The Monsoon Diaries
  • TMD: A Memoir
    • Amazon
    • Barnes&Noble
    • Books-A-Million
    • Bookshop.org
    • Indiebound
    • Audible
    • AppleBooks
    • GooglePlay
    • Kobo
  • Upcoming Trips
    • French/Swiss Alps
    • Upstate NY Camping
    • Tomorrowland
    • East Coast Snow
    • Sudan
    • Paraguay
    • TransCanada Hwy
    • Kyrgyzstan
    • All Trips
  • Past Trips
    • Itineraries
    • Our Map
    • Trip Reviews
    • Pics & Vids
  • Our Story
    • What We Do
    • How We Do It
      • The 20 Rules
      • Travel Guide
    • In The Press
  • Community
    • Who We Are
      • Reunions
    • Our Friends
    • In The Media
    • Dancing
  • Blog
    • All Posts (List)
    • All Posts (Map)
    • Featured
    • Meditative
  • Shop
  • FAQ/Contact
Select Page
For Richer, For Polar

For Richer, For Polar

by Calvin Sun | Feb 9, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, Fit for Foodies, How's the weather?, Lapland, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

  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)

The Coolest Hotel in Lapland (Literally)

by Calvin Sun | Feb 7, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, What Dreams May Come

    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

Ylläs Hear Me Out

by Calvin Sun | Feb 6, 2026 | February 2026: Lapland, Finland, How's the weather?, Lapland, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

Day 1: JFK → Paris → Helsinki For a limited-time promotion offering 20% points back on mileage transfers, Mel and I moved 48,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points each into Air France Flying Blue for two business class seats on their NYC to Paris route. Air France...
Sundance’s Last Dance: Park City, UT

Sundance’s Last Dance: Park City, UT

by Calvin Sun | Jan 27, 2026 | How's the weather?, United States, Utah

  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...
Gijón With the Wind

Gijón With the Wind

by Calvin Sun | Jul 19, 2025 | Doctor in the House, How's the weather?, July 2025: Northern & Southern Spain, Serendipitous!, Spain, Summer 2025: The Long Road to Berlin

  How’s my ankle holding up? I can be pretty decent at wound care if I say so myself. This is Day 0 — right after a 1500-lb bull stepped on it:  Day 4:   We arrived in Gijón after a full day of driving and checked into our spots in the Las Arenas area, one...
Almost Got the Bhut-an!

Almost Got the Bhut-an!

by Calvin Sun | Sep 23, 2024 | Bhutan, Fail, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, September 2024: Bhutan, Serendipitous!

  Upon an invitation by Letti’s friends after our West Africa trip together, I happily accepted and asked for permission if I could also invite a few monsooners if they’d be interested. As I learned about the process, it came at no surprise that the...
« Older Entries

Where Are We Now?

Click to open a larger map

Where Are We Next?

Click to open a larger map

Recent Posts

  • All Aboard the Santa Claus Express! February 10, 2026
  • For Richer, For Polar February 9, 2026
  • The Coolest Hotel in Lapland (Literally) February 7, 2026
  • Ylläs Hear Me Out February 6, 2026
  • Sundance’s Last Dance: Park City, UT January 27, 2026

Post Categories

Calendar of Posts

February 2026
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
232425262728  
« Jan    
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Instagram
  • RSS
All original photos, videos and media uploaded to, and featured on this website (hereinafter (“Media Content”), are the intellectual property of Calvin D. Sun, MD and are copyright protected by The Monsoon Diaries™️ Download and use of any content or media on this website may be permitted for individual, educational, and non-commercial purposes only with the expressed written permission by the author and/or copyright holder. Please report any unauthorized use to calvin@monsoondiaries.com . Use of copyright materials, in contravention of the license above, may result in legal proceedings against the user for monetary damages, an injunction, and any other remedies and relief that a court of competent jurisdiction deems just and proper. Dr. Sun also hereby disclaims any and all liability to any party for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of the Media Content, which is provided as is, and without warranties. Copyright Notice: Copyright © 2020 The Monsoon Diaries™️, New York, NY USA, All Rights Reserved
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
View preferences
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}