The Monsoon Diaries: How to travel the world with no time or money -

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...

Meet the Lappi Wedding Party!

by Calvin Sun | January 26, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

Meet the Sundancers!

by Calvin Sun | January 2, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

From a trip planned over a year ago after a bunch of friends joined me in Killington 2024, we are flying out to Park City, UT for our first time at the Sundance Film Festival for their final time in Park City, UT! Welcome back those returning with me for their...

Niger At Last: A Second Chance

by Calvin Sun | December 10, 2025 | Border Crossing, December 2025 Annex: Niger, Fail, Flying Fancy, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Niger, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come | 1 Comment

11 months ago, I sat on the tarmac in Niger's International Airport at Niamey, watching my trip evaporate due to visa complications. The Niger Embassy in Washington D.C. had stopped issuing visas to Americans entirely. But I don't give up. In late...

Yemen Day 4: Mukalla Drive

by Calvin Sun | December 5, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Yemen | 0 Comments

Al-Mukalla Pulling ourselves away from a desert mirage paradise at Haid Al-Jazil, we swapped our armed guard at another checkpoint during the 2 hour drive to Mukalla. You point that thing away from me! After a long wait at one of the...

Yemen Day 3: Where Reality Surpasses Dreams at Haid al-Jazil-lion Miles Away From Reality

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Haid Al-Jazil As the afternoon began to wane, we continued onto our accommodation for the night at the Haid Al-Jazil Resort Hotel, named after what it overlooks and its location perching dramatically on a cliff overlooking the Wadi Do'an. You'll find remarkably...

The Golden Road To Samarkand

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2016 | How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Uzbekistan, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

We travel not for trafficking alone: By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned: For lust of knowing what should not be known We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand. - James Elroy Flecker, 1913 The mysticism surrounding The Silk Road has...

New Year’s Eve In Bukhara

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2016 | Fit for Foodies, The Nightlife, Uzbekistan, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

The next morning, the group boarded our 9 hour bus ride from 8am-5pm (with an hour lunch break in between at a rest stop) from Khiva to Bukhara. The drive isn’t as pretty as I would expect, as it’s endless barren fields of the Kyzylkum Desert. ...

Khiva: A Journey Through Time

by Calvin Sun | Dec 31, 2015 | Fit for Foodies, Uzbekistan, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

The next morning the group got up at a horrific 4am in the morning for a 5am bus ride to the airport. We embarked on a 7am flight to Urgench, capital of the Khorazem region. Urgench has been regarded as a missable stopover city a stone’s throw...

Taking Tashkent To Task

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2015 | How Did You Do That?, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Public Transportation, Uzbekistan, Walking Tours, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

With the arrival of my college friend Remi this morning, our group was finally complete and we were ready to begin our first official day in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. A few of us started off by learning about the black market exchange with the Uzbek...

Opportunities In Turkmen Rejection: The Uzbekistan Visa On Arrival Loophole…For Americans

by Calvin Sun | Dec 28, 2015 | Border Crossing, Crisis, Fit for Foodies, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

Sometimes, all the planning in the world can’t stop travel from being…travel.We’ve acquired visas to places like Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. We’ve defied countless odds in moving hundreds of our monsooners to remote corners as far as Antarctica....

Nur-Sultan / Astana Astronomica

by Calvin Sun | Dec 28, 2015 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fail, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Kazakhstan, Our Next Adventure, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

If it's not already playing, press play. And then start reading. I flew into Astana (now known as Nur-Sultan), the new capital of Kazakhstan, last night after a day in Baku. This required a scheduled one hour layover in Almaty --...

Baku To The Future

by Calvin Sun | Dec 27, 2015 | Azerbaijan, Blitzkrieg!!!, Getting that VISA, Layovers, Walking Tours, Winter 2015: The Silk Road

And so we begin another adventure to countries you had problems memorizing in Geography class. As we embark on our 2.5 week journey across the 'stans along the Silk Road, I couldn't help but add 2 layovers to extend my personal, solo sightseeing before...

The Vietnam E-Visa On Arrival Experience

by Calvin Sun | Dec 18, 2015 | Border Crossing, Crisis, Fail, Getting that VISA, Hong Kong, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Pre-travel Preparations, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Vietnam

The following is a guest post by twice monsooner Ambrose Chu, who graciously asked if he could contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures. Ambrose first discovered us when googling how to obtain a tourist visa for Iran. He reached out and met me...

« Older Entries

Next Entries »