{"id":147,"date":"2020-08-17T14:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T14:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/?p=147"},"modified":"2020-10-02T19:43:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T19:43:15","slug":"a-travel-agents-view-of-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/a-travel-agents-view-of-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"A Travel Agent\u2019s View of Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&nbsp;As a&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/freedomtravelllc.com\/\">travel agent<\/a>, I view a destination through the eyes of my clients.&nbsp; How would a first-time travelers, or a seasoned traveler, or a family with children, or a honeymoon couple enjoy Cuba?&nbsp;Here are a few of my observations of Havana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/freedomtravelllc.com\/cuba\/\">Traveling to Cuba<\/a>&nbsp;from Miami is very very easy.&nbsp; If you didn\u2019t know, you\u2019d think you were simply taking a flight to Chicago.<\/li><li>If possible, travel with carry-on luggage.&nbsp; We waited for an hour and a half for luggage to come off the plane and make it to the carousel.<\/li><li>Havana is old and in disrepair.&nbsp; There are some gems that have been restored or preserved, but for the most part, don\u2019t expect to see freshly painted anything.<\/li><li>It\u2019s HOT.&nbsp; Cuba is hot and humid most of the year.&nbsp; When I asked one man when the weather cooled down\u2013that is, \u201cwhen is it winter?\u201d, he said, \u201cWell,&nbsp;there might be a couple days in January.\u201d &nbsp;With that said, casual and light attire is accepted and normal.&nbsp; Shorts and sandals are all OK.<\/li><li>Tropicana Night\u2013a lovely and lively experience.&nbsp; You will want to dress up a little more for this evening.&nbsp; One thing to note: the best seat cost approximately 95 cuc\/dollars and the show starts at&nbsp;10pm.<\/li><li>I was surprised to see 110 outlets in the hotel.&nbsp; This is helpful when it comes to thinking about adapters and electronics.<\/li><li>The people are so friendly; smiling all the time and so grateful that we\/travelers are coming.&nbsp; Business is booming as a result.&nbsp; One hotel manager told me that October is their slow season, but this year (2015), the occupancy rate was up to 95%.&nbsp; Continuing with that fact, I could not find any rooms in the historic downtown during the months of November, December or January.&nbsp; For that reason, I have found a beautiful villa that will serve nicely and give an entirely different experience.<\/li><li>The food is good, plentiful, and milder that I expected.&nbsp; For some reason, I imagined the food would be spicier\u2013more like Mexican.&nbsp; Paladars are locally owned (as opposed to most everything else that is State owned) and are just wonderful.&nbsp; These small restaurants are mostly in private homes and range from a simple to an elegant menu. &nbsp;<\/li><li>As for shopping, there are many gift shops that carry similar Cuban souvenirs, but I spent my time and money in art galleries.&nbsp; Once you begin looking, you will see all types of art and all prices\u2013some very, very reasonable.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There is much more to share and the most important thing I can say is that I can\u2019t wait to return.&nbsp; This country is simple and complex, old and yet revitalized. It\u2019s&nbsp;history is of turmoil and it\u2019s future is of growth. &nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/freedomtravelllc.com\/travel-to-an-embargoed-gem-cuba\/\">I love Cuba<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/freedomtoursllc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/01d1ea13079adacd03def0b6977cb293630a43ae11.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/freedomtoursllc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/0185a15fc6c05b9e52614a3bff79bea4f236176fda.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/freedomtoursllc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/01a5480cbd961870e9f94597b334406ae8e162f499.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;As a&nbsp;travel agent, I view a destination through the eyes of my clients.&nbsp; How would a first-time travelers, or a seasoned traveler, or a family with children, or a honeymoon couple enjoy Cuba?&nbsp;Here are a few of my observations of Havana: Traveling to Cuba&nbsp;from Miami is very very easy.&nbsp; If you didn\u2019t know, you\u2019d think [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}