I love Cuba and I've always wanted to go but I'm an
American.
Is there any possible legal way that I can go to Cuba?
I was thinking maybe I could get a flight from Canada to
Cuba or something like that. I was also wondering if its
possible to bring Cuban art into America.
Is Cuba save for women?
Any advise, opinions or comments welcome.
Thanks
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Depending on where you are Canada is an option but Cancun
is very close therefore the fare from there is cheap. Have
you scrolled through the various posts here and on Cuban
Experince?. Do so and you will find answeres to your
questions
hola...having traveled thru out the country in dec.98 for
two weeks,i can honestly say,i felt safe as a woman
traveling alone..i was stopped by the police a couple of
times after late nite forays to clubs and was walking home
alone,so,i believe the reason..also,i'm quite tan with dark
hair,so i'm not certain if they thot i was cuban or
not,but,i showed my passport and bid them adieu...people
are friendly and gracious.you will receive the cat calls
and after 2 weeks it was annoying,otherwise,perfectly fine.
everyone questions you about espouso and novio...husband
and boyfriend...so,i learned to just say yes,i have one..
good deflection,otherwise in clubs they're all over you to
the point of distraction...pls feel free to email and i
would be happy to relate how i traveled there and wonderful
places i stayed relatively inexpensively..plus would be
happy to advise of paladars for good food..and locals who
would be happy to assist you in learning of the city and
country..ciao,e
I went to Cuba a few weeks ago. The only absolute legal
way I could find for me was to go as a completely hosted
individual (sponsored). If you do not have a license from
the dept. of treasurey it is illegal to be in Cuba, and it
is impossible for you to fly directly from U.S. I flew
from Canada. I used my drivers license to go into Canada,
my passport in Cuba (which they stamped, I hear if you ask
them not to they won't, but I was too slow and didn't open
my mouth) anyway, used my passport to get back into Canada
(they asked me how i was going to explain my Cuba stamp
when going back to U.S., I replied "i have nothing to hide"
(since I was sponsored)) then upon going through customs
back into U.S., I stated that i was only in Canada and used
my drivers license again.
Here is a site that has a .pdf file you can download (right
click on Cuba and save target). http://www.treas.gov/ofac/
Although you may not be fully hosted, if you ever get
caught somehow you could try to use it as an excuse but you
will be asked to prove it. I have heard of some Americans
getting caught going to Cuba, never heard of one getting
prosecuted though. I read this once on the Lonely Planet
and saved it:
Stamped, deported, and still no problems Added by: Bryan
[Timestamp: Fri 5 March, 18:31 Tasmanian Standard Time]
Yeah, I tried to get them not to stamp me but they did
anyway. I ended up getting deported from Cuba, and the
immigration officials there, that shipped me off, were far
nicer than the ones in the U.S. when I returned. First of
all the idiots looked right at the stamps and didn't even
know where they were from, this in Chicago, a major
international airport. They found out I was there because I
forgot to take the Cuba travel guide out of my luggage.
They held me in a room and screamed at me for three hours
and I've never heard from them since. I actually encourage
U.S. citizens to have their passport stamped so Uncle Sammy
can get an idea how many people think the travel
restrictions are assinine. Amnesty International has vowed
to launch a campaign for the first person prosecuted in
regards to the restrictions. If the U.S. ever decided to
actually enforce these stupid laws, I think there would be
a lot of bad press, and they MIGHT be smart enough to
realize this.
Anyway, goodluck -- I had fun :)
if 'bryan' referred to above got deported from cuba, there has to be more to the story than being discovered to be an american in violation of his own country's laws. the cubans don't CARE about US laws, and will let in anyone with a passport, ticket out, sufficient funds, etc as is usual for any country. in other words, americans are as welcome as anybody.
'female', you really are playing with fire assuming you can use a drivers' license to cross back and forth between the US and canada. it proves that you took a driving test, and has nothing to do with being a citizen of (or having the right to reside) anywhere. a birth certificate or naturalization documents (plus a photo i.d. like the driver's lic) as the case may be will do just fine if you don't want to flash your passport, however.
apologies to the original poster for almost ignoring your question. taking cuban ANYTHING back i understand is forbidden, but there must be ways, e.g. saying you bought it in canada and have no idea what the ethnic origin of the artist was.
as for flights from canada, they exist all year though more so in winter. prices for a 1-week return flight seem to be about cad500 (=usd340) from toronto, but there are often specials as low as half price, usually on short notice. all-inclusive holidays run from only about 700cad/week with room, meals and drinks but might not suit you since they tend to be compounds where the visitors have little chance to interact with locals. canadian agents have no problem selling these packages to americans, as we too have problems with the US trying to enforce its laws extraterritorially.
Dear Mikey,
This is 'female', or u can call me geniene. I did not
assume I could use my drivers license to cross the border
from Canada to U.S., I did it. All I needed was my license
and to state where I was born, although i had my birth
cert. with me, and I offered to show it, they didn't want
to see it. And, you do have to be a citizen of the U.S. to
get a driver's license in any state. First you have to
prove residence of a state with proof of your permanent
address, which in turn means you would have to be a
resident of the country. You also have to have two forms
of ID to get the license and prove where you were born
(birth cert.)
And, I made a mistake on my first post, not sure if it
matters, I did use my passport for ID when I got my bording
pass from U.S. to Canada, but on the way back, i definately
used my drivers license.
I've driven from the US to Canada and back several times,
and have never been asked to show any kind of ID at all.
The immigration & customs folks on both sides of the
border usually just asked a bunch of routine questions about
what country I'm a citizen of, blah blah blah, then sent me
on my way. So I certainly can believe that the person who
posted this was able to go back and forth with a driver's
license.
Anyway, more to the subject at hand -- I've also been to
Cuba in violation of the American embargo. I don't agree
with it at all but am certainly too timid to boldly ask for
a stamp in my passport. What I did (because I don't speak a
word of Spanish) was contact a travel agency in Canada by
phone to make some land arrangements and then I drove across
the border to Mexico (close to where I live) to buy airplane
tickets from that country to Cuba. I later flew from Los
Angeles to Mexico City on tickets bought in the US, then
changed planes and flew to Havana from Mexico City on
tickets bought in Mexico. When I returned to the US via my
flight from Mexico City, all of my official documents
looked as if I had traveled to Mexico for the past couple
weeks. Not bad, huh? Not the easiest thing to put
together, but certainly not too terribly difficult if you're
determined enough.
Mikey grab a brain! crossing border between US and Canada
only ever required birth certificate or DRIVER's LICENce -
nothing more? Where you from? Ever cross the border?