So I went to Cuba!! The way it happened was so funny.  An acquaintance, now friend, randomly told me that she was planning on going.  Of course, I was intrigued because I’m always down for traveling but don’t always have someone to travel with (solo travel can get old).  As she started telling about the trip, I realized that I knew a couple of the ladies that were going… so I invited myself!

Long story short, it was too late to stay in the house that they had reserved but not too late to join in on all the festivities.  I found out where they were staying, booked an AirBnB close to theirs, and I was on my way!!

Just to quickly summarize my experience, I’m glad I went!  For me, there were a few lessons learned that I would definitely try to do on future trips but also a few things I would do differently.

Travel Documents

Firstly, do your on the requirements to travel to your destination.  As most of you probably already know, traveling to Cuba is quite complicated but doable.  Luckily when I went, all that was needed was a visa…. BUT… I had to get it before I arrived there and it took a few days for it to be process and for me to get approved, so do you due-diligence.

Transportation/Guides

Book a car to and from the airport! Just do it… don’t be like me and take it lightly that you are traveling to a foreign country.  Don’t get me wrong, overall, I felt safe there, but thinking back on it, there were definitely opportunities where someone could have taken advantage of me.

Book a tour guide and create a schedule.  I went to Cuba with group of ladies, 2 of whom own a “travel experience” company, so they created a schedule and arranged for the group to have a tour guide.  This made things soooo easy!  Many people in Cuba do not speak English so this was key.  It’s also nice to be able to get a little bit of the local experience (if you get a good guide).

Things to Do

With that being said, make sure you do some research so that you know what type of things you would like to do.  This is one thing I would change and also a con to traveling with a group.  Since I just joined the group last minute, I didn’t do much research on what there was to do there.  I just wanted to go!  And to make it easy on the group and those coordinating the trip, I just went along with what was planned.  There were a few things that we did that I could have done without and I found out after going, that there were a few things that I would have loved to do.  Moral of the story, do your research!!

Below is the list of things I did when I went:

Cannon Ceremony

Guided Walking Tour of Old Havana

Habana 61 & Playa Mar Azule

Vinales Town

Cuevo de Indio

El Palenque de los Cimarrones

Casa del Veguero