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,...

I Love the Smell of Naples in the Morning

by Calvin Sun | May 18, 2014 | Fit for Foodies, Italy, May 2014: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy

After a 3 hour train ride from Bari to Caserta, I made a connection there for a 1 hour local train to Naples: Once arriving into the Napoli Centrale station, I discovered that Naples has been enduring some kind of public...

From Croatia To Italy (Dubrovnik to Bari)

by Calvin Sun | May 18, 2014 | Border Crossing, Croatia, Italy, May 2014: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy

The goal was to get from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Bari, Italy via an overnight ship. I found that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, a Jadrolinija ship departs from Dubrovik to Bari at 10pm. So I got the cheapest deck tickets (by deck, I mean literally on...

Landing In King’s Landing: Dubrovnik

by Calvin Sun | May 15, 2014 | Croatia, May 2014: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come

If it's not already playing, press play. And then start reading. Dubrovnik, aka "Pearl of the Adriatic" and "King's Landing" of Game of Thrones' fame, lies near the borders of Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina and was once a city-state that...

From Split, Via Bosnia-Herzegovina, To Dubrovnik

by Calvin Sun | May 14, 2014 | Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, May 2014: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy

Just took a 5 hour bus fSplit to Dubrovnik for 125 kn. If you're doing this route, make sure you sit on the right side of the bus to get the best views:

Serenade From Split

by Calvin Sun | May 13, 2014 | Croatia, How's the weather?, May 2014: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Walking Tours

I just decided to take a random trip to Croatia, just because (do we need reasons to travel anymore?)...And somewhere along the coast of the Adriatic Sea I found a lovely city called Split. From Croatia's capital, Zagreb, I took a one hour flight...

A Road Trip Through Jamaica

by Calvin Sun | May 13, 2014 | Jamaica, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Serendipitous!, Spring 2014: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Anderson and I arrived into Kingston, Jamaica at around 4pm in the afternoon and we only had about 16 hours here before our flight home the next morning. What was there for us to do? A friend that I had met during residency interviews a...

Flight To The Bahamas

by Calvin Sun | May 11, 2014 | Spring 2014: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Bahamas

After the goodbyes, the remaining few arrived safe and sound in The Bahamas. We waited a good hour in line to go through passport control since a deluge of flights arrived at the same time. That resulted in hundred and hundreds of Western tourists...

You’re Going to Miss…“The Fairest Island Human Eyes Have Yet Beheld.” (Part V)

by Calvin Sun | May 11, 2014 | Cuba, Spring 2014: Pirates of the Caribbean, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It...

Pictures courtesy of Vivian Trinh, Jan Ferrer, Susan Samol, Edmund Fong, and yours truly. If it doesn't start playing, press play. And then start reading. “You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown. You travel for the unknown, that reveals you...

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