Hi everyone!! So you may or may not know that I went to Cuba back in April across easter for two weeks. I know that some of you are thinking of going there yourselves so I thought I would put together a little guide with what I know about the country and what I learned while I was there. There may be some errors in here so please don’t go mad (i don’t know everything), I’m not a travel agent or anything. I’m just trying to help and I hope this is useful for anyone out there thinking about going to Cuba or is going soon. FLIGHT TIME - The flight time from England is between 8-10 hours, depending on head wind or tail wind and the airline you fly with. The better and more modern planes can fly faster. For example: an Emirates A380 plane is a lot faster than say a little EasyJet plane due to engine size and efficiency and just more upgraded technology. So in my case, the ThomasCook plane I was on flying to Varadero was slower than a Virgin Atlantic one flying to Havana because the Virgin ones have bigger engines and can therefore fly faster and more efficiently. It doesn’t make a dramatic difference but is something to note. CURRENCY - There are 2 different currencies in Cuba. There is the Cuban Peso which is what the locals tend to use. And there is also the CUC which means Cuban Peso, but the tourist friendly one. Both of them are classed as closed currencies which means that you can’t get it outside of Cuba. So if you go to your local bureau de change and ask for it, they wont have it and they cant order it in for you like some other less common currencies like the Vietnamese Dong for example. You have to get your currency once you arrive in the country. Which I know is a massive pain in the arse. Also you might not be able to use your credit cards if they are associated with United States in any way. So American Express cards are definitely off limits, so to be safe just don't bring it at all. I also found that it wasn't clear if Visa and MasterCard are widely accepted either so bring lots of sterling in cash and then change it into cuban currency when you get there and just use cash throughout the duration of your stay if you can. Unlike home, cash is the best way to use money in Cuba; the digital, card and cashless revolution hasn’t hit over there yet. Fraud and counterfeit money. Be careful where you change your money. There are massive problems in Cuba with fake and counterfeit money. Mainly due to the poverty. People have fake money just so they can get by. So when you change your currency only go to the official banks, not little kiosks and ignore locals saying they have a faster way of getting you currency to avoid queuing up, most likely they will give you fake currency. The safest option is to just change it in your hotel because they have 100% legit supplies there because they know that you can’t get the money outside Cuba. WATER - I found this out the hard way and suffered for this but I learnt from it so now I can tell you guys and warn any of you that might be going so you don’t fall into the same trap. So if you take only one thing away from this blog post and travel guide make it this one. The tap water IS NOT SAFE for us to drink or use in any way. Use BOTTLED WATER ONLY. I used the tap water to clean my teeth every morning and night as normal without thinking, as did my family, because we had no information or warnings from our travel company or from anyone at the hotel that it wasn’t safe to do so. We genuinely had no clue and didn’t think twice: going to places like Dubai where everything is top notch you don’t think about it. As a result, I had stomach cramps, IBS flare ups and diarrhoea for pretty much the entirety of my two weeks vacation without any idea what was causing it. I thought it was the fact that I wasn’t eating properly. It wasn’t until I got on the flight home and there was an announcement saying that there was a water shortage on board because they couldn’t fill up the water tanks at Varadero airport. I asked why out of curiosity when one the crew was bringing drinks round where I was sitting to be told that the water isn’t pure and the quality does not meet safety standards so they can’t use it. That was when it clicked to me why i’d been ill the whole time. Which also means that there are some serious sanitation and purification issues in Cuba so be careful in general while you’re out there, have things like anti bacterial hand gels and if you touch something that you’re not sure is 100% clean don’t put your hands near your mouth. So don’t be silly like me, I took one for the team so you guys don’t have to. GOT IT? So. My top tips. Avoid having ice in your drinks if you can, you never know if bottled or tap water has been used to make the ice cubes. Buy bottled water to drink and get your hands on it wherever you can (try not to think about the plastic consumption here, i did have some guilt over it but it’s either use more plastic than you normally do for a short period of time or be sick on your trip??? No brainer for me on this one. And when you clean your teeth or anything similar involving water, pour some bottled water into a glass or even a mug to dip your toothbrush into and then just tip it away afterwards. POLITICS - It’s communist so it’s very shut off from the world. Better than it used to be but still ‘stuck in a time warp’ if you get where I’m coming from. If you want to read more about Communism then just do some googling. But basic points from what I know from doing an A Level in politics: the state controls virtually everything and is extremely powerful, there is only one political party in the country even though there are elections that take place, no private enterprise is allowed (all state owned), everyone earns the same amount of money regardless of the profession and generally there is a lot of poverty. When we came the first time when I was a kid we had clothes stolen from us because the people couldn’t afford to buy any for themselves or make them. They didn’t take anything expensive like our phones or my iPod they just wanted clothes. People in Havana were begging for money and it’s so heartbreaking to see and you just wish you could help everyone. WIFI - There are issues here so expect it to be spotty, very slow and hard to get. Most likely you will have to pay for access to it as well. If you can get it free then you are very very lucky. The wifi went down numerous times for no reason as well so be prepared for that. Make sure you don’t need wifi, ie for work, emails or for submitting online deadlines while you’re in Cuba; if there are issues you could be in trouble. Also, due to the politics a lot of western things are censored or blocked. I couldn’t get youtube to work, a video would load and then crash without warning. Spotify would only load the music I downloaded offline in the UK before I left. I couldn’t search for anything, only search through my downloads, and nothing would load even when I had wifi. There is only one wifi provider that I know of, again probably due to the communism. Telecoms is a state owned and state controlled industry. There are not a variety of providers competing against each other like here in the UK or in America. BRANDED STUFF - In Cuba there are no American affiliations, so don’t expect to see anything you know from home. Meaning no things like Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC