Mark in Cuba

So I have eventually decided to go for it and quit looking for excuses why not now. I’m going to Cuba. I must do it now, or else it will change and when it changes, it will be permanent. I want to experience old school Cuba, with its old cars, old colonial architecture, friendly people and relaxed way of life with no gangs, no drugs but lots of sunshine.

Fidel Castro already stepped down which is a strong sign that the time is now. 2008 US election race is well underway and the decision will be made soon. I should visit Cuba before Americans have new president. There is a good chance that embargo and boycott of Cuba will be eased up or completely cancelled when new prez takes the office and that time is here.

It was late Spring of 2008. I had been wanting to visit Cuba for years but I have always found an excuse to put it off, sort of realizing that Cuba will still be the same for as long as George Bush is the president of the US. But with only few months left, I needed to act.

Being a computer guy who spends most of his daytime on a computer, I deployed the power of internet and started searching for the best deals to Cuba from my home town – Edmonton. The only two places in Cuba I have heard of at the time, were Havana and Varadero. I didn’t know that much about each of them, but I slowly started my quest of acquiring knowledge of the country I was going to visit.

Realizing I had spent years wanting to do that and always found excuse to put it off, I feared the same excuse would crawl in my brain because I still had many months till new US president takes the office. Everything seemed so distant, all I needed was to start myself off. And I did by doing the first and most important step – I’d applied for passport.

Applying for Canadian passport is one of those things that is often compared to pulling teeth at the dentist. There are countless stories circling about how much hassle it was for everyone to get a passport in Canada. I went into it same feelings, thinking how much hassle it was going to be and if I’m gonna get a passport at all, blah blah. As it turned out, it’s not that bad at all. As a matter of fact, from my experience, applying for Canadian passport is a simple, hassle free procedure that goes very smoothly from start to end. Of course they need to adhere to certain domestic and international standards. It is in our best interest that only right people are issue passports so it is not abused. I truly think the application process is fair and adequate to the importance of the document.

Applying for Canadian Passport is Easy and Pain Free. I Got Mine Within a Week with Zero Trouble

What I did to apply for passport:

Simple:

1) Download Passport Application – I’m a computer guy, so I downloaded the form from Passport Canada website as it’s easier and more convenient that picking one up from the post office. I filled the application up, which was not difficult at all – it just asks you a bunch of questions you know, so you fill it in and you’re done.

2) Get Passport Picture Taken – I just went to London Drugs to get my pic taken. You can’t smile in it so it looks like the most miserable mugshot of all time, but everybody has a pic like that in their passport, so I didn’t care. It doesn’t cost that much either.

3) Get a Guarantor – you need a guarantor to warrant Passport Canada that they have known you for at least 2 years and that it is really you who applies for passport. I had asked my supervisor at work who was kind enough (and crazy enough – or both) to do it.

4) Submit Your Application – I took a few hours off work thinking I should get to the Passport Office early enough so I can get it submitted the same day. Rumors have it that there are insane line ups for the Passports and many people don’t even get a chance to submit their application cause they are at the end of line. Mailing applications in allegedly takes weeks upon weeks and could be way longer if they reject your application, hence going in person can speed it up. I found it all be different from what rumors suggest.

I got to Canada Place downtown Edmonton, I’d asked where Passport Office was, walked right in to see that they have large number of agents who serve the office so even though few people walked in before me, we all went right to the available agents who were plentiful there. There is a pre-check agent first, who take a look at your application to make sure that it’s filled up properly, checks that you have required pictures and documents proving your identity. This pre-check take a grand total of 20 seconds. After that the agent assigns you a number and you’re supposed to wait until your number shows on the screen so you know that it’s your turn to go to actual agent who processes your application.

I picked up my number, I looked at the screen and my number immediately showed up along with the number of the counter I was supposed to go to. The agent was very nice and pleasant, there was no feeling of getting my teeth pulled. He asked me how soon I needed my passport. I said I’d love to have it in two weeks. He said they were caught up and it should be there within 2 weeks.

I was out of the Passport Office within 5 minutes. Absolutely pain free, smooth process. They have enough people there and entire process is streamlined to the point that it makes for a very smooth operation. I could not believe how easy and pain free it was. I just kept wondering what the hell do those people who say it’s slow and lots of problems talk about. Fill up your damn application properly and have all documents ready. What do you think is gonna happen if you don’t bring half of required stuff? Of course they’re gonna send you home to come back when you get your act together. On the other hand – come ready and you’ll be done within minutes.

