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Travel Tips for Cuba (Part 3)

November 15, 2016 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

I recently spent a couple of weeks in Cuba and learned a lot.  Here is the 3rd part of my best travel tips for your trip to Cuba!

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My adopted Cuban family

1.  I cannot emphasize this enough – bring a bunch of tissue packs for the bathroom.  There were so many bathrooms without toilet paper!  I would also say hit the disposable wipes and hand sanitizer aisle while you are at it.  Just be sure to carry them in your bag or in your pocket!

2.  You may want to rent a car if you plan on moving around the country a lot.  Taxis are expensive and public transportation doesn’t often run between routes.  I was told the average rental is about $80 a day.  JUST BE WARNED – THE ROADS ARE TERRRIBLE (filled with big potholes).

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Watch out for young drivers

3.  Learn some Spanish.  I believe one of the reasons we had such a great time and really immersed ourselves was the ability to speak Spanish.  I chose to speak Spanish every possible moment and it really improved over the trip.

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Living the Cuban way

4.  Get to know the people – stay in a casa particulare and have meals with them – every family I stayed with was great!!!

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My Cuban hosts in Santa Clara – Casa Azul

5.  Bring bug spray. They said no mosquitos – we got eaten alive in Vinales and it wasn’t dusk yet.  Also bring sunblock – it’s very expensive.

6.  Bring an umbrella – you will look like a local as they use them for sun. If by chance it rains (one day lots) you will have it for that as well. We did have one house that provided umbrellas in our room.

7.  Bring a bunch of snacks from home – I found it very helpful in car and bus rides.  My favorite is KIND bars – they are a perfect meal replacement in a pinch.  There are no healthy snacks to be found in Cuba (except fruit and you have to be careful with that and your stomach).

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My favorite snack for travel

8.  Phone

I have an iPhone with AT&T.  As I do before all my international trips I called AT&T and bought an international plan with phone and text. For the first week it didn’t work – email and text fine – but no phone. I called from a landline in Cuba and was told no service in Cuba. A couple of days later – got text saying welcome.  Called husband and worked 😳.  Worked for latter part of trip.   I called AT&T to complain and they said they can’t be responsible for reliability of service – a Cuban carrier – Cubacel.  Maybe will work for you.  **Remember to the turn phone of/on again when traveling. Helps to reset the phone to international service.  Always bring the NON-TOLL-FREE number of your carrier in case you need to call for support.

9.  Speaking of non-toll-free, if you intend to call any such numbers in the US – they don’t work from Cuba.

So have fun and get to Cuba before it changes!

Filed Under: Caribbean, Travel Tips

Travel Tips for Cuba (Part 2)

November 13, 2016 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

I recently spent almost three weeks in Cuba with my 5-year old daughter.  I learned a lot and hope that I can help you with some great travel tips for your trip to Cuba.

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Che is everywhere

Here’s part 2 of my tips…

1.  Take some little gifts from your city/country as a thank you for kind guestures by the locals.  (That’s a must pack for all my travels.)

2.  Take a pedicab tour – it’s a great way to see the towns of Cuba.

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Bici-taxi tour of Cienfuegos

3.  Visit Cienfuego, Trinidad, Cayo Santa Maria and Vinales.  Plan at least 2 weeks in Cuba if you want to see some different places.  Havana is fun and interesting but I find the people in the smaller towns much more open and friendly.

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Cayo Santa Maria with Laurie & Ellie

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Cienfuegos from the porch of our Airbnb

4.  Buy a bunch of internet cards if you plan on being online.  Internet is pretty hard to find.  You can usually only find it in town squares (plazas) and some hotel lobbies.  You must buy an internet card for 2 cuc/1 hour from their stores or 3 cuc from resellers in town squares.  Also, hotels will sell them but may charge much more or require a purchase (a drink, for example).

5.  There isn’t much A/C in public places BUT on the tour bus and in two taxis the A/C was blasting so I would definitely take a sweater.

6.  Cuba is very hot and humid – don’t go in July or August unless you love extreme heat.  Oct was a good time for coastal towns but can still be quite warm during the day (nights usually very nice in coastal towns). My daughter cried in Santa Clara because it was so hot.

7.  Keep your passport and visa at the ready when traveling town to town – we stopped to show documents to some police.

8.  Try some street food. Bocadillas are great little sandwiches (with fresh pork).  Always ask how much – they shouldn’t be more than a a cuc or 2 for two sandwiches.

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Eating at the market stall in Santa Clara

9.  Know that there are good doctors in Cuba – 20 percent of the population has an M.D.  We know first hand as we went to the hospital in Havana.

10.  Ask for a price in advance for taxis, bicitaxi, etc.

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The local transportation in Santa Clara

11. Take a ride in an old car – they say 60% of their cars are historic.  They have some incredible convertibles in Havana.

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Historic car

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Great car in Santa Clara, Cuba

Stay tuned for part 3 of travel tips to Cuba!

 

Filed Under: Caribbean, Travel Tips

Travel Tips for Cuba (Part 1)

November 12, 2016 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Cuba

Travel Tips (Part 1)

1. Take enough cash
No one takes American credit and the US banks do not allow withdraws from ATM’s in Cuba.  If you are not American check with your bank to see if your cards will work in Cuba.  Even so, be aware that there aren’t many ATM’s.  Current financial regulations make it exceedingly difficult to have money sent from the US.

