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

Grenada Más

by Calvin Sun | November 4, 2025 | Grenada, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End | 0 Comments

🇬🇩 190 down. 3 to go. After our 3 day stay in Dominica,, we took a long hour-and-a-half drive back to the airport from our Portsmouth lodgings, stopping for a quick photo opportunity along the way. Dominica's airport is tiny. You...

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,...

Who Jumps Out Of A Perfectly Good Airplane?

by Calvin Sun | Jan 16, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, New Zealand, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

2 videos of what just happened this morning -- Rachel Xu's Edit:And so she inspired me to do my own The music captures how I really felt when I fell into the sky: I couldn't ask for a better way to put a dot on the exclamation point to...

Milford Sound By Land, Sea, & Air

by Calvin Sun | Jan 15, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, New Zealand, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

My favorite desktop background just got served: This morning we groggily woke up at 8am to catch our 8:30am Kiwi Experience Bus for our daytrip to Milford Sound. Luckily our bus picked us up from our (Nomad's) hostel's front door so we didn't have...

Long Live The Queenstown

by Calvin Sun | Jan 15, 2018 | New Zealand, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

A memorable evening began with an equally memorable morning: I finally got a chance to add crème fraîche and chopped seaweed to my version of Gordon Ramsay's Sublime Scrambled Eggs: Because we got in a day early, we spent the entire today finally...

The Drive From Christchurch To Queenstown

by Calvin Sun | Jan 13, 2018 | Doctor in the House, Fail, New Zealand, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

Our 8 hour drive from Christchurch to Queenstown was pretty straightforward. But then there was all this: We also stopped by at a local horseback riding event for a quick ice cream break on the outskirts of Queenstown. Unfortunately,...

Christchurch: Remnants From An Earthquake

by Calvin Sun | Jan 12, 2018 | New Zealand, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

After an 8 hour drive from Picton and checking into our lodgings at Dorset House, we freshened up for a few minutes before heading back out for dinner at Shanghai Street Dumplings a few miles away. It was much needed meal after a drive that could've been 3 hours...

Crossing From New Zealand’s North Island To South Island

by Calvin Sun | Jan 12, 2018 | How Did You Do That?, New Zealand, Public Transportation, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

Last night we befriended a fellow New Yorker (and certified sommelier!) named Elif last night while dining at Ortega Restaurant, where she then joined us for a shisha session and a dance party that lasted into the wee hours of the night. Thanks for making us all...

Well Well Well, Wellington

by Calvin Sun | Jan 11, 2018 | How's the weather?, New Zealand, Walking Tours, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

After a wonderful evening recovering our weary legs at Polynesian Spa in Rotorua, we boarded our 12:35am bus from Rotorua to Wellington where we were treated to 180º flat beds the whole 7.5 hour bus ride. However, our happiness didn't last as the bus's...

The Rotorua Routine

by Calvin Sun | Jan 10, 2018 | New Zealand, Walking Tours, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

After a quick day trip to Waitomoto yesterday, our group had another night of mayhem karaoking and dancing with our new friends Ellena and Amber before turning in at an ungodly hour of 3am. And this photo happened. 3am being ungodly because Donna...

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