Barb and Baden’s Excellent Cuban Adventure – Part 1

I woke up this morning and checked the weather forecast for Vancouver and it said that there was a possibility of snow today. It seemed unlikely given that it was going to be 8 degrees but it drove home the thought that it was a good time to be heading out of town to enjoy some sunny, warm temperatures. With Barb and I heading down to Cuba it will certainly be the perfect opportunity to think about less snow or cold temperatures. I’m hoping that our biggest decisions will soon be where to get a good mojito.

Our trip down to Cuba is a fairly significant milestone for us as it has been almost 9 years since Barb and I have gone anywhere together for a tropical, beach type vacation. The last time that this type of trip took place was back in 2000 when we went to Cancun, Mexico. Of course, the reason for there being a 9 year gap between these types of trips is no big mystery. It’s me.

Very early on in our vacationing life, I remember that I made a big declaration to Barb that I hated the heat. To put this in perspective, you have to understand that virtually all of Barb’s previous vacation history before she met me were resorts, hot weather, laying by the beach in the sun type of getaways. So me stating that I didn’t like really hot weather led us to mostly going to more temperate climates and mostly travelling in the cooler times of the year like the spring and fall. Us going to Africa was the closest that we came to a hot weather vacation and truth be known it wasn’t really that hot for most of the three weeks that we spent in South Africa and Tanzania.

But going to Cuba is quite different than going to Africa. For most people who go to Cuba they are planning to go to an all-inclusive resort where sitting by the pool is the highlight of the day. Barb and I have talked about going to Cuba for several years now and the last time that we had nearly made plans to go there was in May of 2008 but those plans changed when we went down to Las Vegas for my father’s birthday. Going to Cuba was something that seriously interested me as I feel that it a unique place in all of the Caribbean – not somewhere where you would see McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner. At least not yet. It’s the not yet part that has always been in the back of my mind as I felt that it was only a matter of time before the situation with the restrictions on U.S. citizens travelling to Cuba was lifted and I could foresee that Cuba would be very different after that happens. Being able to see Cuba at least once while it currently is was important to experience.

Of course, going to Cuba to only see beaches and swimming pools at a resort was not going to get us to experience the culture and history of Cuba. Going to a resort was fine buy I wanted to stay in Havana.

For a long time we had talked about going to Cuba and staying only in Havana vs. staying only at a resort. Neither option seemed to be satisfactory for both of us but we were eventually able to find a compromise that I feel will be good for both of us: a split vacation where we stay part of the time in Havana and partly on a resort. Most people who I know who have gone to Cuba go to a resort but had I known that this type of split vacation was possible I think that we would have gone to Cuba a long time ago.

As it’s been almost six months since we have returned home from Germany it will be good to get back into the travel frame of mind again. Preparing to travel always brings back the excitement of going somewhere interesting that we get no matter how many times we have been to a destination.

As I normally do when I travel, I will be attempting to stay online and post a few updates here on my blog once we are there. The one thing that I am not certain about is if I will be able to get reliable Internet connectivity in Cuba. As a result there is the possibility that I will be writing blog updates but I may not post them immediately. Regardless, you’ll find out about our Excellent Cuban Adventure soon enough.

Baden