I expected the worst, but it turned out very pleasant. But it wasn’t all. Six days later I go to pick up my mail and there was a notice I had mail that required signature. I signed for it and got an envelope with – you guessed it… My Passport. Yes, the agent told me they were caught up and there were no delays, but I did not expect it this soon.

To conclude- application for Canadian passport is a quick, easy and pain free process. Just don’t screw around and you’ll see how simple it gets. Get yours now, it’s good for 10 years. Once you have it, you’re set.

So now I had passport – obvious next step was to find a trip to Cuba I should buy.

Now that I had my passport, my trip to Cuba all of a sudden seemed so real. Prior to that it was all a form of wishful thinking, but with a passport in my hand I felt like I made a giant leap forward and could virtually go the following day if I needed to. Passport changed my point of view from “I have to do this, this and this before I’m able to go” to “I’m ready to go and can do it anytime”.

I started searching through websites of big Canadian travel agencies for best deals to Cuba. I had been basically keeping an eye on several big players on daily basis till I got a clear idea on what prices average trips to Cuba are at and what popular spots are. For your information, below are the biggest on line travel agencies I was regularly checking to pick my vacation:

www.ExitNow.ca
www.iTravel2000.com
www.SellOffVacations.com
www.geo.ca
www.Marlin-Travel.ca
www.RedTag.ca
www.FlightCentre.ca
www.TravelCuts.com

It may seem like a lot, but I never wanted to miss out on a good deal and I believe in preparation so I checked out everything that was available. There were countless other websites, but I won’t list them all. These are major players, if you check each of them, you are sure to find a good deal for yourself.

As it always goes, the more you start digging into something, the more difficult it becomes to choose. My day to day research gave me a pretty good idea on what travel agencies have to offer and how much it costs, but none offered search feature I was looking for – I wanted to find out which time of year it is the cheapest to go to Cuba. No matter which travel agency website you go to, each time you go to search for vacations you can buy, you must enter desired date and duration of stay. What kind of BS is that?

My thinking was that I had a flexible schedule. I could go anytime between now and the US election so I do get to Cuba before it changes. Hence I thought I’d go to a website, enter time frame within which I’m OK to travel and would sort results based on price. I’d pick the best trip based on most convenient combination of price and date and I’d be set. However, it doesn’t work that way. None of the website I was frequenting offered any such feature.

So I decided to visit a travel agency in person. First I went to Uniglobe GEO Travel on 10237 109 Street in Edmonton. I was hoping to find out from the travel consultant what the best time of year was to travel to Cuba. I came there, took a seat and told the girl what I was after. She asked me: “When did you want to go?”

To make the long story short – it was a waste of time. I left the agency frustrating, however to the credit of the agency – they simply don’t have the way to search on a broad range of date. In order for them to conduct a search and provide a quote to you, the client, they need to know the date you wish to travel. If you tell them you are flexible and can go anytime within next three months, just look up the best deal, it won’t get you anywhere. In order not to look completely rude, I pretended I took notes of two trips the consultant suggested and took off.

Next I went to The Flight Centre in Edmonton City Centre downtown Edmonton and left just as frustrated. First thing the agent asked me was “when I wanted to travel”. I rephrased myself that I am flexible and can go anytime within next three months, so she punched a random day into the system and gave me the quote for that day. She punched another date and gave me that quote too. Once again, I pretended I took notes, but discarded the paper upon departure from the agency.

It pays to note, that I had done extensive internet search prior to my in-person visits to these travel agencies so I had pretty good ideas on hotels and prices in Cuba. The visit to brick and mortar agencies confirmed that one is better off purchasing their ticket on line. Not only is it more convenient, you are also gonna spend less money. Quotes I got from the agents were higher than what you would pay for the same trip if purchased on line. That’s also part of the reason why my fake notes were discarded as soon as I was off sight.

Still determined to find out what the best time of year to travel to Cuba was, I decided to call some more travel agencies. Since visiting them in person was so counterproductive and takes lots of time (you got to drive there, park, get in and get an agent to talk to you) making a phone call seemed far less time wasting.

I phoned Marlin Travel first. I tried to find out the same thing – I told her I was flexible and was looking for the best overall deal, but she wasn’t able to look anything up unless I gave her the date. She eventually promised to look into it and get back to me via email. Which she did, however when I received an email, it went straight to the trash folder – it contained quotes for two trips, each of them significantly more expensive than same thing quoted and available for booking on a website.

