Scantlings

Flew to Havana for a long weekend. It really is like a time machine.

If you are thinking of going BRING CASH! LOTS MORE THAN THE GUIDEBOOKS TELL YOU. YOUR AMERICAN CREDIT CARDS AND BANK CARDS ARE USELESS.

We ran out of cash and had to call the Embassy on President's day. Spoke to the duty officer. Only 2 ways to get cash in Cuba - Western Union to the Embassy (not on Pres. Day.) or Western Union to a Cuban national. Here's the catch. The wire CAN'T BE INITIATED FROM WITHIN CUBA! We were in an AIRBnB and got our landlord to go to WU with me. However, I had to call a friend in the US to log in to my newly created account and complete the transaction.

So, other than that?

Gorgeous beaches and old cars, unattractive women, good food, cheap rum, 3g data costs a kings ransom.
Changing money at a bank is a 2 hour wait and a 20 minute transaction.
Would go back, hopefully by boat.

Interesting timing as I'm heading to Havana with my daughter for 4 days in a few weeks. Fortunately she is a cheap date... as long as one of the pizza places listed in Tripadvisor is passable, I don't have to worry about food costs too much.

Staying at an AirBNB in downtown Havana (not planning on traveling far), so glad the Castros opened up the lodging market a bit... baby steps to enable disruptive technologies

Couple questions....

Did you have trouble finding bottled water ? I hear the "grocery stores" are pretty limited, but local "mini-marts" have a good selection and hopefully have reasonable prices for bottled water.

Do you think changing $$$ to CUC at the airport would be faster than banks ? (though probably not as good a rate....but time is money !) Did you feel safe walking around on a cash-only basis ? Hoping our BNB has a safe or other secure storage, but the owner isn't real clear (literate in Spanish and French... English not so much).

And the most important question... I hear you should buy cigars from official "company stores" to ensure they are authentic (I guess even Cuba is flooded with fake-cuban cigars ?). Just wondering what the costs are for a decent cigar (not high-end, but not rock-gut). Will help to budget how much CUC's I need....

Planning on bringing some gifts. My wife has friends who visit and say the locals really appreciate coloring books, crayons, gum, chocolate, etc... the kind of things us capitalistic pigs take for granted. The BNB has a small bar for the patrons, so also planning on bringing some decent US whiskey such as Crown, Makers Mark, etc to donate.

All feedback and additional suggestions are appreciated !

Our frig was stocked, so we paid the building super for our water. There are lots of little shops that sell pizza, ice cream etc. you can pop into to buy water. $2-$4 a bottle depending on size. We saw one grocery store on the ride from the airport. The ride costs 30 CUC or $40 with a prearranged taxi. Pizza was $10. Most meals were 8-10 plus drinks.

If you can bring Euros, do so. There is a 10% charge on on converting dollars. If you want to change money at the airport, go upstairs to the departure level. There is no line there. There were probably 40 people in line at the exit.

I'm not a cigar guy. Cheap ones are a buck; they go up from there to maybe $10. Supposedly, private stores put expensive labels on cheap cigars.

We felt safe. There is very little crime. Still I told my wife not to wear good jewelry. The average Cuban makes $30/month!

Havana Club Reserve rum was $8 a bottle! Don't buy it at the fort if you plan to take the ferry from Casablanca. No glass permitted on the ferry.

Enjoy!

Sounds really fun, but we will probably hold off until I am ready to give up my security clearance...and the place has been ruined by the cruise ship trade.

Cruise ships are already there. European lines loading tourists onto buses.

TheOffice wrote:Cruise ships are already there. European lines loading tourists onto buses.

I should have known that. Call me a bigoted snob and some of my best friends, etc., but I think the American lines are the most damaging.

Thanks for the feedback ! Will post a trip review upon my return.....

Orestes Munn wrote:Sounds really fun, but we will probably hold off until I am ready to give up my security clearance...and the place has been ruined by the cruise ship trade.

Security clearance? Does the Donald know about this?

TheOffice wrote:

Orestes Munn wrote:Sounds really fun, but we will probably hold off until I am ready to give up my security clearance...and the place has been ruined by the cruise ship trade.

Security clearance? Does the Donald know about this?

No. You're the only person I've told.

Coincidentally I just watched a Rick Steves special on travelling in Cuba. We've used his guide books on trips to Europe. I like his attitude about travel: travel light, stay local, and get to know the people.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/travel-talks/travel-guide-to-cuba

"travel light, stay local, and get to know the people. "

That's precisely our plan ! And why I'm travelling with my daughter versus my wife.... the missus would prefer an all-inclusive with lobster every night My daughter and I will be more engaged in the local culture.... just not too engaged, don't need to come home with a new boyfriend in tow

IrieMon wrote:"travel light, stay local, and get to know the people. "

That's precisely our plan ! And why I'm travelling with my daughter versus my wife.... the missus would prefer an all-inclusive with lobster every night My daughter and I will be more engaged in the local culture.... just not too engaged, don't need to come home with a new boyfriend in tow

Either of you.

Ish wrote:

IrieMon wrote:"travel light, stay local, and get to know the people. "

That's precisely our plan ! And why I'm travelling with my daughter versus my wife.... the missus would prefer an all-inclusive with lobster every night My daughter and I will be more engaged in the local culture.... just not too engaged, don't need to come home with a new boyfriend in tow

Either of you.

Badabing - Badabang!! (If there was ever a need for a trapshot - we need it with ISH!)

Reminds me of my first trip to Foxys in the BVIs many moons ago....we were all sunburned and salt-encrusted. Did a shot of tequila and told my friend... "I feel like a new man".

He replied "What's the matter with the old one ?"

yeah... I have a habit of walking right into these....

but hey... the missus might like me to bring a boyfriend home, give her some help on the foredeck

And back on topic.... Trying to budget how much cash is interesting.... since once you convert USD into the Cuban CUC, it cannot be converted back... or can it be ? (at a huge loss, I'm sure). Use it or lose it ?

You can convert it back at the airport, or spend it all in the gift/duty free shops.

We budgeted $100 per day. Because of the cabs to the beach and some gift shopping it was 1/2 of what we needed. There were 3 of us.