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,...

Paz Out, La Paz

by Calvin Sun | Apr 21, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Bolivia, Walking Tours

From Uyuni via Todo Turismo, our group arrived at 7:30am into La Paz the next morning, underslept and cranky from the worst overnight bus ride of our journey: We did a 10 minute hike to Wild Rover's Hostel and freshened up for about a few...

Salar De Uyuni

by Calvin Sun | Apr 20, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Bolivia, Fail, Public Transportation, What Dreams May Come

A dream come true: Salar de Uyuni just got served on Jun's palm Salar de Uyuni just got served I’ve been planning to come to Salar de Uyuni for a few years now, as it’s been on possibly every single “Top # Places That You Wouldn’t...

Leaving For La Paz

by Calvin Sun | Apr 18, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Bolivia, Crisis, Doctor in the House, Fail, Lessons Learned, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Travel Warnings

Feeling a little dizzy from the altitude sickness that everyone experiences in La Paz, so I'll make this entry as straightforward as possible... The 11 of us woke up at 5:30am this morning in Valparaiso and pre-booked 3 cabs to pick us up from the hostel for the...

Aftermath Of A Disaster: iFuerza Valpo!

by Calvin Sun | Apr 17, 2014 | Chile, Travel Warnings, What Dreams May Come

This was Valparaiso 4 days ago: And Valparaiso is where we are right now: It's been all over the news. And little did we know what we were going into (backpacking can take your mind off of the TV and current events for...

From The Atlantic To The Pacific: From Buenos Aires To Valparaiso

by Calvin Sun | Apr 17, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Argentina, Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, Chile, Public Transportation, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

In our 2nd day in Buenos Aires, I led the gang up to check out Recoleta Cemetery. Afterwards, they continued onwards to the parks of Palermo while I found a cafe and caught up on work. We rendezvous'ed back at the hostel in the late afternoon and...

Back To Buenos Aires

by Calvin Sun | Apr 15, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Argentina, Fit for Foodies, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, The Nightlife

Taking a 7pm bus leaving from Puerto Iguazu the night before, we arrived into Buenos Aires at 12:45pm the next day. Fun fact: at this point I would have arrived into Buenos Aires in all 4 modes of transportation (air, train, ferry, and bus) within a span of 5...

Iguazu Falls: 3 Countries In 1 Day

by Calvin Sun | Apr 15, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Argentina, Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, Brazil, How Did You Do That?, Paraguay, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come

Every single person and guide book out there tells you that if you're going to visit Iguazu Falls, you *must* spend one day EACH on either side (Brazil and Argentina). Well, in true Monsoon fashion, we decide to do the impossible and not only do BOTH sides in...

A Night In Fos de Iguacu

by Calvin Sun | Apr 13, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Brazil, Fit for Foodies, Serendipitous!

Flew into Fos de Iguacu via TAM airlines, and at one point during the 2 hour flight I went to offer my medical expertise to help a passenger that appeared to have had a seizure. There also happened to be 3 other U.S. trained Emergency Medicine docs on the plane...

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