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,...

Goodbye Scandinavia, Hello Baltics!

by Calvin Sun | Aug 17, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Border Crossing, Estonia, Finland, How Did You Do That?, Public Transportation

The group woke up to a late Mexican buffet brunch (13 euros) at Shanghai Cowboy. Before we knew it, 1pm had arrived and it was time to send off our 10 monsooners to the airport. Broken hearted, but not defeated, a few of us...

Hel-Yeah!

by Calvin Sun | Aug 17, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Finland, Fit for Foodies, Public Transportation, The Nightlife

We started today at 11am, first passing by all the pop-up stalls of Restaurant Day (where anyone in Helsinki can open up a "restaurant"/food stall on Park Esplanad) and heading over to the Market Square docks for a 15 minute ferry ride to Helsinki's main...

Welcome To Hel-sinki

by Calvin Sun | Aug 16, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Finland, The Nightlife, Walking Tours

Ignore the title of the post, as it was my failed attempt to be witty; Helsinki, Finland truly lives up to its title of one of the world's "most livable city" (at least in the summer). Known for its gender equality (#2 in the world, second only to Iceland),...

From Stockholm To Helsinki By Sea

by Calvin Sun | Aug 15, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Border Crossing, Finland, Sweden, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Our group of 24 headed out 2pm in the afternoon for Helsinki, Finland from Stockholm, Sweden by sea. We hopped on the Viking Line m/s Gabriella departing at 4:30pm, with a 10:10am arrival the next day. The process, like on DFDS, is...

Stockholm Syndrome

by Calvin Sun | Aug 13, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Public Transportation, Sweden, The Nightlife, What Dreams May Come

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS PHOTOS DEPICTING NUDITY (IN THE NAME OF ART) Despite however we tired we were after an overnight bus from Oslo to Stockholm and 16 hours of nonstop walking, the 15 of us still went out on a Wednesday night: We...

Sweet As Stockholm

by Calvin Sun | Aug 12, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Sweden, Walking Tours

The group arrived into Stockholm from Oslo at 6:30am, bleary-eyed and one hour earlier than scheduled. For some, this would be 2 overnight buses in a row, with nary a shower to help them cope with their first monsoonal madness. The 7 other returning monsooners...

Oslo In 12 Hours

by Calvin Sun | Aug 11, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, Fit for Foodies, Norway, Walking Tours

Looks like someone else in Oslo knows how to baby freeze! He should've changed his plans and joined us: After arrival into Oslo from Copenhagen, we promptly disembarked from our ship at 10am and headed out into the chaos to find...

From Copenhagen To Oslo By Sea

by Calvin Sun | Aug 11, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Border Crossing, Denmark, How Did You Do That?, Norway, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Our 3rd day in Copenhagen led us to the eastern Christianshavn side of the city. Directly across Danhostel is Islands Brygge Havnebadet, an outdoor pool complex in the city's main canal and a place to see and be seen. Complete with lawns, a diving deck, BBQ...

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