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...

Let’s Do The Tiraspol Transnistrian Time Warp Again

by Calvin Sun | Nov 11, 2017 | Border Crossing, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Moldova, November 2017: Moldova & Transnistra, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Transnistria, Unrecognized Territories, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Weekend Trips

See those dotted lines around Tiraspol on the map above? That means something.Sandwiched in between Moldova and Ukraine lies a breakaway/renegade self-proclaimed separatist region officially known as Pridnestrovian Moldavian...

Chiseled Chisinau

by Calvin Sun | Nov 10, 2017 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fail, Moldova, November 2017: Moldova & Transnistra, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Weekend Trips

One more weekend off, one more monsoon. I've always wanted to come to Moldova & Transnistra for a few reasons:Former Romanian-turned-USSR enclave rebuilt by Kruschev and thus currently one of the last few capital cities other than Minsk and Pyongyang to...

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Belgrade…

by Calvin Sun | Oct 23, 2017 | Serbia, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Normally I wouldn't care too much about an overnight layover on a return flight home, but this one's special.After dropping off our rental car at Ljubljana's Airport and boarding our 8:40pm flight to Belgrade, we would plan for an 9-10 hour overnight...

Skocjan Caves: “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!”

by Calvin Sun | Oct 22, 2017 | How's the weather?, October 2017: Slovenia, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Slovenia, Weekend Trips

After a quick trip in Trieste, we drove back across Italian-Slovenia border for the Škocjan Caves -- A UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to one of the largest known underground canyons in the world. For 16 euros a person (12 euros if you have a...

A Trieste Tryst

by Calvin Sun | Oct 22, 2017 | How's the weather?, Italy, October 2017: Slovenia, Serendipitous!, Slovenia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Weekend Trips

While we were at Bled yesterday taking the boat ride to the inlet, we befriended a fellow American and NYU student Ashley after teasing her for hogging the front seat and ruining all our photos. We would then find out that she was staying just across...

The Postojna Caves: 24,000m Of Awesome

by Calvin Sun | Oct 21, 2017 | How Did You Do That?, October 2017: Slovenia, Slovenia, What Dreams May Come

What we just did today: After a morning in Lake Bled and an early afternoon at Predjama Castle, it was finally time for the big finale of our day: The Postojna Caves. Spanning 24,340m long and carved by the Pivka River over the course of 2-3 million...

Predjama Castle

by Calvin Sun | Oct 21, 2017 | October 2017: Slovenia, Slovenia, Weekend Trips

After a serene morning at Lake Bled, we drove south for about an hour and 15 minutes to reach Predjama Castle. First mentioned in the history books in the late 1200s during the Renaissance period, Predjama Castle was the seat of the knight and...

Bled Bleeds Beauty