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...

Welcome To New York

by Calvin Sun | Mar 29, 2015 | New York, Spring 2015: The Great USA Roadtrip, The Nightlife, United States

Today kicks off the first day of 4 weeks of nonstop travel from NYC to Tennessee, from Chicago on Route 66 to San Francisco, from Venezuela to French Guiana, and from Cuba to the DR and Haiti. Given that a majority of our travelers either live in NYC or...

The Venezuela Visa Requirements For U.S. Citizens

by Calvin Sun | Mar 20, 2015 | Getting that VISA, Venezuela

A recent game of Venezuelan political football just caused the visa requirements to change on March 5th, 2015. So what used to be a simple visa on arrival has now become a massive due-diligence paper trail operation that...

Transcript Of Calvin D. Sun (ECAASU Board Of Directors) ECAASU Goodbye Speech

by Calvin Sun | Feb 24, 2015 | Epiphanies on the Road, Introspection, Speeches, You're Going to Miss It...

Harvard University, Boston UniversitySaturday, February 21st, 20157:00 P.M. ESTWith nearly a quarter of our monsooners coming from those that I've met at ECAASU for the past 10 consecutive years I've been involved, I finally say...

Meet The Road Warriors

by Calvin Sun | Feb 13, 2015 | Introductions

MEET THE MONSOONERS OF SPRING 2015 View Monsoon Diaries 2015 in a larger map Introducing the following monsooners for our Spring 2015 trips: Calvin "O Captain! My Captain!" Sun: ER Doctor, Entrepreneur; New York, NY; Columbia...

Big Eating The Big Easy: New Orleans, LA

by Calvin Sun | Feb 10, 2015 | Fit for Foodies, Louisiana, United States, Walking Tours

A few days later I headed south with two days in The Big Easy, aka New Orleans, LA. Once again Jenn Li, continuing her sabbatical across America, had arrived a few hours earlier and was waiting for me at our AirBnB that she found. We didn't know...

30 Hours In Dallas

by Calvin Sun | Jan 15, 2015 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Fit for Foodies, Texas, United States

Continuing our trend of blitzkrieg day trips, I returned to the heartland of America with one day in Dallas, TX. There waiting for me, reliable and true, was Jenn Li of The Points In Between. She was continuing her sabbatical across America, and I was once...

Monuments To The Gods: Monument Valley, AZ/UT

by Calvin Sun | Jan 5, 2015 | Arizona, Blitzkrieg!!!, United States, Utah, What Dreams May Come

Last night in Page, AZ, we stopped by for a drink, live music, pool and a little bout of Western dancing at the Windy Mesa Bar. 2 Chinese Americans, 2 Serbs, and 1 Australian in a group may have made for a curious look, but people were generally friendly and...

Backyard Beauty: Page, AZ

by Calvin Sun | Jan 4, 2015 | Arizona, Blitzkrieg!!!, United States, What Dreams May Come

2 days ago I decided to visit Arizona for a weekend trip right after getting off of work. I was going to link up with a friend, whom I traveled with in Brunei, who was going to continue her cross-country USA trip. When you find yourself at Antelope...

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