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...

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...

A Trip To Louisiana, Copenhagen

by Calvin Sun | Aug 9, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Denmark, Fit for Foodies, Public Transportation

Because we had already seen most of the sights in the main part of Copenhagen, we decided to head to Central Station and venture into the suburbs for the highly recommended Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. From Central Station we took a half hour...

Essentially, The Odyssey

by Calvin Sun | Aug 9, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Crisis, Denmark, France, How Did You Do That?, Italy, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!

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 in NYC to see if we...

Copenhagen By The Canal

by Calvin Sun | Aug 9, 2015 | August 2015: The Baltic Circle, Denmark, Fail, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Public Transportation, The Nightlife, Walking Tours

How the 17 of us got to see most of Copenhagen's City Center in only 7 hours. We arrived today at around noon into Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport, south of the city's center, about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Good job Norwegian Air Shuttle....

26 Take Off!

by Calvin Sun | Aug 7, 2015 | New York

Today the majority of our group of 26 depart for Scandinavia. 3 of us are already waiting for the rest of the group in Copenhagen, and 20 should be arriving in within the next 12 hours. To make things more interesting, a mom-and-daughter couple just signed up today on...

Meet The Nords

by Calvin Sun | Jun 25, 2015 | Introductions

Please welcome the following monsooners as they embark on our upcoming trip to Scandinavia & The Baltic States:[gallery size="medium"...

Staycation

by Calvin Sun | May 5, 2015 | How Did You Do That?, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, New York, United States, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

What better way to recover from a grueling 1 week road trip across the USA followed by 1 week shlepping it across Venezuela and the Great Guyanas, with a free night at the Park Hyatt, New York? If you spend $1000 or more within 3 months of signing up...

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