I also phone iTravel2000.com – one of the web portals I had been frequenting when I initiated my search for best deals in Cuba and agent was as useless for my needs as with any other agency. Simply no way to give them the range of three months so they can tell me which weeks are the best to take.

At this point I had had enough of dealing with travel agencies in person or via phone, so I stuck strictly with internet searches. I intensified my search for best deals in Cuba and intensified my search for information regarding Cuba, including which towns and which hotels are the best to go to. And that lead me to the most important discovery and knowledge I had acquired during my search. Read on to see how I was deciding which destination in Cuba to pick and how I was lead to it through extensive search for the best hotel in Varadero.

As I was digging through vacation offers on websites of countless travel agencies, it became apparent that Varadero is Cuba’s hottest tourist spot. All Canadian travel providers who specialize in sun vacations have Varadero as one of their top offers. Flights to Varadero from anywhere in Canada are frequent and inexpensive. It definitely seemed like the right spot for a price conscious person like me.

It would seem like an easy pick, but it’s not just about “going to Varadero”. If you compare various all inclusive offers, you will see that they are all in Varadero, but each of them is in a different hotel. And hotel can make or break your vacation. So I started my search for the best hotel in Varadero to help me understand better what I’d be getting for my money.

As I was doing my research for the best hotel in Varadero, I landed on a www.TripAdvisor.com website which offers reviews of hotels and more written by travellers. I found Trip Advisor to be a pretty valuable resource of information, even though some reviews need to be taken lightly. Large scoop of reviews however suggests that the site is unbiased and those reviews are rather trustworthy. You should never believe everything it says entirely, but it is still a great tool to determine what you would be getting if you chose this hotel over that one.

So from now on, my search for the best deal to Cuba was always accompanied by the check of the hotel against reviews on Trip Advisor. After a few days I had a pretty good idea on which hotels are decent and which are not. Sadly, vacations with stay in a hotel that seemed like a solid choice according to Trip Advisor were priced a bit too high up. That was not making decisions any easier. There were either fairly inexpensive vacations that were made sound fabulous by travel agencies, but reviews of hotels by travellers on Trip Advisor were discouraging (such as Club Karey Hotel, Islazul Hotel Dos Mares or Gran Caribe Hotel Varadero Internacional), or there were overpriced trips to solid hotels that had no bad reviews, just a bunch of happy campers who would not hesitate to recommend it (such as Iberostar Varadero Hotel, Blau Varadero Hotel, Paradisus Princesa del Mar Resort & Spa or Sandals Royal Hicacos Hotel).

Time was passing by and I was still undecided. I started looking for vacations in Havana, but there was no such thing as “all inclusive”. The idea of an all inclusive vacation sounded a bit better to me, based on my previous experience from Mexico. I took an all inclusive vacation in Cabo San Lucas and while I barely ate throughout my seven days of stay, I drank a lot of alcohol. So if I was to pay for my own food, I would have saved, cause I only had a bite here and there. But considering how much booze I drank – if I was to pay for all that, I would bankrupt myself. So extra payment for an all inclusive treatment turned out to be a wise investment and I kept the same in mind when I was choosing a vacation in Cuba. Havana didn’t have any such thing – all hotels are on European Plan or Breakfast Only Plan. Plus each trip there was significantly more expensive than Varadero to begin with.

I need to mention that Havana quickly became a must-visit spot. I have heard from many people who paid for an all inclusive vacation in a Varadero hotel, took a day trip to Havana and ended up staying there, paying for the hotel from their own pockets even though they had rooms in Varadero, because Havana was so awesome. Havana was simply unavoidable, it’s the real Cuba. As real as Cuba gets so it was a must. And being told so many times how much everybody who only took a day trip there loved it – I knew I could not possibly avoid it. Staying directly in Havana would seem like the best option, but non existence of all inclusive hotels was discouraging and even prices for European Plans (no food whatsoever) were sky high to begin with. Much more than an all inclusive in Varadero.

It was mid summer 2008 and I still didn’t know where in Cuba I was going to. I was really hoping to make the best of it – that’s why all the fuss instead of just picking up whatever was available and cheap. And then I found out about Breezes Jibacoa Hotel which is right between Varadero and Havana and it was all inclusive. Did I find the best of both worlds? Read on!

The more I kept searching for the best hotel in Varadero, the more I felt like staying in Varadero won’t satisfy my Cuba itch. I really wanted to visit Cuba, but I wanted more than just nice beach and scorching hot sun. I wanted to visit Havana. And while Varadero is not that far from Havana, a trip would still cost quite a bit. On the other hand, staying in a hotel in Havana didn’t seem like the best of options because no hotels offer all inclusive stay. Havana is simply not a resort town. And that’s when I found out about The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel which seemed to bridge the gap between Varadero and Havana.

