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...

Finding Nemo: The Great Barrier Reef…From Below

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2018 | Australia, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

Yesterday evening we saw the Great Barrier Reef from above, and this morning we saw it from below: After a raucous pregame at Cock & Bull and subsequent dinner at Goong Korean Restaurant involving lots of meat and soju last night, the...

The Great Barrier Reef…From Above

by Calvin Sun | Jan 2, 2018 | Australia, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

After an unexpected 2 hour layover in Brisbane, we took off at 2:10pm and arrived in Cairns approximately 2 hours later at 4:25pm on the dot. We then collected our bags from baggage claims and promptly hailed Ubers 6 minutes over to Daintree Air...

2 Hours In Brisbane

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2018 | Australia, Walking Tours, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

Getting in a healthy 7 and a half hours of sleep, I decided to leave with the first group of 5 monsooners at 7:30am to make sure their direct 9:30am flight to Cairns turned out okay. Sarah, who with me was supposed to leave on the later 10:35am flight...

A New Year In Sydney

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2018 | Australia, Walking Tours, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

Unlike our marathon 14 hour wait for the fireworks last night at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, today was a bit more productive.Waking up at around 10am, some of us headed out into the city on our own while others first stopped by for brunch at The...

A New Year’s Sydney Serendipity

by Calvin Sun | Dec 31, 2017 | Australia, How Did You Do That?, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, Winter 2017: Australia & New Zealand

Happy New Year from The Monsoon Diaries! FYI, this entry almost never happened -- organizing affordable accommodations for a group during New Year's Eve in Sydney has been no joke the past 6 months. Most of the affordable properties in...

Flying First Class (EVA & Thai Air) To Oz Via Taipei

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2017 | Australia, Blitzkrieg!!!, Flying Fancy, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Taiwan, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

At a journey that could clock at more than 42 hours from NYC, flying to Sydney can be a real ballbreaker for even the most dedicated of jet-setters. And I wanted to make the most of it -- so last week I transferred 90,000 Chase Ultimate...

Meet The Kiwi Kangaroos!

by Calvin Sun | Nov 16, 2017 | Introductions

For our upcoming trip to Australia & New Zealand, I present to you our next class of monsooners: We're also meeting up with Genoviva again, this time in Sydney for New Year's...

Munich By Night

by Calvin Sun | Nov 12, 2017 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Germany, How's the weather?, Layovers, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, Weekend Trips, What Dreams May Come

One year ago at a Thanksgiving Dinner I was hosting at my place, one of my monsooners from my 2016 Southern Africa trip and the 2017 Trans-Mongolian + Tibet trip, JC, brought over his new roommate Stephanie. She had just moved into NYC from her hometown of...

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