by Don McCann
Having grown up in Florida in the 60’s, Cuba always held a fascination for me (and many others) during that time. It was a place of some mystery and sort of the forbidden fruit of travel destinations. This all intensified as the years of our strained relations between countries continued, decade after decade. Attitudes softened for some and travel restrictions opened the slightest little crack in recent years with “people to people” exchange programs. Basically this means that tour companies could take Americans to Cuba, legally, if we were on a structured, sort of ‘cultural’ type itinerary (lazing on the beaches and playing in the casinos NOT). These packages have been sort of a trip-of-a-lifetime for those who have been, but most U.S. travelers are unaware this is possible.
Enter the new era of much publicity for Cuba with the U.S. establishing diplomatic relations and related speculation about when travel will really OPEN UP. So now, Cuba is suddenly of interest to many travelers, but options are still very limited. The good news is that there are excellent tour companies who can show us the ‘classic Cuba’ with the vintage cars and the colonial charm of today, which many fear will quickly vanish once our unrestricted travel is allowed. The bad news is that such ‘open’ travel is still a few years away.
If you have an interest in seeing Cuba, before it all changes, here’s an example of a top-of-the-line package from Tauck: http://www.tauck.com/tours/travel-to-cuba/travel-to-cuba-cv-2015.aspx
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