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...

Zero, Zero: Mitad

by Calvin Sun | Apr 22, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Ecuador, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Travel Warnings, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

0,0 ...are the coordinates of a town 30-40 minutes north of Quito, called "La Mitad del Mundo" or "The Middle of the World" where the coordinates are essentially 0 degrees South x 0 degrees West: the exact calculated point (i.e. the...

Alone In Quito

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

After yesterday's goodbyes, I'm alone for the first time and probably for the last time on this trip. I reflected upon the merits of traveling alone in detail a few months ago, also in South America, in The Case for Traveling Solo: It’s just...

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...

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