For Americans, travel to Cuba is new, unfamiliar, and unexplored.  We finally feel like this hidden gem is within our reach! However, for much of the rest of the world, Cuba is a familiar, already beloved destination.  Depending on the perspective, Cuba is both a new world and an old world.  After my experience there, I can see why it is beloved by those that know it, and I can fervently support why you should travel to Cuba!

The Rediscovery of Cuba

When United States regulations changed with Cuba, and “tourism” became more viable for the everyday American traveler, there was a literal buzz in the air.  In this age of increased travel, social media saturation, and frequent international exchanges, it was hard to imagine there was a place that was this unfamiliar, let alone a place in our own backyard, that we as Americans were not familiar with.  Cuba was a hot topic, a new discovery, and a desired travel destination.  For many, part of this desire seemed to be in simply facing the uncertainty of what exactly travel to Cuba entailed?  Would it be difficult?  Would it be dangerous?  Would it be possible to navigate? What exactly were the procedures to follow?

I was scrolling my Facebook feed on a random day in September, 2016, when I saw an ad for cheap flights to Havana from Dallas.  Half jokingly, I texted my cousin, who had placed Cuba on her bucket list years before, and told her we should go.  I believe in less than twenty-four hours we were booking flights!  While I truly believe relationships with Cuba and the United States will be in flux for years to come, here is what I experienced in regards to some of the prominent questions that seem to arise.

Visa Process

Is a visa necessary for Cuban travel?  Yes, but the visa process that I experienced for Cuba was very different than what I experienced, for example, in traveling to China.  First, the term “visa” was used interchangeably with the term “tourist travel card”.  I heard it referred to as both multiple times.  The process for getting a visa for Cuba starts with booking your flight.  I booked through a major U.S. airline, American Airlines, and at the time of booking I was asked to check a box for what category of travel I was using to travel to Cuba. There are currently twelve categories. I choose “support for the Cuban people“, as I felt that was the most all-encompassing option, and proceeded to book my flight.

Obtaining the actual visa occurred when I arrived at my departure gate in Charlotte, North Carolina.  At the gate, there was a separate booth at which I paid approximately $110, had your passport stamped, and boarded the plane.  There was no further complications in entering the country on my part.  

Itinerary

When I researched travel to Cuba, I was warned to have an itinerary planned, and to keep proof of that itinerary being completed.  We did that, making sure to include educational visits in our itinerary, as well as opportunities for people to people exchanges.  We kept all receipts of these visits.  My understanding was that in supporting the Cuban people, we should do just that – avoid state run hotels and restaurants, etc. Support the Cuban people, not the Cuban government, seemed to be the over-arching, important message. 

Medical Insurance

We were also told to prepare to have proof of travel medical insurance purchased, although apparently you can buy a policy upon entering the country we were told. We were very thorough in all of these preparations, however, we were not asked for proof of an itinerary, receipts, or insurance upon entry, during the trip, or upon exit.  This was, however, just our individual experience, but I felt it was worth sharing.

Currency

One thing we were not warned about, which seems to me to be of equal importance, is understanding the currency system in Cuba.  First, Cuba has no system in place in which to utilize credit cards.  It is a cash only system, so bring cash! Enough cash to last you the entire trip!  We found this out the hard way, when we had to spend several hours waiting in line at the Cuban banks, first trying to use a debit card to withdraw money, and when that failed, exchanging more U.S. dollars because we did not exchange enough right off the bat! Cuba has two types of currency, the Cuban dollar and the Cuban peso.  It seemed to be that tourists used Cuban dollars in their exchanges.  We had no experiences in which Cuban pesos were used, only Cuban dollars.  

Exchanging Money

One other important thing to note, is that the exchange rate between euros and Cuban dollars is better than the exchange rate between U.S. and Cuban dollars, so I exchanged my U.S. dollars into euros prior to leaving the States, and then exchanged my euros to Cuban dollars upon entry to Cuba.  When you land in Havana, there are exchange banks available at the airport, but be prepared to stand in very long lines!  This seemed to just be the way that things are there, the lines in the city did not seem to be any shorter or faster moving, so I am not sure if there is any way to avoid the long lines at the airport.  But I would definitely advise exchanging there.  

One final note, if you have cash leftover, exchange your Cuban money back into your preferred currency in Havana!  You will not be able to exchange Cuban dollars or pesos into U.S. dollars once you are back on U.S. soil, I found this out the hard way in Miami!  So take care of it in Cuba, or be prepared to have leftover Cuban currency.  Which may not be a bad thing, you will have currency ready to go when you return to Cuba!

WiFi Expections

A couple other things that lend to the uniqueness of Cuba: there is no general, public availability of WiFi.  There are state run programs you can purchase WiFi through, but even when we attempted to do that, the connection was so poor it was not usable. Do not expect to go to a restaurant and have free WiFi you can connect to, it will not happen under the current infrastructure.  Just embrace it, and enjoy not being tethered to a device!  