and definitely no Walmart’s to get snacks in. However there are some cuban alternatives to things. Like the equivalent to Pringles was brand called Mister Potato Chips. The same kind of thing and tasted pretty much the same but it’s just their own version. Same thing with the fizzy drinks. No coke, sprite or Fanta is available. It was all produced by a Cuban brand called Ciego Montero (i think) which i’m guessing is the Cuban version of the Coca Cola group as I saw the name and logo loads and it was on the vast majority of the drinks containers. DIETARY - I would say if you are vegetarian you should be okay in Cuba as vegetables and salad options are readily available. BUT and this is a big BUT. I would say if you are dairy free, lactose free, gluten free or vegan exercise caution and be very very very careful when booking your trip if you’re considering going. Two girls in my hotel had a nightmare and one of them barely ate anything (the restaurant was quite small so you got used to seeing familiar faces and they were British so we spoke a few times) and I’m guessing it was because she was vegan or dairy free because I saw her bring in and use her own tub of dairy free butter at breakfast one day. I noticed that Cuba can’t accommodate to some dietary needs very well and I don’t think they quite understand different dietary lifestyles and intolerances. So the way I dealt with my dairy issues even though mine isn’t a serious thing like it is for some people, I just removed it from my diet entirely for two weeks. Difficult to do but I did it. Like they had soya milk at breakfast and a very small dietary needs corner but that was as far as it went and to them that was pretty strange. Whereas to us something like soya milk is a staple in cafes, restaurants and diets these days. Basically just make sure that your hotel can accommodate for you properly and do your research beforehand OR take some substitutes in your suitcase as a backup plan. WEATHER - HOT. Like vvvv hot guys. You will need shorts, bikinis and nothing remotely resembling layers at all. Putting socks on was hellish when I had to travel home. Being tropical you can get some rain as well but like most Caribbean destinations it’s short spells of rain that pass over quite fast or it rains during the night and is gorgeous the next day so you don’t notice it. Unlike England where it rains and just doesn’t stop… It’s warm all year round there but there is a rainy season and it is in the ‘at risk’ category for hurricanes in the summer months as it is situated in between the two tropic lines. Just seek official travel advice or check with your travel operator if you have any concerns. LANGUAGE - Spanish is the national language across the whole country. If you can, try and learn some before you go. English is very limited over there, mainly because they don’t really need it as they don’t have ‘americanised’ things there. But Cubans do try and speak it, bless them. But I know that whenever I spoke Spanish to the staff at the hotel they always appreciated it, it made them smile and they answered me far better and were much more helpful and could be more detailed in answering questions when they conversed to me in Spanish. It was a good job I knew what they were saying otherwise it would have been useless :) Even learning a few basic phrases, some key question phrases like where is something? or how much is this? or food and drink words would be super super useful for you and the locals will really appreciate it. When you go abroad most of the time the locals just appreciate you trying to speak the language even if you make some mistakes. I made mistakes grammatically a few times but they just smiled and corrected it for me and still understood what I was asking for. There are apps like duolingo that you can have on your phone to help you do this. It doesn’t take too long to do and it really will make a difference for you. I know I’m biased as a languages student but speaking languages is vital. As a society we shouldn’t expect everyone to speak English especially when learning Spanish and many other languages is so easy and readily available to do these days. AIRPORTS - There are 4 main airports that you can fly into from the UK, they are: Havana, Varadero, Holguin and Caya Coco. Depending on where you fly from and which airline you choose will determine which airport you can go to. So as I flew with Thomas Cook from Manchester I flew into Varadero but if you went with Virgin Atlantic from London (Gatwick I think) you can fly directly to Havana. So bare that in mind when you decide which area you want to stay in. It might mean you have to travel to a specific UK airport to get the destination you want to. But you can easily pick up a domestic flight if you want to travel from one side of the island to another. For example when we went to Cuba the first time when I was about 6, I don’t really remember it, we flew from the UK to Holguin which is the east side of the island but when we went on a trip to Havana we caught a domestic flight there and back to do it. Travel agents can help you organise this if you want to see more than one area of the country. Click this link if you want more information https://www.travelsupermarket.com/en-gb/flights/caribbean/cuba/. ATTRACTIONS - There are so so many things you can do including: a Catamaran boat cruise, a Varadero city tour, Havana (oo na na), the cigar factory, the rum museum, go and see a show at the iconic Club Tropicana and the little islands off the coast of the mainland. Domestic flights can link you between opposite sides of the island. If you travel with a travel company like TUI for example they have trips and experiences that you can book through them. I did a day trip to Havana with them. Im gonna do a separate post, eventually, dedicated to Havana and what I did there and what I think were the best bits to see if you go yourselves. I defo have some favourites. If you’re stuck for ideas you can either ask local people where they like to go to, ask staff at your hotel if they know anywhere cool or book trips with your travel agent like I did. They often have brochures for you to look at when you arrive and there is something for everyone in there. SCENERY - Cuba is a stunning country. It’s so so green so if you love palm trees then you’re gonna be in heaven. Same with the beaches, golden white sands are aplenty there and the blue oceans that you see on Pinterest is a reality. Just stunning. And that is pretty much everything I can think of right now, if I do think of anything else I will of course add it in. Ive tried to keep this as brief as I can but theres a lot to cover when it comes to travel and it’s better to include everything in one place and be thorough rather than separating it into a bunch of posts I think. But I hope this is in some way useful and helps you if you are thinking about going to Cuba. Let me know if you would like more travel guides like this in the future for other places that I’ve been lucky enough to travel to because I adore writing about travel. Literally makes the happiest to share my adventures and the few things that I know about the world. But for now I’ll say bye because this is literally the longest post I’ve ever written lolz. See you sooooon :) Love Jade xxx
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