How we got to Cuba

We wanted to start out by talking about means of travel. Usually when we camp with my parents, we are riding with them in our diesel pulling our travel trailer. We scope out state parks or nice camp grounds before hand. Some times we reserve a cabin or beach house, in that case its a Hall family convoy since we all can't fit in one vehicle. When we traveled back in time to Cuba in March 2017, we chose to fly "Bare Fare" through Spirit Airlines. We were both surprised at the huge financial difference between spirit and the bigger name brand airlines! We both could fly to and from Cuba cheaper with spirit, rather than 1 of our tickets to and from with a bigger airline. I'll be honest, Michelle was skeptical from some talk she heard at her work. And after seeing the major price difference, I envisioned flying in some cargo plane holding a chicken, sitting on some crates and staring at some old man farmer across the way. BUT, we were pleasantly surprised that it was far from that! Spirit airlines is the newest name in flying, and as a friend of mine who works there told me, their biggest fans are college age and young adults. She said it was because we read instructions! Spirit much like Cuba can be cheap, or it can catch up with you and be expensive or cost as much as the next airline. The key is traveling light and preparing everything before hand. This means, only packing essentials and checking in online before you arrive at the airport. When scheduling your flight, be sure to add your bags before hand. If you wait until the day of, it will cost more. 1 "personal item" is included in your ticket purchase. Their definition of a personal item is "something like a laptop bag or purse smaller than 18"x14"x8". Michelle took a backpack under those dimensions and we filled it with snacks and our selfie stick, her purse, our money,  phone chargers and all our important documents such as passports and our identification. I actually carried our only checked bag. It was a huge bag but under their size limits, so we didn't have to pay. But, since both of our belongings for 1 week abroad were in this bag it surpassed their listed weight limit of 31 lbs. Anything over that weight would start to cost you. I am not sure if it was luck or what, but for some reason we never had to pay the over weight fees for our bag on any of the 4 flights we had to take. Hopefully you are as lucky but prepare/pack for the worst. Bring snacks, or expect to pay for them on the flight. Our first flight was from DFW to Ft. Lauderdale Florida, because there were no direct flights to Cuba from Texas (yet). The airlines will tell you upfront, you are flying bare fare, and they are able to offer bare fare because they fill the plane with seats thus leg room is whittled down. But I was never uncomfortable. We signed up for the $9 fare club that spirit offers, which gives incentives and special deals. Doing this made our carry on and checked bags cheaper, another thing with Spirit is you pay to pick your seat, being apart of the fare club makes this cheaper.We checked in online and printed or boarding passes 24 hours before our flight which was cheaper than checking in at the gate. Before entering Cuba, you must have health insurance. When we purchased our tickets to Cuba it was included in the price.

Cuban health insurance paper work provided by Spirit Airlines

It was $25 per person and it only lasts 30 days. Just before we landed we were handed the paperwork to fill out. Be sure to have a pen to write with! When you land in Havana the health insurance paperwork is taken from you by someone at the airport. So once you land, you follows signs for immigration and customs where you will find lines.. Lots of lines! We stood in line for maybe 30 minutes, when a group of women from Jamaica tried cutting in front of us in line. Oh heck no! Then they wanted to argue! But we stood our ground and finally made it to the booth where they stamped our passports (super exciting and addictive!) and took our picture to make sure it matched our passport photos. Be sure to have your travel visas filled out before you get to the booth or they will send you back! Our visas were included in our travel package. Then you go through Cuban security which was a breeze, After you are in like flint, you pick up any of your checked bags. We never had any issues with our luggage thankfully! When we were heading for the front doors, we met our driver who would escort us to our first Bed and breakfast. If you do not have transportation through your travel guide, it is no sweat getting a taxi of any sort. From a classic car, a foreign economic car, or even a motorcycle with a side car the choice is always readily available!