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

Where Do You Go When You’ve Already Been Everywhere?

by Calvin Sun | May 17, 2026 | Camping, Epiphanies on the Road, Fit for Foodies, May 2026: Bobo's Farm, New York, Post-travel Reflections | 0 Comments

Where does one of the youngest most traveled person in the world still travel to after they've been to nearly every country in the world? Home, of course. I've hitchhiked onboard trains through the endless expanse of The Sahel, slept in guesthouses in...

It Zermatt-ers A Lot You Followed Through!

by Calvin Sun | April 3, 2026 | Border Crossing, Crisis, Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, How's the weather?, Serendipitous!, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Weekend Trips, What Dreams May Come | 0 Comments

Any normal person would have headed home after 4 consecutive days of 6+ hours of skiing black diamond powder at 3,330 meters followed by six hours of raving in a blizzard. But I am not a normal person. Unlike most people, I don't procrastinate on fulfilling...

Alpe “d’Huez” in Charge Here? We Couldn’t Wait Until Tomorrow, for Tomorrowland Winter

by Calvin Sun | March 28, 2026 | Festivals, France, How's the weather?, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps, The Nightlife | 0 Comments

We made it to a Tomorrowland Aftermovie! Click on the YouTube video below where it starts right where you see us dancing to Alok; me on the left, and Patricia right in the center in her lavender hoodie as the video slows in on her/us (well, really just her)....

Why Not “Disfrutar”?

by Calvin Sun | March 23, 2026 | Fit for Foodies, Flying Fancy, France, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Introspection, Layovers, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Spain, Spring 2026: French & Swiss Alps | 0 Comments

We got a lot going on in the world right now: There's now a war in Iran, the funding bill for our DHS still hasn't passed, and the entirety of the TSA has been working without a paycheck for the past month. With the war, I'd imagine both the region and Emirates...

Meet the Tomorrowland Winter Monsooners!

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

Why do Tomorrowland just once a year when you can do it twice AND ski/snowboard at the same time? Introducing the following returning monsooners for this iteration of our favorite annual festival. Welcome back those returning with me for their 2nd, 3rd, or even...

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...

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...

Athens: Get Us To The Greek

by Calvin Sun | Nov 17, 2015 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, Greece, November 2015: Santorini & Athens, The Nightlife, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

After a day in Santorini, the next morning I took some an accidental >$100 worth of overpriced Kyclades seafood to go before heading out on my 11:20am flight to Athens. Like the lightning fast flight to Santorini, the Aegean Airlines flight back to...

Galazia Santorini!

by Calvin Sun | Nov 15, 2015 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Crisis, Greece, Lessons Learned, November 2015: Santorini & Athens, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

What to do when you get 4.5 days off from work? You can either do your laundry -- or, watch a sunset in Santorini. Having gotten 4 and a half days scheduled off of work after a string of overnight shifts, I casually looked online...

Meet The Silk Road Caravan

by Calvin Sun | Nov 10, 2015 | Introductions

Introducing the brave, beautiful group of new (and old) monsooners so far who are coming this winter on our epic trip on The Silk Road: And from this December 28th to...

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