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,...

Going Streaking In A Mongolian Winter

by Calvin Sun | Jan 8, 2017 | How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Mongolia, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

Photo credit to Melissa Weinmann for the photo above. Hello from a balmy -15ºF (-22ºC) in the coldest capital city on the planet: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia! After chugging along from Irkutsk, Russia, our attendants woke us all up at 6:15am, giving us about...

From Russia (To Mongolia) With Love On The Trans-Mongolian

by Calvin Sun | Jan 7, 2017 | Border Crossing, Crisis, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Mongolia, Russia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

This morning we woke up early for our 7am pickup for Train #004 from Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar departing at 8:12am. And there our train stood waiting for us, emerging from the hazy mist of an early morning fog as if out of a dream -- this is...

A Christmas Eve In Siberia: Irkutsk & Lake Baikal

by Calvin Sun | Jan 6, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Russia, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

Merry Christmas Eve from Siberia!And so begins our Trans-Siberian experience. A number of itineraries had been devised, discarded and replanned over the past year for this trip -- Russia's railway system had a habit of cancelling and rescheduling...

Moscow On The Metro & The World’s 18th Best Restaurant

by Calvin Sun | Jan 4, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, Public Transportation, Russia, Serendipitous!, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

We started our second day in Moscow with a splendid brunch at Grabni, a cafeteria style restaurant where you self-serve from so many offerings that it'll make your head spin. Everybody loved the french fries: Don't mind the random pony on...

From Saint Petersburg To Moscow

by Calvin Sun | Jan 4, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, Russia, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

After New Year's Eve and 2 memorable days in Saint Petersburg, we headed onwards on the overnight Train 001 from Saint Petersburg's Moscow Station to Moscow's Yaroslavskiy Station departing at 11:55pm. We boarded at...

Saintly Saint Petersburg

by Calvin Sun | Jan 2, 2017 | Fit for Foodies, Russia, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

A feast for the eyes. Well maybe not this one: After a day at The Hermitage and celebrating New Year's Eve on the streets of Nevsky Prospekt, we slept in well into noon to begin our 14 mile trek around Saint Petersburg on Day 1, and...

New Year’s Eve At Saint Petersburg And The Hermitage

by Calvin Sun | Dec 31, 2016 | Crisis, Fail, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Public Transportation, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Russia, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2016: The Trans-Mongolian & Tibet

I've been to nearly every single ex-Soviet state except for the mother of them all: Russia. That changes today. And it wasn't easy getting here. Recalling my first monsoon trip to EgyptI also once again answered the call for emergency...

How To Pack For A Russian/Siberian Winter

by Calvin Sun | Dec 8, 2016 | What to Pack

Packing for this trip might require a little more than how we packed for Antarctica! This is a real Russian winter, folks, and everybody knows to never invade Russia in the winter.More of a guide for our 10 stalwart polar bears going on this trip, this will...

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