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,...

Escape From Snake Island

by Calvin Sun | Feb 2, 2014 | Camping, Crisis, Fail, Guest Posts, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Macedonia, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

The following is a guest post by Brandon Green of Brandon is Still Alive, who graciously asked if he could contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures. Brandon Green and I had taken the same Calculus III Honors class 9 years ago during my freshman year at...

One Day In Bahrain

by Calvin Sun | Jan 7, 2014 | Bahrain, Blitzkrieg!!!, Walking Tours, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

Our flight back to NYC from Lahore required a daylong layover in the Kingdom of Bahrain, of which we fully took advantage.It's a country most recently famous for being the nearby (and relatively more liberal) weekend destination for vactioning Saudis who need a...

One Last Day In Lahore

by Calvin Sun | Jan 6, 2014 | Epiphanies on the Road, Mythbusters, Pakistan, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

Today was the day we needed to see all the major sites of Lahore other than the Badshahi Mosque. Beginning with a relatively early morning at 11am, we set off for the massive city-sized Lahore Fort: The first major part that you'll come upon entering...

Where Are Salwar Kameez Born?

by Calvin Sun | Jan 5, 2014 | Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Pakistan, Serendipitous!, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

Part of being in Pakistan during December is that you'll make it in time for good weather, good food, and the annual wedding season; stay here long enough and you're bound to get invited to one without any prior notice.This is what happened to me today when I thought...

A Wedding (The Walima) In Karachi: Part 3

by Calvin Sun | Jan 4, 2014 | How Did You Do That?, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Pakistan, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

The 3rd and final part of the wedding is the Walima, where the groom's family hosts the bride's family on their turf (their home, their city, their neighborhood, another venue, etc.), and everyone has one last dinner together. We started our first full day in...

Kool Karachi

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2014 | Fit for Foodies, Pakistan, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

After arriving in by train from Lahore, we settled in at a really nice place thanks to Mariam's family: We then got a driver and tried to hit the ground running: We passed by the house of the Bhutto family (the family of Benazir Bhutto, who...

From Lahore To Karachi By Train

by Calvin Sun | Jan 3, 2014 | Pakistan, Public Transportation, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

The next morning we got ready for a 3pm train leaving from Lahore to Karachi. The whole journey took about 20 hours. Our 3pm train -- The Pak Business Express -- is owned by a private company instead of the government, so we were able to get reservations...

Diesel Kebab

by Calvin Sun | Jan 1, 2014 | Pakistan, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

After the Baraat yesterday, we went out for late night milkshakes at The Good Shake (which I really recommend!) before watching Insidious 2 at home: We then headed to the Lahore Polo Club for a late brunch the next day: Then walked around the...

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