How I found cheap airline tickets and explored Havana for a week
Strolling through Old Havana (Havana Vieja). September 2018
I have always wanted to travel to Cuba. Reading about the country in history books yet Americans, not being allowed to travel there piqued my interest even more. So when President Obama eased restrictions on trade and travel in 2016 I knew I needed to start planning.
“ I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven't seen, how much I'm not going to see, and how much I still need to see ” – Carew Papritz.
After getting feedback from a few friends who had traveled to Cuba I decided to look for tickets.
You Paid How Much?!
I searched quite a few site seeking tickets to Havana, Cuba. My logic was if the flight to Cuba is cheaper than a flight to Los Angeles, then why wouldn't I go. Google Flights had the better pricing. I tracked the prices for about two weeks before buying the tickets. I was able to purchase 2 roundtrip tickets 4 weeks prior to my trip for $518....total, from Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport. I chose American Airlines as they had slightly cheaper tickets.
An email I received only a few hours after purchasing my tickets. Prices went up.
Tickets Purchased, Now What?
I watched lots of videos on YouTube about currency exchange, sight seeing, places to eat, suggested places to stay. My significant other and I decided we wanted to rough it out and not stay in one of the fancier hotels in Central Havana (Centro Havana). Not because we could not afford to, but we really wanted to get the full experience and be amongst the people. So we found an apartment on AirBNB that had great reviews in Old Havana for $40/night. Winning!
Now it was time to head to our destination. No concrete plans other than to roam a foreign country neither of us had been to before. We caught our 6 a.m. flight from Baltimore to Charlotte where our layover was, then to Havana, Cuba. We bought our Visas at the terminal, which was $100. If you fill it out wrong, its considered a $100 mistake. You will have to buy another one if you don't fill it out correctly...so word of advice, DON'T!
While we waited to board the plane we surfed the AirBNB site for experiences/activites in Havana. We chose a 5 mile bike ride tour through the city. It was schedule for the next day, so at least we could have time to decompress.
Due to weight and balance the airline upgraded our flight to First Class. I was feeling quite bad and bougie, ha. Took a nap and about an hour and a half later we landed.
Hit The Ground Running.
You should probably know, when you get off of the plane you wont have phone service. Thats right, no Instagram, no Twitter, no E.T. phone home. You'll need to purchase a phone card to have access to the internet. Not only that, there are only certain places that the internet is available... but I can get more into that on my YouTube (so subscribe to my channel).
We took a taxi from the airport to the neighborhood we would stay in, which was about a $20 ride. Met our host who spoke very little English, we talked with our hands a lot lol. He told us where we could obtain phone cards and where the market or mercado was located. We picked a pretty good location as we were down the street from the Capitol, the historic El Floridita, art district and Plaza Vieja. Everything was in walking distance, so after we got settled we hit a few bars including El Floridita and sang "One Guantanamera" really loud. The dranks kicked in, the whole restaurant was on one and the live band kept hitting "One Guantanamera". You haven't lived unless you've sang THAT song in THAT restaurant after a few drinks.
That really kicked off our trip. For the next few days we walked around the city, amongst the Cuban people embracing their culture. A couple times we were even mistaken for being Cuban, we blended in and they embraced us back. Did the 5 mile bike ride, through the city and through a mini forest. It was exhilarating and exhausting at the same damn time. I hadn't been on a bike since I was 9 yrs old. I know my soul left my body a few times, but I was grateful for the experience. Even toured the University of Havana on one of the stops.
We walked through Centro Havana, toured the Capitol, visited the famous Sloppy Joe's, rode in a classic '50s Chevy, walked the Malécon. We also caught a bus from Old Havana, which was only $5, to the beach (Santa María del Mar). I'm almost certain my soul left my body then too, because it was so hot. The water made up for it, clear blue water. I accidentally drank some because it was so clear. I can'y forget to mention we had authentic, hand rolled Cohiba Cuban cigars. The experience overall was life changing.
My hope is to someday soon return to Havana with my sequels (the kids) so they can experience all that traveling there has to offer.
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