The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel is located in the middle of nowhere, right between Varadero and Havana and it is an all inclusive resort. What’s more – it’s an adult only resort. How awesome is that. Me being 34 year old, I could really appreciate that. Imagine you’re on a vacation and all you listen to whole day are kids running around screaming. You want to go to the pool, there are kids pissing in it and splashing water in your face while they’re laughing out loud annoying the crap out of you. Simply put, the fact that The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel was an adult only resort seemed like a big plus.

Map Shows Location of Breezes Jibacoa Hotel Right Between Havana and Varadero. Picture of Hotel is included. Source: Google Maps

The hotel is also on a beautiful beach, right by the ocean and it is all inclusive so it offers everything any hotel in Varadero has to offer, but at the same time it is much closer to havana, so if a guy wanted to take a trip to havana, it would cost less than from Varadero. The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel definitely disqualified all of Varadero hotels for me. It was reasonably priced, travel agencies selling vacations in The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel privide transport to and from the hotel (since it’s right between Havana and Varadero airports) so it almost seems like a “can’t go wrong option”.

There was a downside to it all, though. The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing there. there is just this resort with beautiful beach right in front of it, but the moment you get bored of it, is the moment you’re screwed as there is absolutely no where to go. In Varadero, there is one hotel next to another, there are small outdoor markets, countless restaurants and venues with large variety of entertainment. At The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa resort – there is the hotel with its own restaurant, their own evening entertainment and their own exclusive beach. End to it right there.

Many people would certainly appreciate that. If you’re looking for a relaxing vacation, away from it all – The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel would be the place. But if you’re a hyper active person who likes to live his life and can’t stand being bored – you won’t be able to bear it. I realized that right away. Everything seemed so nice about it, but this part was a big downer. It was still the biggest player on my list of “to go” places in Cuba.

I was determined that if I don’t find a better place to go to, I’d end up at The Superclubs Breezes Jibacoa Hotel. I never stopped my research though and I’m really glad, cause instead of a vacation I had an epic adventure of a lifetime. The breakpoint was the search for right destination.

The search for the right destination to Cuba had become as ongoing as the search for the best deal to Cuba. When I thought about it a little, I formed several points in my head that were outlining what I wanted to do in Cuba:

• Experience Cuban Night Life
• Get Nice Dose of Cuban Sun and Beach
• Smoke a Hand Rolled Cuban Cigar
• Take a Ride in a Taxi Cab from the 1950’s
• Meet the Real Cubans, Live the Real Cuba
• Take Crap Loads of Pictures

The more I was digging into it, the more I was learning about Cuba, the more it was becoming clear that I should not be taking a vacation in a tourist resort. If I went to Varadero or Cayo Coco, I will only experience #2 of my expectations list – Cuban sun and beach. Sure, beaches in Cuba are something else, but somehow I felt it wouldn’t be satisfying for me. Long before Cuba, I’d spent 6 months on various Islands in the Caribbean and went to Mexico on vacation. If I went to Cuba only to stay in a hotel and throw myself on the beach during the day – I would not experience Cuba I wanted to. That type of vacation would be no different from vacation in Mexico. If a guy is going to Cuba, he should go to places that make Cuba different.

I asked around Trip Advisor and the answers I got were all pretty much the same – Havana, hands down. I kind of suspected that, I just somewhat needed a nudge to switch my thinking that way. Yes, if I want to experience Cuba, I have to go to Havana. Varadero is not Cuba. Varadero is a tourist resort no different from any other tourist resort in any other exotic country. Havana is Cuba, it has a vibrant night life, old cars, old architecture, beautiful young people and everything else that makes Cuba… well, Cuba.

As I was doing my thorough research, I tracked down a guy called Jorge. He’s a Cuban national living in Havana and one of very few Cubans who have computer access. He’s a licensed travel advisor and travel guide doing most of his business on line, hence why he’s allowed to have internet, even though most of Cubans don’t have that luxury. I asked Jorge what he could do for me being a Cuban government licensed travel agent and told him about my expectation.

