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,...

Meet The Trans-Siberian Orchestra

by Calvin Sun | Dec 1, 2016 | Introductions

For our upcoming winter trip to Russia, Mongolia, and China, I present to you our newest class of mostly return monsooners: And for winter of 2016...

pLOVEdiv

by Calvin Sun | Nov 13, 2016 | Bulgaria, Fail, November 2016: Bulgaria, Walking Tours, Weekend Trips, What Dreams May Come

It's been a wonderful day in Plovdiv; we've been gallivanting about the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe (dating as far back as 6,000 BC!) without a care in the world.And we found gelato.And pretty signs. And Roman...

No Reservations In Sofía, Bulgaria

by Calvin Sun | Nov 12, 2016 | Bulgaria, Fail, Fit for Foodies, How's the weather?, November 2016: Bulgaria, Public Transportation, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, Weekend Trips

After the recent US elections and the shitshow that happened, all of us needed a little break.So we went to Bulgaria.(FYI, if you're flying on the Alitalia/Bulgaria Air codeshare combo from the USA to Sofía, be prepared to endure the check-in process twice: Once...

Meet The Monsooners Of Bulgaria!

by Calvin Sun | Oct 26, 2016 | Introductions

For our upcoming November weekend trip to Bulgaria, I present to you our newest, one of the most diverse roster of fresh (and return!) monsooners: And for the weekend of November 11-14, we...

One Day In Bucharest

by Calvin Sun | Oct 24, 2016 | Fit for Foodies, How Did You Do That?, October 2016: Romania, Romania, Walking Tours, Weekend Trips

This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over Bucharest. . . . . . . before kicking back at the Intercontinental Hotel's Health Club, Pool, Sauna, and Spa on its 22nd floor: The sun survived for only for a few minutes before a...

A Braşov Brief

by Calvin Sun | Oct 22, 2016 | October 2016: Romania, Romania, Walking Tours, Weekend Trips

After spending 2 hours at Bran Castle of Dracula fame, we hailed a nearby metered taxi to take us back into Braşov, the 7th most populous city in Romania and arguably the most visited by tourists. There's even a saying among Romanians to their visiting...

An Early Halloween At Dracula’s Castle

by Calvin Sun | Oct 22, 2016 | How Did You Do That?, October 2016: Romania, Public Transportation, Romania, Walking Tours, Weekend Trips

Another weekend off, another weekend away. And what more fitting than a visit to Dracula's castle in Transylvania a week before Halloween?Finding a remarkable $450 round trip flight from NYC to Romania and getting off at work at 4pm Thursday...

The Russian & Belarus Visa Requirements For U.S. Citizens

by Calvin Sun | Sep 30, 2016 | Belarus, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Russia

Make no bones about it, Russia and the USA have not always been the best of friends, which means getting into Russia as a USA citizen can be a bit of an ordeal. I just got mine, and it wasn't very straightforward.FYI, the process to enter Russia is very similar...

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