Planning My Trip to Cuba 2020

An American’s Explanation on Cuba’s Visa, Tourist Card, and Important Travel Information…

Last year I planned my PTO around my sister’s university spring break. In my college days, I always wanted to run away from winter, but I was stuck in the schedule of a student’s life with cold midwestern snowstorms. When my sister revealed that her spring break would be the last week of February and first week of March, I was not optimistic about finding a travel destination that would offer a warm oasis on my budget. Honestly, I wanted to go somewhere so hot that I could break into a sweat — somewhere on the other hemisphere. Wanting to explore outside the states but not lose too much time on a plane, I looked at options that were geographically closer to home. Cuba had been on my travel list, but I had been saving it for a warmer season. Half eager and half reluctant, I made my itinerary and realized that I should simply manifest an enjoyable time away from work.

Little did I know, I would have a lot to be grateful for — we were lucky to have scheduled our trip right before the pandemic escalated to a global crisis.

Writing this blog in retrospect is perhaps too delayed to catch interest; and yet, I find myself hopeful that the dreamers out there will slowly start to manifest their journey to Cuba when the world recovers from COVID. I encourage you to use some of my photos for your travel vision board and remember that even with a “new normal,” things can always change for the better.

Skyline of Havana with Capitol building.

What’s with the visa?

The absolute most confusing part about booking my trip to Cuba involved researching the Visa. To summarize, as of 2020, the most commonly used reason is: support for the Cuban people.

When I told my coworkers and friends that I would be spending a week in Cuba, they were all very confused. Common belief in the U.S. is widely based on what is portrayed in the media and news, which may not always match personal experiences from travelers like myself. I will admit that I felt a lot of anxiety the month leading up to my trip. To give you a picture of what researching travel to Cuba is like, I think it’s comparable to trying to search the symptoms of your illness online and finding results that could be the worst case scenario.

I noticed a lot of blasé responses from European travelers and then on the polar opposite side, American travelers who contemplated cancelling their trips because they couldn’t find a clear answer. Here is exactly what I did in steps - as of February 2020:

Purchase airline tickets through Delta. NOTE: The tickets sold from Delta include a $25 charge for traveler’s health insurance.
Check in online as usual, 24-hours before our trip. NOTE: This is where we purchased our visas for $50 per person.
At the airport, we flew out of MIA in Florida, we went to a kiosk to scan our passports and get our boarding passes printed. Since we only traveled with carry-ons, we did not wait in line to check bags.
We notified an airline representative that we were flying to Cuba and that we checked in with only our carry-ons. The representative then allowed for us to wait in a separate, shorter line to pick up our physical copies of visas and get our boarding passes stamped.
We filled out our visas. The visa is a sheet of paper that is about the same size as a printed boarding pass. There is a perforation line down the middle (vertically) and information on both halves are identical. The visa information asks for you to write your first and last name and passport number. The airline representative informs you that you are to keep both copies safe and any damage to the visa could result in you needing to purchase a new one for full price. We asked the representative if he knew when we would hand over copies of the visa and he replied that it could be at any point.
We went through security and boarded our flights.
We landed in Cuba! Went through customs and then exchanged money at the airport. We arranged for our Airbnb to send a driver to pick us up and we found him waiting for us outside with a sign.
Six days later, at the conclusion of our trip to Cuba, we checked in for our flight at Havana International Airport. We went through customs and the airport officials on the Cuban side kept both copies of our visas after stamping our passports. We boarded our flight back to Miami, FL with our original boarding passes (fully intact). When we landed, we went through U.S. customs and that was the only point where we were asked the much anticipated question: why did you travel to Cuba? We answered that we went to support the Cuban people and gave a brief explanation of what we did. And that’s it!

So you see, it is not too complex nor scary!

Note: I traveled with my sister and one of our best friends who lives in Texas. For safety and comfort, we decided it would be best for us to all meet in Florida and stay with a friend the night before flying out to Cuba. Then at the end of our trip, we flew back to Florida together. We actually were so excited to spend Leap Day exploring Miami — see how happy I was below!

At this point, you might be wondering a couple of things. Wait a minute — is it really a visa or a tourist card? What was customs like in Cuba? No worries! These are the same questions that I asked.

From what I have learned, a lot of people on travel websites use the terms visa and tourist card interchangeably. Personally, for American travel, I find that visa is more appropriate because current travel to Cuba forbids touristic reasons. So, the term tourist card does not make much sense for Americans.
The difference for Americans and the rest of the world is mainly in the booking details.

The most important takeaway that I can give you is…

Americans, book through AirBnb! In short, to follow the regulations and restrictions, American travelers must stay in a Casa Particular and support private business. You will notice that Europeans and Canadians tend to stay in Hotels and visit government owned businesses. Do not worry, you will not be missing out. All of the private accommodations/stays and experiences on AirBnb are easy to book and you can tailor your search to your needs. I will provide you with a separate post, detailing my itinerary with links to my AirBnB bookings.

Last but not least, what is customs like in Cuba?

Now, do I have a funny for you! I had asked my friend this very question right before my trip. My friend traveled to Cuba in 2019, so I considered him an expert. I was told that landing at the airport and going through customs would be the most overwhelming part of our trip. And by overwhelming, my friend really meant that it would be a dose of culture shock. From his description, I was expecting a very long, single file line leading to a stall-like booth where you are up close and personal with an airport security agent. This booth would essentially be the point of entrance and sounds intimidating given that the space seems confining. I really prepared myself for an interrogation, because I’m weird and have an overactive imagination.

As we followed the signs to approach customs, all of my anticipation disappeared at the sight of a completely normal customs station. I told my friend this and he was surprised at how much things could change between 2019 and 2020. Little did we know that 2020 would take us on another rollercoaster ride. Yikes.

A side note for my readers who are curious about what travel was like specifically during the outbreak of the Corona virus…

As I mentioned, I was traveling just before the COVID-19 outbreak started to concentrate on travel restrictions and prior to a serious reaction in the U.S. The media was still catching up on the outbreak in Italy, as it was the last week of February. For this reason, a lot of concern was focused on travelers from Asia. Being Asian myself, and traveling with my sister, we could understand that people might perceive us with apprehension. We were grateful that our American passports and travel history indicated that we were likely not exposed to the virus and the airport security allowed us to pass through — honestly a sign of American privilege at that stage.

In hindsight, I think so much of this trip was synchronicity and manifestation. If I had booked the trip one week later, it likely would have been canceled.

Remember that it can help to plan ahead!

All of my posts might seem pointless now, since we are in a stage of decreased travel to protect our health, but I hope that this information can help you in the future. I remain hopeful that writing and sharing stories can promote cultural sharing with passionate travelers who are currently at rest. Don’t stop dreaming of the journeys you will take!