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,...

The Capital Of The EU Just Got Served: Brussels

by Calvin Sun | Jan 21, 2016 | Belgium, Blitzkrieg!!!, January 2016: Amsterdam & Belgium, Public Transportation, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Walking Tours

Starting around 10am in Bruges, I hopped on the hourly train to Brussels for 9 euros, arriving at around 11am. Then I took Tram 82 for 2.10 euros to get to my hostel at Meininger Hotel & Hostel, dropped off my stuff (since check-in wasn't until...

In Bruges

by Calvin Sun | Jan 20, 2016 | Belgium, Blitzkrieg!!!, Fail, January 2016: Amsterdam & Belgium, Public Transportation, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

I have to admit, the first time I ever heard of Bruges was when I saw the trailer to Colin Farrell's dark comedy "In Bruges" back in 2008. A little context for the post's title... The film makes fun of Bruges as a place "no one has ever heard of" but also...

The Monsoon Meets Amsterdam: An Unlikely Union

by Calvin Sun | Jan 20, 2016 | Blitzkrieg!!!, January 2016: Amsterdam & Belgium, Serendipitous!, The Netherlands, Turkmenistan, Walking Tours

I'm not gonna lie, I really liked Amsterdam. Despite finding a love for off-the-beaten-path locales like Venezuela & The Guyanas, North Korea, Iran, and Antarctica, every now and then travel can surprise you. One of those surprises...

The Georgian Military Road To Kazbegi

by Calvin Sun | Jan 12, 2016 | Fail, Georgia, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

After checking out Stalin's birthplace and getting chased away by the Russian Red Army from the South Ossetian border, we headed back towards Tbilisi and made a detour heading north on the Georgian Military Road, a 212km long pass that...

Playing Chicken With South Ossetia & Stalin’s Gori Past

by Calvin Sun | Jan 11, 2016 | Crisis, Georgia, How Did You Do That?, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, South Ossetia, Unrecognized Territories, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

After a 2-3 hour walking tour of Tbilisi at dawn, I hopped in my 9am car to Gori and the South Ossetian border. South Ossetia is infamous for being the Russian-leaning autonomous region that declared secession from Georgia and its allegiance to...

The City On A Hill: Tbilisi

by Calvin Sun | Jan 11, 2016 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Georgia, Walking Tours, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

From a one-way 4 hour Air Astana flight from Almaty to Tbilisi, I landed at 9:40pm right on schedule. Not only did I get an entry stamp on arrival, I was also handed a free bottle of wine (that's Georgian hospitality for you) by the passport officer...

From Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan To Almaty, Kazakhstan

by Calvin Sun | Jan 10, 2016 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, Fit for Foodies, Getting that VISA, How's the weather?, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Walking Tours, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

After a few hours exploring all that Bishkek in the winter had to offer, we drove 20 minutes towards the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the busiest and largest border crossing in Central Asia. It's best that you do this border crossing on foot, a...

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

by Calvin Sun | Jan 9, 2016 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Getting that VISA, Kyrgyzstan, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

From Dushanbe we flew on Somon Air (currently operating 2 flights a week from Dushanbe to Bishkek) for an hour to Manas Airport. Formerly known as Ganci Air Base during Operation "Enduring Freedom", it once housed over 2,000 US troops as they sortied...

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