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, October 2025: Camping in Robbinsville | 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,...

Detour To Sidi Bou Said

by Calvin Sun | Jun 1, 2017 | How Did You Do That?, Public Transportation, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Tunisia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

To further prove how safe and tourist-friendly Tunis has remained, we booked a long session at the hammam at nearby Palais Bayram this morning. For a Turkish baths, mud scrub, and 30 minute massage, we got a great deal at about 120 dinars per...

Tuned Into Tunis, The Ramadan Edition

by Calvin Sun | May 31, 2017 | Crisis, Fail, How Did You Do That?, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Travel Warnings, Tunisia, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

This morning was time to say goodbye to Malta. ...And hello to Tunisia via a TunisAir Express flight! Except for myself and Samin, this is everyone's first time in Africa! The recent travel warnings in Tunisia have been minimal at...

Gozo A Gogo

by Calvin Sun | May 30, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, Malta, Public Transportation, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After an hour playing the Game of Thrones at Mdina, we had our cab drivers meet us back at Mdina's city gates from where we drove over another 25 minutes north to the Cirkewwa Ferry Terminal. For about 4.5 euros each, we took the ferry to Malta's...

Landing At King’s Landing: Mdina

by Calvin Sun | May 30, 2017 | Malta, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

After a day exploring Valletta, we woke up early to see the way overrated "The Malta Experience" and nearby Saint Elmo's fort before heading to the Bus Terminal and hiting a 20 minute cab ride to Mdina for 20 euros.Why Mdina? Well, have you seen Game Of...

Valletta, Malta: Winter Ain’t Coming

by Calvin Sun | May 30, 2017 | Malta, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

This morning was time to say goodbye to Ann, Joseph, and Mihaela in Luxembourg: The 6 of us remaining boarded a 10am, 1 hour flight from Luxembourg and had about an hour's layover in Munich before catching our connecting 2 hour flight to...

Keep Calm And ReLuxembourg

by Calvin Sun | May 28, 2017 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, Luxembourg, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Weekend Trips

After a night in Paris, Ann, Joseph and I woke up at 7am to catch the 7:40am direct train from Paris Gare De L'Est to Luxembourg. Luxembourg boasts to be one of the world's smallest countries covering only 2500 sq km (about the size of Rhode...

One Night In Paris

by Calvin Sun | May 26, 2017 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, France, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Lessons Learned, Public Transportation, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Walking Tours

No, this has nothing to do with the movie (wait, what movie? You've been warned if you have no idea what I'm talking about), and no I'm not trying to be clickbait. This is my returning to a city I haven't been to in over 20 years and digging up the old...

You’re Going To Crave … Italy

by Calvin Sun | May 26, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, Italy, You're Going to Miss It...

You're going to crave starting off your day with the simple combination of espresso and croissants, sadly accepting that the closest you can get to "something different" back home is perhaps a chocolate-almond combination, but never a pistachio-creme...

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