The Monsoon Diaries: How to travel the world with no time or money -

Meet the Sundancers!

by Calvin Sun | January 2, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

From a trip planned over a year ago after a bunch of friends joined me in Killington 2024, we are flying out to Park City, UT for our first time at the Sundance Film Festival for their final time in Park City, UT! Welcome back those returning with me for their...

Niger At Last: A Second Chance

by Calvin Sun | December 10, 2025 | Border Crossing, December 2025 Annex: Niger, Fail, Flying Fancy, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Niger, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come | 1 Comment

11 months ago, I sat on the tarmac in Niger's International Airport at Niamey, watching my trip evaporate due to visa complications. The Niger Embassy in Washington D.C. had stopped issuing visas to Americans entirely. But I don't give up. In late...

Yemen Day 4: Mukalla Drive

by Calvin Sun | December 5, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Yemen | 0 Comments

Al-Mukalla Pulling ourselves away from a desert mirage paradise at Haid Al-Jazil, we swapped our armed guard at another checkpoint during the 2 hour drive to Mukalla. You point that thing away from me! After a long wait at one of the...

Yemen Day 3: Where Reality Surpasses Dreams at Haid al-Jazil-lion Miles Away From Reality

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Haid Al-Jazil As the afternoon began to wane, we continued onto our accommodation for the night at the Haid Al-Jazil Resort Hotel, named after what it overlooks and its location perching dramatically on a cliff overlooking the Wadi Do'an. You'll find remarkably...

Yemen Day 3: Wadi-“we” Do’an Here?

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Deep into Wadi Do'an From Shibam, we drove deeper into the Hadhramaut system, heading toward Wadi Do'an, a dramatic side valley that branches off the main wadi. Because of the recent military takeover of the local Hadrhamaut government yesterday, we had...

Yemen Day 2/3: Waking Up to A Military Takeover | Shibam Diggity – Where Are Skyscrapers Born? Here, in The Manhattan of the Desert

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | Crisis, December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Travel Warnings, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Day 2 was supposed to start with a morning drive to Al-Mukalla, the seaport and capital city district of Hadramawt. But that plan aged poorly, because we woke up to this instead: Just like my morning of our last day in Kabul in 2019, we woke up to...

YE-ah-MAN! Yemen Mainland Day 1: Oh Sei-yun Can You See?

by Calvin Sun | December 2, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Yemen | 2 Comments

Let's just say being here to take this photo at sunset today was worth the wait: The Visa Maze: When Standard Procedures Is Anything But Standard Before you get in, you'll need an entry visa. As an American citizen in 2025, you'd expect the Yemen...

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...

The Badshahi Mosque

by Calvin Sun | Dec 30, 2013 | Fit for Foodies, Pakistan, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

The morning after the Mehndi, we enjoy a day off. After 2 breakfasts, Mariam's cousins and friends took us on a trip for the Badshahi Mosque: Due to a glut of protests in the old city, we are forced to take a few detours. We...

A Wedding (The Mehndi) In Lahore, Part 1

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2013 | Lessons Learned, Pakistan, The Nightlife, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

I was lucky to arrive in time to not only attend the Mehndi (the pre-wedding ceremony and dance competition -- and where the bride gets her henna done), but to also perform in it at the last-minute. The groom's family arrives: ...

How I Got To Pakistan

by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2013 | Let me tell you a Story..., Pakistan, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

Within 24 hours I went from being the lone foreigner at Lahore's International Airport: to wedding dancer: It's been a dream of mine for at least 2 years to come to Lahore. I was fairly close by 3 years ago when I was in Amritsar,...

At The Top Of The World

by Calvin Sun | Dec 27, 2013 | Blitzkrieg!!!, Lessons Learned, Public Transportation, United Arab Emirates, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

When I was in Dubai 2 years ago in 2011: When I was in Dubai 2 years later today: It's good to be back in Dubai. It might just be my hunch, but UAE flights seem to have shrewdly designed their flight schedules so that most everyone...

Transatlanticism

by Calvin Sun | Dec 27, 2013 | Argentina, Epiphanies on the Road, Serendipitous!, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

Press play. Watch. And then keep reading: I Will Possess Your Heart (Album Version) from Marteen on Vimeo. Hard to believe that just last week we were in Antarctica. As I'm nearing the final moments of a...

Top 11 Experiences In Argentina

by Stephanie Quan | Dec 27, 2013 | Argentina, Camping, Guest Posts, Post-travel Reflections, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It...

I went to Argentina with my sister and our friend Eva in March. This is a list of my favorite experiences. (and why you should go!) 11. Gelato Its everywhere. Its delicious. Bring your dairy pills because you'll want globs of it every day. ...

A Christmas In Buenos Aires

by Calvin Sun | Dec 27, 2013 | Argentina, Fail, Fit for Foodies, Lessons Learned, Let me tell you a Story..., Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Serendipitous!, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

I arrived on the eve of Christmas in Buenos Aires, welcomed by fireworks among the skyline and along the streets of Montserrat: I slept in until the next afternoon where Tabitha, also recuperating from the same trip we took to Antarctica a few...

A Glacier For The Gods: El Perito Moreno

by Calvin Sun | Dec 26, 2013 | Argentina, How Did You Do That?, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan

Today was a feast for the eyes, and for the imagination. Even though I just was in Antarctica, this Patagonian glacier by El Calafate can give those in Antarctica a run for their money: We first confirmed that Simon was safe and sound in Puerto Natales...

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