That being said, it is hard in certain ways to plan ahead in Cuba.  We take for granted being able to hop on the internet and books hotels, tours, shuttles, etc.  Once inside Cuba, things are still done primarily over the phone or in person, at least that was our experience.  This means you may not know what you are doing the next day, until you go to make those plans in person! We tried to book a tour through a tour operator to the eastern portion of Cuba, and were told that that tour only operated on certain days, and we had missed the window.  That is just part of the beauty of Cuba, not being able to plan ahead means you get to enjoy the spontaneity of plans!

Lodging

Hotels chains in Cuba are much scarcer than in the U.S.  It seems that most travelers, including ourselves and most of the people we met, stay at “casa particulares”.  This is essentially renting out a room or rooms in your home.  I cannot recommend this enough! Traveling allows you to meet and interact with new people and see new perspectives.  Traveling in Cuba allows you to do this times a hundred.  I loved meeting the family we stayed with, practicing broken Spanish with them and laughing at our non-verbal gestures as we attempted to communicate.  We saw them every morning when we had breakfast, and we saw them every evening when we came back from dinner.  They prepared fresh fruits and pastries every morning, and would attempt conversations with us even though we knew very little Spanish!

Language

Which leads to another point when traveling to Cuba; brush up on some basic Spanish.  Very few people in Cuba knew English fluently, it is helpful to know some basic phrases for ordering food, directions, etc.  This family’s friendliness and openness really gave Cuba a whole other dimension.  This particular family rented out several rooms in their home,and we met some fantastic people while we stayed there.  I would highly recommend finding a casa particular to stay in, preferably one with good reviews! I feel we would have missed out on so much of the experience had we stayed in a hotel.  

Why You Should Travel to Cuba

On our first night in Havana, after sitting on the balcony and waving at the neighborhood children, we met another young couple from Germany.  We started a conversation that lasted well into the night, until we realized that we were hungry and were missing our window to get dinner! They shared some recommendations with us that they had discovered the night before, and then invited us to eat with them.  They took us to a simple Cuban home, where a restaurant was being run right on their front porch!  This is a very common form of dining in Cuba, and I would highly recommend partaking in it.  Not only is the food fresh, but you literally get a window into a typical life in Cuba.  We sat on that patio, enjoying fresh seafood and even fresher mojitos, while watching the cook, presumably the wife and mother of the household, swap her duties between stirring food and dancing with her husband in the kitchen to staticy music playing on an old boombox, in that moment completely caught up in each other and oblivious to us!  We talked about all aspects of life with that German couple, maybe because their perspectives were so different than ours.  We talked politics, travel, marriage and relationships, and our respective lives in America and Germany.  At the end of the night, we were sure we would stay in touch, and even went so far as to mutually open our homes to each other.  

These interactions with the Germans were not exclusive.  We met a woman, probably in her 60’s, from Australia the next morning at breakfast. She was exploring Cuba, from all outward appearances, on her own.  She inspired me. She attempted any broken Spanish she could.  She wanted to see as many off-the beaten-path places as possible.  She caught wind of a certain religious authority figure in the area, and set off to find her, with no more than the broken Spanish she was able to exchange with our hosts in hope of finding this person.  We met taxi drivers, waiters, street vendors, and beach-goers, each with their own stories to tell.

Speaking of beach-goers…..go to the beaches!  They are far less crowded than many U.S. and other Caribbean destinations, with that same enviable turquoise water.  Some are more popularized than others, and the best people to get advice from on this topic are the renters of casa particulars, the taxi drivers, and other locals.

Eat the food! Everything I read gave Cuban food a bad rap, but I enjoyed every meal I had. While I still am not sure if Cuba has a “trademark” food item,  what I did have was always fresh and simply elegant.

Enjoy the Cuban culture! Sit outside and eat a meal while people-watching. Go into the shops. Go to museums.  Ask a street artist how they got their start, and you are guaranteed to get a interesting story and vibrant conversation! You will learn things from a different perspective.  Sometimes that perspective will be jarring, and it may even conjure up feelings of unfairness or injustice, but embrace the new viewpoint! Cuba has a rich history, and Cubans are very proud of it. It is evident throughout the country, from their old, crumbly, yet breathtaking buildings, to the fleet of vintage cars in the streets, to the men lined along the Malecon fishing.

  What stood out to me, was what I started this blog describing. The fact that this place, that is so new and unexplored to us, is like a second home to many others.  Cuba has long been a popular destination for Europeans and Canadians, and they know all the tricks of the trade for exploring this country.  They seem almost taken aback by how unfamiliar Cuba is for Americans.  And they seem to secretly hope we will not discover it to the same extent they have!  After spending time in Cuba, my advice is that regardless of whatever rap the country is currently getting, regardless of how intimidating it may seem, make the attempt to go!  It is unlike any other destination, and it’s uniqueness cannot be fully described in a blog!  You will reminisce for years on the things you will see and the people you will meet.

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