By this time I have already completely ditched all inclusive vacation, I have completely ditched Varadero and even Breezes Jibacoa. I wanted to turn my trip to Cuba into an adventure. I wanted to spend most of my stay in Havana, but also visit some other towns that travellers who visited Cuba liked. In particular it was Trinidad since it’s an old, colonial town with lots of history and culture. I have also learned all about private houses called Casa Particular, which is much better a form of accommodation for tourists than hotels, since it’s less expensive
and you get to live with actual Cubans. There are countless other advantages which are beyond the scoop of this website, but for those interested in learning more, I highly recommend reading Casa Particular Complete Guide provided by Cuba Tourism website. If you’re going to Cuba, definitely look into staying in a Casa Particular instead of a hotel.

I was really happy with myself. I was glad I didn’t rush it and didn’t purchase an all inclusive vacation. All this time I knew I’d be missing out on something, I just didn’t know what it was. Lots of research paid off and I had far better understanding of Cuba and what to do. Plus I already had a connection to Cuba – Jorge. Read on to find out more about Jorge, the Cuban Travel Agent.

I wanted to see what Cuban Travel Agent can do so I sent Jorge an email outlining what I would like to see and he responded via email with suggested activities and itinerary. It included 3 nights stay in a Casa Particular in Old Havana and a 3 nights stay in Trinidad. My seventh night would be in Hotel Nacional back in Havana. I would get taxi transfer to and from the airport and a guided tour through Havana and fancy dinner in La Guarida and La Fontana restaurants. So basically Jorge could make arrangements for me to see and do what I would like in Cuba. That was his job. I’d tell him what I need, he makes it happen. He charges little commission so the trip as described above would be just a tad over $600 CUC (CUC is Cuban Convertible Pesos – an official Cuban currency for tourists, roughly 1:1 with US dollar).

That looked really good. Jorge obviously knew what he was talking about and had connections all over the country. He also knew entire Cuba backwards. After crappy experience talking to travel agents in Edmonton back when I was looking to purchase a vacation in Cuba, talking to Jorge was really refreshing. He was always to the point with each and every response he sent, always addressing my questions with direct answers – no BS, no messing around. I felt really confident talking to him.

Jorge mentioned up front that he would need some form of advance payment via bank transfer should he proceed with bookings of services chosen, which was the part that was worrying me the most. However he mentioned it right up front and sounded really trustworthy. I have not sent any payment yet, I was still somewhat deciding on what exactly to do in Cuba. And I had a major task on my shoulders – purchasing plane ticket from Edmonton to Havana. The prices were so high, I started playing with an alternative option of entering Cuba – via Varadero. Read on to see how I got to Havana via Varadero for cheap.

Plane tickets to Havana from Edmonton are ridiculously expensive. It was off the hook. I knew I wanted to end up in Havana, but damn… the plane tickets were so much more expensive than tickets to other parts of Cuba, especially Varadero. That got me thinking – since Varadero is not so far from Havana, why don’t I fly to Varadero instead, and arrange for transfer on land to Havana. Even if I end up taking a taxi, it would still be cheaper than flying to Havana directly.

I asked Jorge what it would cost to have some form of transfer from Varadero to Havana arranged for me. He said he was gonna look to see if he knows of any taxi drivers who are driving someone to Varadero, so they can pick me up on the way back as it would be cheaper than a regular taxi fare. However chances of that happening are not the greatest, because I would be landing in Varadero at a particular time so there would have to be a taxi driver in Havana who just happens to drive someone to Varadero and be on the way back at the time I needed him.

This didn’t seem like a possibility, but according to Jorge, even regular taxi fare to Havana from Varadero airport would be about $80 CUC. If I consider that plane ticket to Varadero is on average $500 cheaper than to Havana, it’s still a significant saving. I seriously did not see any flying to Havana directly as a viable option so I ditched it completely and started looking for cheap plane tickets to Varadero instead and use it as my cheap gateway to Havana.

I was OK leaving it for last minute – if there is some form of luck in place and Jorge knows of someone who will be returning to Havana on the day of my arrival to Varadero, I will take advantage of it. Otherwise I will take a taxi and pay my $80 CUC. Flying to Varadero and then transferring to Havana is still significantly cheaper than flying to Havana directly. At least from Edmonton. It only makes sense to pick Varadero as port of entry.

So here I was much closer to making final decision. Choosing a destination part has been finalized. I know I only want return plane ticket and I know it should be from Edmonton to Varadero. Obvious next step was choosing a time to go.

Choosing best time to visit Cuba involved several factors. On one hand I wanted the best priced ticket, but I also wanted nice weather and a good time to see all sights I had on the list. In general, there is no such thing as “the best time to visit Cuba”, there is only “the best time for a particular purpose”.

