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...

Feeling Kotor, Might Not Delete…

by Calvin Sun | Aug 19, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Border Crossing, Doctor in the House, Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, Montenegro, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Reeling from last night's epic outing at Club Revel in Dubrovnik, the group didn't let shame and a polite hangover from exploring their city on their own while I stuck behind at the hostel catching up on some studying (still in residency y'know). ...

Returning To King’s Landing: Dubrovnik

by Calvin Sun | Aug 17, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Border Crossing, Croatia, The Nightlife, Walking Tours

Just how many monsooners are there really on this trip? Take a closer look (click to zoom): Dubrovnik. It's good to be back. I was here for the first time 3 years ago, as part of my Crossing The Adriatic...

Mostar With The Mostest

by Calvin Sun | Aug 16, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Bosnia & Herzegovina, How's the weather?, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

After a sobering day in Sarajevo and recovering from a night of mayem, we woke up at 10am to catch an 11:30am Autoprevoz bus to Mostar. The bus ride went pretty smoothly although I felt bad for the other folks who couldn't get a seat because of...

A Rose For Sarajevo

by Calvin Sun | Aug 15, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crisis, Fit for Foodies, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

If it's not already playing, press play. And then start reading. A Sarajevo Rose is a concrete scar caused by a mortar shell's explosion that was later filled with red resin. Mortar rounds landing on concrete create a unique fragmentation pattern that looks...

Sleepless In Sarajevo

by Calvin Sun | Aug 15, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Bosnia & Herzegovina, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Coming from Belgrade via a detour to Srebrenica, we arrive in Sarajevo at 6:30pm at Travellers Home Hostel, where we dropped off our stuff and reunited with the 3 other monsooners Lei, Maria and Anthony. We would also be joined by...

From Belgrade To Sarejevo Via Srebrenica: Memories Of A Massacre

by Calvin Sun | Aug 14, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Border Crossing, Bosnia & Herzegovina, How Did You Do That?, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

I had first heard of the Srebrenica Massacre back in 2005, when I was a college freshman and busy running the first national undergraduate film festival at Columbia University (CUNUFF). One of our first film submissions was a short film and...

Beyond Belgrade

by Calvin Sun | Aug 13, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Serbia, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

I was debating whether to do an extra post on Belgrade as we saw everything required in the city center yesterday, thunderstorms be damned. But then I realized there were a few other things in its outskirts that were worth mentioning.We woke up to a late...

For Whom The Belgrade Tolls

by Calvin Sun | Aug 12, 2017 | August 2017: The Balkans, Fit for Foodies, Serbia, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

chrysalism. n. the amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves of rain pattering against the roof like an argument upstairs, whose muffled words are unintelligible but whose crackling release of built-up tension you understand...

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