, 2024 | Crisis, Italy, July 2024: Le Tren Bleu, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, What Dreams May Come

Born here, but not destined to die here. Mount Sinai Hospital: My birthplace, my first job at 16, a doctor at 33, and most recently, a patient. Only this time I was discharged without one of my kidneys. That wasn’t the plan. Months ago an MRI was...

Meet The Monsooners of Tomorrow!

by Calvin Sun | Jun 7, 2024 | Introductions

This July we're heading back to Tomorrowland with at least 10 others who had to watch from afar last year. It'll be a bunch of reunions: Greece Yacht Week is ahead, seeing 8 returners in Mel, Paul, Sujay, Leslie, Jay, Yuhan, Christina, and Michelle The Hokkaido...

Nevis Say Never Again

by Calvin Sun | May 10, 2024 | May 2024: Saint Kitts & Nevis, Nevis, Saint Kitts & Nevis

On our second day on the islands and from where we were staying (for free!) at the Park Hyatt, we enjoyed a breakfast at the Great House while facing the island of Nevis: After breakfast, I walked to concierge (also located within the Great House) to...

Saint Kitts Your Worries Goodbye!

by Calvin Sun | May 9, 2024 | May 2024: Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Kitts & Nevis

It was never likely I'd let more than 3 months go by between monsoons (unless there's a pandemic). But as always, I'll let the universe decide whether I should travel or stay put.So when I got a notification 3 days ago that my Hyatt points was about to expire...

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