I thought American’s were able to go to Cuba through Canada and Mexico?
Travel was also allow for educational and cultural exchanges. When my son went last year the only items they were allowed to bring back to the States were fine art (no local crafts), books and music. I hear that this is already changing as you can now bring a limited number of cigars back to the US. You also had to pay in cash an exit fee at the airport. I think it was about $25 per person.
“I thought American’s were able to go to Cuba through Canada and Mexico?”
Well no, not legally. Ordinary (neither academic, cultural, family etc.) Americans whom traveled to Cuba from Canada and Mexico were still in violation of U.S. law. It’s just that for years officials of those nations essentially ignored U.S. requests to monitor such trips. Reportedly it was the Reagan administration that finally began to pressure our neighbors about this practice when news stories periodically appeared in the national press about U.S. folks taking the brief flight from Mexican vacation spots to Cuba.
If the stars align I will be headed there in May for a scientific conference. We had a choice of several agencies that we must book through to arrange all the travel and visas etc. (through Miami) for us, including hotel and ground transportation once there. We are limited to only 2 nights beyond the duration of the conference for exploring, but we will get an agricultural tour while there. The three agencies I have contacted have been swamped with inquiries and several did not reply to repeated phone calls and emails. Flights from Miami are all chartered and schedules won’t be available until one month before travel, leading to scheduling delays for connecting flights. Still, having visited Berlin a week after the wall fell I feel this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ll report back after the trip.
The vast majority of people could not legally travel to Cuba.
That is definitely not to say it wasn’t done :-"
I highly recommend a history course (or 20) in college.
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Cuba is beautiful but also very poor. Friends visited and while they enjoyed their visit my friend was disturbed by the poverty. They ate in restaurants that locals were not allowed to eat at, saw food trucks, soldiers. It was a bit like time travel but the buildings etc have not been renovated or kept up so you can see the beauty of once was there.
Many people have gone to more isolated areas (like mentioned above for scuba diving) and it is very beautiful.
@momsquad, we will be looking forward to your report! 
D spent the fall semester in Cuba, arriving home just days before the deal was announced. She loved every minute of it. She brought me a bag of Cuban coffee beans and her dad 13 cigars. I threatened to not share the coffee if he wasn’t going to share the cigars. He just laughed at me…
For those whose kids have been, or know someone who’s been, is there anything in particular that locals want from the US that wouldn’t get me arrested if it’s in my suitcase? Are logo T-shirts popular? I don’t want to be patronizing but would like to bring along things that might be appreciated.
It’s one thing to visit a poor country, it’s another to go to one so suppressed by their government. I almost feel like it’s taking advantage. I’d worry the workers were being ripped off and paid peanuts while just a few reaped all the money. I say that, but it does feel like you’d be visiting a land time forgot and that would be interesting. But other countries already do visit - has it increased the standard of living for the cubans who work for the resorts? I know in Mexico the resort employees were paid peanuts.
Pens, flashlights, and thumb drives are wanted. Everybody wants a tip and will ask you for it, even the guy at the airport who checks you onto your flight. H visited a school, not officially on the itinerary, and the principal wanted a tip. Cuba is very poor. There is still lots of political propaganda everywhere, which is also fascinating.
Pens are good. Paper, an eraser, a pencil (with or without eraser), band-aids, etc. Don’t worry about being patronizing. Most people don’t make more than $20-30 per month. By the way skieurope thank you for the feeling of déja vu.
it’s interesting that it seems to be literally traveling somewhere so you can watch other people in poverty is found interesting by many people in this thread
edit: I guess it’s kind of like the zoo
Some of us appreciate the greater understanding of the human experience when we travel, and it leads to both appreciation and greater compassion for those in circumstances other than our own.
I’ve been to a few countries where the poverty level has bothered me and depressed me. I’ve never been to either India or Cuba, but from what I’ve heard from people who been to those countries and what I’ve read, I think I could handle Cuba much better than India.
When I was in college, I had an opportunity to visit what was then East Germany and the USSR. A few years later I visited South Africa when apartheid was still in effect. Though some were critical at the time and advocated boycotting these countries, these places/situations no longer exist, and I’m glad I went and have memories of those experiences. It is a piece of history that I was able to see for myself–and have a few interesting stories to tell my kids/grandkids.
I doubt I will have an opportunity to go to Cuba any time soon, but I understand why people would want to see it.
Cuba is only a novelty for the gringos. Europeans have poured lots of money in the development of affordable tourism. Varadero with its jungle of Melia, Tryp, or Barcelo is similar to Cancun or the Dominican Republic. It attracts more than 1 million tourists a year.
Getting in and out Cuba was easy years ago. Even for Americans. Doing business is a different story.
so you change the way you act day to day because of the experiences on your travel?
interesting.
there are plenty of places in the U.S. where you can go look at poor people.