Latest Blog Posts on Travel, US Flights, News from Cuba & US
United Airlines Starts Houston To Havana Direct Flights Finally flights from my city; direct Houston to Havana flights started Saturday. Saturday only for now, but United Airlines is now flying direct to the capitol of Cuba. Flight UA 1506 inaugaural flight took off from Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) last Saturday morning and landed 2 1/2 … Read More
Some Castro Quirks Cuba has a lot of strange rules, oddities, etc. Most of these are Castro quirks; the natural result of a small socialist country dictating the actions of all its citizens. Here are a few as reported by The Big Story AP. See my page on Cuba Perplexities for more of the same. … Read More
The NY Times just published the most poignant piece on the Fidel Castro funeral and the country’s mourning. Emotion-filled images show the procession coming back to Santiago de Cuba; the place that was the birth of the Revolution and is now the final resting place of the father of that revolution. Read the full article with … Read More
Fidel Castro Death as Reported in Cuba and World The Fidel Castro death brings emotions to the forefront.To me Fidel Castro was a man who pulled off an amazing revolution, against all odds. He seemed to be backed into corners and made bad deals out of necessity. He was kept under pressure by US backed attempts … Read More
Cuban Reaction to Trump Election? Military Exercises War games in response to Donald Trump’s election has been reported by several sources. Diario de Cuba has a different take on it though. They think it is a total waste of time and resources…undoubtedly pissing off the government. I don’t know which government acts more crazily about … Read More
The incredibly detailed model of Old Havana (Habana Vieja) just turned 17 years old. It was finished in 1999, after 3 years work. The 1:500 scale model of the old part of the city has extreme detail of the facades, the columns, windows…every detail of every building. It just seems unbelievable that this could be done. … Read More
The First Southwest Airlines Cuba Flight The Southwest Airlines Cuba flight departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and landed at Juan G. Gómez International Airport, near Varadero resort on 11/13/16. This is the first of three different flights from Fort Lauderdale. The two other flights will land in Santa Clara and the Cuba’s capitol city, Havana. … Read More
Cuban Ingenuity-Condoms in Fishing Cuban ingenuity shows up everywhere. Cuban fishermen are blowing up a bunches of condoms and using them for fishing floats. The highly subsidized state-supplied condoms are only a penny apiece, whereas fishing floats, or even simple balloons are much more than that, if they can be found. “It’s efficient and everyone … Read More
Cuba Internet Service Improving? Plainly Not I have written about how Cuba internet service sucks. (See 12 Things to Know Before You Go) Their service has antiquated technology, few access points, slow speed and low bandwidth. Add to this mix the fact that the Republic of Cuba does not want its citizens to have access. … Read More
Cuba Private Restaurants-Licenses being Withheld Cuba private restaurants are the big success story on the island. These paladars, as they are known are a huge departure from the horrid, very basic state run restaurants of the past. Well, these private restaurants seem to be too successful and new licenses are temporarily being withheld. They are … Read More