Not a Goodbye, Just a See You Later Wonderful Cuba and Soon

Lets be clear. I am smitten with Cuba!
I cannot wait to go back, so this is ‘Not a Goodbye, Just a See You Later Wonderful Cuba and Soon’ Han and I both have been fairly despondent since arriving home. Home? Home is where the heart is right? Um, back to Cuba then I feel.

Neither one of us has ever had this feeling of being disconnected upon arriving back to the states like we have these past weeks. I stay in the states because I have children and grand children here, but with the ease and short distance of travel between here and Cuba, I would literally move there in a split second if given the chance. Just call me “The Flash” if a plane ticket to Cuba was in my hot little hand.

I actually ache, day dream and literally night dream about Cuba. I quickly found a spot to display our flag. It cheers me up every time I walk in the apartment, if only for a minute.

I honestly don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I am truly an island girl and that means Caribbean islands for me, but now not any ole island will do, and everyday I feel physically and mentally drawn back to Cuba.

“Viva la Cuba”

Okay, okay our last day in Cuba was the 11th. We had to get up early since the airport was two hours away and I literally did not eat breakfast as my tummy was too sad.

The Trip from Havana to Varadero Airport

Pedro and Yasset drove us over and of course we received more history lessons and Pedro’s stomping grounds, then made a short stopover at the highest bridge in Cuba, the Bacunayagua bridge, to check out the scenery. Cram packed with tourist, buses and cars, but the view was well worth seeing.

I became briefly irritated at this bratty millennial American kid who was leaning and half laying all over one of the beautiful classic taxi cars, so his spoiled mommy could take his picture and I told him it was rude. It was obviously none of my business, but it burnt my ass to see such disrespect and rudeness and know he was an American. Freaking embarrassed too, I guess, to see a landsman act this way. Of course he ran his mouth like any good entitled millennial and continued to be a rude pig.

So the moral of this story is: great, take photos next to the cars but be respectful and don’t lounge on other peoples property. These cars are their livelihood and cherished.

We stopped by our Matanzas friends Acela and Julio, on the way through town, to introduce them to Pedro and Yasset, but we were informed by a nice Canadian guest who was staying there, that they had gone to a wedding (actually we had met the couple on our stroll to Bukan Restaurant a week ago).

So we arrived at the airport in plenty of time, easily checked in. I asked for my passport to be stamped and then went through security. I had to open my luggage because I had two drinking glasses inside my carry-on and I should have packed them in Han’s checked baggage. The offical was nice however and let me keep them, but said to be mindful in the future, that glass cannot be taken on the plane. (could be used as a weapon)

We went in search of internet connections, but it was down. No surprise there. Then off to grab a quick bite of food. It was horrible, like in most airports. We found out later that there is a VIP lounge where you can wait for your flight. It’s comfortable and offers all you can eat good food and drinks. I think it was about 20 CUC admission to the room.

We boarded the Southwest plane with only 22 other people and the flight was easy-peasy. 40 Minutes later we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, went through customs (where I swear if any agent smiled, their face would literally break) called Luxury Sea and Airport Parking to pick us up (where we had parked the car, and I highly recommend them) and started our long 5 hour drive home. It seemed like twice the distance and we were both quite tired when we finally arrived home at 8:30pm.

Shortly thereafter we headed to bed full of confused but happy memories.

Since then we have been busy writing, doing errands, catching up on internet, trying to get back into working out and racking our brains on the fastest way to get back to Cuba.