So how much money (effectivo in Spanish) should I take? I exchanged $800 at the airport and got 697cuc.

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Cuban Convertible Pesos

If you eat 3 meals day – plan 5 cuc for breakfast, 5-10 cuc for lunch, 10-20 cuc for dinner depending if drink for an average $35 US per day.  Casa Particulares (b and b’s) average 25 a night.  The cost of transportation and tours vary but keep in mind that taxi’s can be expensive.

2.  Book whatever you can online to save cash on hand.  You can book Airbnb’s in Cuba from the US.  I was unable to use Hotels.com to book or any other website for that matter.

Most people stay in casa particulares – which are rooms people rent out of their homes.  Most are very nice with modern amenities like A/C, private bath, fans, TV’s etc – be sure to read the listing before you book.

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Our Casa in Santa Clara

3.  If you want to stay at a resort or hotel book directly with a tourism office in Cuba (BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY CASH).  My husband found rate of $300 online for an all inclusive which I booked with the tourism office for 110 cuc.   Like most places if you want good deal at the resort go in the off peak time.  October was a great time – our resort was practically deserted.  They said it packed over the holidays and much more expensive.

4.  You might need electrical adapters if you use 110v – houses usually 220 here but some houses had both for different guests.

5.  Taxis fairly expensive – in towns take bici-taxi (pedicab) or caballo taxi (horse pulling cart) – cheap and easy to find.

Try sharing a taxi – in some towns we are able to find someone who put people together (at travel agency office in Trinidad) then by luck in Los Cayos.  It really helps to split the cost on long drives (it was 8 hours by taxi from Los Cayos to Vinales and cost 250 cuc.

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Popular Mode of Transportation

6.  Inter-city transportation

Cuba does not have a rail system and does not have any good transportation system (save for a few busses).  Plan on hiring a private taxi.

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Taxi in Front of Santa Clara Airport

7.  Internet in Cuba

It’s very difficult to get online in Cuba.  They only recently got wi-if and it’s only offered in town squares and some hotels.  You must purchase internet cards for 2-3 cuc in towns and more for hotels.  I recommend buying several at one time as they can be hard to come by.

 

 

Filed Under: Caribbean, Cuba, Travel Tips

Traveling to Cuba – Departure at the Fort Lauderdale Airport

October 7, 2016 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Well, Hurricane Matthew left Cuba (N/W where we are going) and Fort Lauderdale unscathed! We were delayed from 11 am to 2pm because the airport didn’t open until 11.  I wasn’t sure how much time would be needed to check-in with Jet Blue, get our visas and check bags.  Good thing I decided to give myself more time (arrived at airport 3.5 hours ahead).

There were two lines for check-in, one for US born and one for other.  I was excited to see only a couple of people in line but in fact it took almost an hour to get through!  They only had two terminals for checking in visas.  UGH!  Good thing we have TSA pre-check so after obtaining our visas we sped through security.

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Check-in for Santa Clara, Cuba

Oh and don’t forget to complete the necessary forms for your visa – I did mine but forgot my daughter’s.  The reason is that Jet Blue requires you to have a separate email assigned to her frequent flier number and I never use that email.  TIP – save time by completing your visa form online!

Once we were past security there was a good place to eat – Food Network Kitchen.  I got the black bean and rice burger platter and it was delicious.  Getting ready to board now.  Bidding you farewell and adios!

 

 

Filed Under: Caribbean, Travel Tips

Make the Most of a Vacation – Meet the Neighbors

April 12, 2016 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Well I found another good reason to stay with locals  – to meet the neighbors.  I went for a walk around the neighborhood and met a group that walks a couple of nights a week.  Guess what – they invited me to join them!

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I also heard the next door neighbor (very nice retired man Johnny) is from Montserrat so I went over to get information on visiting the island while I’m here.  Turns out he is a former Rotarian (member of Rotary Club).   Next thing you know is calling all these friends in Monserrat to see if they could host me for couple nights.  They said of course they could host me and my daughter a couple of nights.

This would NEVER have happened if I stayed in a hotel.

Filed Under: Caribbean

Swim Lessons in Antigua

April 4, 2016 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Wow, I am so excited!  The day our hosts picked us up from the airport we stopped to get their son from swim practice.  They belong to the Antigua Athletic Club and Alex is on the Storm Swim Club (the premiere swim team in Antigua).  It’s a beautiful club with a nice pool and gym.  My daughter Ellie loves to swim and I love to exercise.  I asked if we could join the club while we are here and if Ellie could get swim lessons.  They said yes!   It’s really quite reasonable (most things here are very expensive).

We actually went to watch the Jumby Bay Shark Bait Swim yesterday. We cheered people on (two of our host family swam), the kids played on the nice little beach, and we had a great time hanging out with the locals for the after party.

Staying with locals offered us opportunities we would never have in a hotel.

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Laurie with host Kim at the race finish

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Alex and Rob ready to swim

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Ellie swimming in Jumby Bay

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Ellie making new friends

 

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Laurie & Ellie at the finish line

Filed Under: Caribbean

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