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,...

Veni, Vidi, Venezia!

by Calvin Sun | May 25, 2017 | How Did You Do That?, Italy, May 2017: Romantic Italy & Microstates, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

What's equally surprising to having done Italy but not Rome, is also doing Italy but never Venice. Even though I've passed through Venice Marco Polo International Airport on multiple occasions with frequent intentions to see the city within...

Bolognese In Bologna

by Calvin Sun | May 24, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, Italy, May 2017: Romantic Italy & Microstates, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia

Sorry, too busy eating right now to post about Bologna properly (after all, that's what it's known for anyway!). Instead, go read my entry on how to do a day trip from here to San Marino. Until then, still eating.

From Vatican City & Rome To San Marino

by Calvin Sun | May 23, 2017 | Blitzkrieg!!!, How Did You Do That?, Italy, May 2017: Romantic Italy & Microstates, San Marino, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

From one microstate to another, today we'll go from one of the world's famous to one of the least known, both of which happen to be located within arm's reach within Italy. The microstate of San Marino is a vestige of Italy's former...

Holy See Batman! It’s Vatican City!

by Calvin Sun | May 22, 2017 | Blitzkrieg!!!, How Did You Do That?, Italy, May 2017: Romantic Italy & Microstates, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, Vatican City, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

After a whole day (or 2) in Rome, I suggest that you start early the next morning to explore Vatican City. Even though it's the world's smallest state, the number of people waiting in countless lines to get inside can outnumber the number of the...

When In Rome…Do As New Yorkers Do?

by Calvin Sun | May 21, 2017 | How Did You Do That?, Italy, May 2017: Romantic Italy & Microstates, Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Spring 2017: Italy & Microstates, France, Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia, What Dreams May Come

When I was in Italy last, I thought it was odd to have spent a week there and yet never set foot in Rome. So when I discovered a free flight there thanks to an abundance of Chase Sapphire miles (an overview on how it works here: Chase...

Meet The Monsooners of Luxembourg, Malta, & Tunisia!

by Calvin Sun | May 4, 2017 | Introductions

For our upcoming weekend May trip to Luxembourg, I present to you our next class of monsooners: Luxembourg Malta & TunisiaAnd these are the brave few continuing...

2017 May Day in Cuba; First Impressions — In Context With Venezuela

by Lei Zhao | May 1, 2017 | Cuba, Epiphanies on the Road, Guest Posts, How Did You Do That?, Post-travel Reflections, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Three hours from JFK. 90 miles from Key West. And yet, seemingly worlds away. Four New Yorkers — Alex, Elliot, Emma, and I — waited far too long for checked bags to show up, the first indication we were running on island time, and a socialist island at that. Our...

Ode To My Passport

by Calvin Sun | Apr 29, 2017 | Getting that VISA, Post-travel Reflections, You're Going to Miss It...

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Since our first trip to India, you began to grow. And learn. The decals of your cover began to fade with every stamp that graced your pages. In the beginning there were periods...

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