By now it was already end of August and I still didn’t know when I’d take my trip to Cuba. It was profiling nicely. It no longer looked like I was gonna spend a vacation on a beach. It started to look like a nice adventure that would deliver on my expectations.

I kept keen eye on all of my favorite websites for good deals and would jump on one should it appear at any given time. I was pretty damn excited to go to Cuba. I’d read about Cuba every day. I learned from tips of other travellers who visited the island before and had pretty good idea about the country, it’s customs, proper behavior, budget travelling and places worth a visit. I basically knew all about Cuba, only I have not been there at all. And I could not wait to go. In my head it seemed like I’m already in Cuba, but I was still in Canada. It was really killing me. I wanted to go right away. I just could not wait.

So my quest for nailing the best time to visit Cuba continued. There were some decent flights for September that I was contemplating, but each of them had something not quite right about it. Either price was somewhat hiked, or dates seemed odd. September also falls within hurricane and rainy season so despite being incredibly excited about going to Cuba and wanted to take off as soon as possible, I felt like I should pass on September. But I wasn’t sure if I should do it.

October then was out of question for me for several reasons. Where I work, I’m part of the team that develops DAISY talking books for visually impaired students. Members of DAISY from Canada meet annually to discuss related issues and this year Edmonton was the host. Yes, we at Alberta Education were hosting the convention and it involved a lot of work, and then the convention itself. Furthermore, October’s prices were higher than prices for the same flights in September, which was another reason not to go in October.

Another option was to put it off till November. The main positive of visiting Cuba in November is that it’s mostly after hurricane season so you are more likely to have sunny days for the most of your trip without getting washed into the sea. The disadvantage is higher price compared to September.

There was no difference in prices between October and November, so there really was no point to try to plan anything for October. If I should go soon, it would be in September. The weather would still be risky, as it’s hurricane season so both September and October are a bit dodgy that way, but September is cheaper. Plus I had all those prior engagement from work in October making it impossible to go anyway.

The primary advantage of September was that it was around the corner and I really could not wait to go to Cuba. I no longer cared about hurricanes, I just wanted to go to Cuba real bad. And then Hurricane Ike hit Cuba and plowed pretty badly through Havana.

When Hurricane Ike hit Cuba, it left parts of the country without water or electricity and there was a lot of damage in affected areas. It looked pretty bad and it didn’t help that Hurricane Gustav hit Cuba just 10 days prior to Ike. I‘ve seen pictures from parts of Cuba where Hurricane Ike wrecked havoc and it definitely made me reconsider my intentions to travel to Cuba in September.

Estimated damage done to Cuba by Category 4 Hurricane Ike was $4 Billion. Gustav added another $1 Billion of damages. Needless to say, Cuba was hit pretty badly. There was rubble in the streets and beaches looked like mess. Hurricane Ike didn’t mess around. I was safe in Canada and really felt sorry for Cubans to have had their lovely country destroyed by forces of nature like that. I had been in Cuba in my mind for months and really, really wanted to go in person. Hurricane Ike made the decision for me – I’m putting the trip off till November.

Following two months were torturous. When you look forward to something so much and it’s still two months away, every day drags forever and you never seem close enough. November is still considered somewhat within the hurricane season, but hurricanes are rare and not as strong. August and September are the worst in that regard (hence likely the worst for planning the trip to Cuba).

As a matter of fact, there was a hurricane that hit Cuba in November of 2008 – my projected month of visit to Cuba. Hurricane Paloma hit the west coast of Cuba and got as far as Sancti Spiritus, which is a city not far from Trinidad. It did cause power outages and knocked over communication tower, but it was nothing compared to Hurricane Ike (or Gustav for that matter). Most of Cuba was unaffected by Hurricane Paloma making November of 2008 an OK month for a trip to Cuba.

Hurricane Ike made me strike September from my 2 item list of available months for my epic trip to Cuba. November was more or less outside of the initial scoop. I originally wanted to have my trip finalized before November 4th 2008 – the date of US presidential elections. I knew I had to visit Cuba before there’s a change in the Oval Office of the US White House and November 4th was my original deadline. Because of various reasons describes before this post, I did not make it. However it still worked out just fine as November 4th deadline was just my original goal, but the primary purpose – to visit Cuba before it changes was not threatened by the election of new US president. Luckily, getting elected is just the first step. New prez still needs to officially take over the office and assume his/her tasks before they are able to cancel US embargo against Cuba. I still has some time, but this time around I had my credit card at the ready to buy the first flight from Edmonton to Varadero that seemed anywhere within the reasonable range. That’s when I found out about Sunwing.