Category: Personal Travels

My Love Affair with Cuba

I have now been to Cuba five times. 

In the grand scheme of things, that isn’t THAT many times since I’ve met people who have been there on more than 20 occasions. However, those people only did resorts – I did not.

This post is about my love of Cuba. I am absolutely enamored with the country. It puts me in complete disbelief when I meet those who have gone and weren’t as enamored as I am. I just assume you did Cuba wrong, because Cuba can’t possibly do wrong to you.

The people who tell me they did not enjoy Cuba all revert to the same complaint – the food. This is where I will tell you, I ASSURE YOU THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF THE RESORT. The issue is that resorts are making Americanized food. That is NOT Cuban food. Actual Cuban food is freaking delicious. Ropa Vieja especially and that one coconut thing that’s ground up with corn and frozen. (No, I don’t know the name of this dessert but it is delicious) 

I first went to Cuba back in 2011 (I think?) with an ex boyfriend of mine. We wanted to relax, hang out on a beach and be away from civilization. We went to a resort in Cayo Santa Maria which felt like it was in the middle of no where. It was quiet, the seafood was delicious and the beaches were majestic. Vacation well spent sleeping and swimming.

The trip was enjoyable because the beaches were beautiful, but at that time, was Cuba particularly memorable to me? Not really. It was just somewhere I was lucky enough to go to relax for a week. 

In 2012 I was a second year student at the University of Toronto and one of my majors was Caribbean studies. During this time I had taken a class about the history of Cuba. The professor from this class was from Cuba and every year he had a competition for the two best papers in the class receiving a stipend from the University to go to Santiago de Cuba and present their papers at their annual Caribbean conference. 

Guess who had one of the two top papers? YES. I was blessed to get a chance to go to Cuba again, but this time to spend two weeks in a Cuban household, have my flight paid by the University and present an academic paper at a conference. Probably the proudest moment of my life up to this point. 

In July 2012 myself and another student were off to Santiago de Cuba – this is where my love affair began. 

Santiago de Cuba is NOTHING like those resort areas. There is a beach, but it’s kind of far away. This city is where all the culture lays. Although Havana is obviously the most major city, Santiago is where it felt like all the heart and soul was/is.

I stayed in a casa particular which is just a guest house run by locals. I made friends in the neighbourhood I stayed in that I am friends with to this day and regularly communicate with. While I was doing all the academia things preparing to present my winning paper, I was also going out EVERY SINGLE NIGHT to party with the locals we befriended. I’m not even talking about regular nightclubs, I mean those amazing street parties that if you didn’t know someone from there you would NEVER have attended nor even heard about. 

This was probably the most authentic Cuban experience one could have as a tourist. Not staying within the confines of a resort where the food is bland and you’re surrounded by people you just left your country to get away from. I got to indulge in the street food and the food cooked in Cuban households and maybe talked to one other Canadian during the entirety of the trip. Full submersion. 

The experience from this trip was so monumental to me, that in 2014 I went TWICE right back to Santiago de Cuba within a six month span. Still the same friends there. Stayed again in the same casa particular. Still went partying every day. I couldn’t get enough of the place.

My fifth time in Cuba was recently in September of 2016 for my mothers 60th birthday. She opted for all of the family to go to a resort she had fallen in love with in Cayo Guillermo. This place was drop dead gorgeous. Unlike Santiago, this place was all beach and all chill. A nice week of relaxing and spending time with family while trying to not bake from within because the sun was so hot.

I advise you all to go to Cuba. I also advise to try maybe doing it from a local perspective just once, not the resort life. Place a very sure bet you will get much better food and a better understanding of the country by doing so.

I will probably write a follow up post JUST about Santiago de Cuba because my heart flutters specifically thinking about there. Although I did love the beaches in Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Guillermo, there is unequivocally something so special about Santiago de Cuba. Hopefully in the next year you will also see a post about Havana too 🙂         

– Mirna

Traveling Alone

So you’re going to travel alone for the first time ha?

You think you’re built for that life ha?

You’re sick of waiting on your friends to get their shit together so you’re gonna go do it alone ha?

Okay, that’s enough Juvenile. Sorry.

I must get asked about what it is like to travel alone the most. The planning of it, execution and the fears in doing so. Taking that leap into seeing the world alone is simple for some and very scary for others. I use to tell people to ‘just grow up and stop being a scaredy cat‘ for travel, until I realized other people are not as accustomed to being alone as the rest of us. For example, I’m an only child – we just function differently. We can eat alone, go to the movies alone and yes, travel alone. Other people may be more comfortable in group settings because those are the only ones they’ve ever had. This is where I come in to help you out and get you past that hurdle. 

Before I start the list I will say this to all of those scared to travel alone; think of ALL the things you are missing out on because you’re always waiting for others. Do you want a life full of waiting or a life full of experiencing? Ok.

THE LIST

Pack light and smart because you will have to navigate through some unknown territory all alone and want to keep your belongings safe.

BE SOCIAL. Yes, leave that introvert-socially-awkward-don’t-make-eye-contact stuff at home. I promise you, some of the most interesting people you will meet is when you travel alone. There is this worldwide community of people who travel alone and you will be submersed into it and love every minute when you get to meet them. 

Bring a selfie stick. I personally do not travel with one because my arms are super long, but if you like taking lots of pictures and will no longer have folks accompanying you – take one. 

Learn that it is totally OK not to have something to do or have something planned on some of the days you’re on the trip. Many of the coolest and most authentic experiences you will have while traveling are from talking to hotel staff, AirBnB hosts, restaurant staff etc. about what to do in the area you’re in. Locals know best.

Further to the point of #4, if you like to plan exceptionally early (like I do) then go hit up sites like Viator and book your tours/excursions/passes before you even arrive to your destination. For those locations that are very busy or touristy (i.e. the Vatican) you will be very happy you booked ahead and didn’t need to stand in a line of thousands to purchase a ticket and then wait in another line of thousands to enter it. 

Trust your gut. This applies to men and women when traveling alone, if it doesn’t feel right just don’t go to that place or hang with that person. I have definitely done some questionable things during all my solo travels but nothing bad happened because I know what kind of people and situations to avoid. Remember, you are in a foreign country and are more than entitled to a certain amount of paranoia. 

Further to the point of #6, do NOT let that paranoia keep you from exploring. Last thing you want is to be on a trip you planned a year for and you’re too scared to leave your room. Before traveling to your destination make sure you read up on how tourist-friendly the area you’re staying in is. Can you walk around there at night alone? Can you club alone? If you plan accordingly and stick to safe areas, your room will only be seen for the 5 hours of sleep you may get per night. 

It is totally OK to feel homesick. Skype your boyfriend or girlfriend. Call your mom. Whatsapp your friends. Whenever I’d feel that loneliness creeping in on a trip, I’d call my best friend in a Wi-Fi spot. During Christmas I was alone in Singapore and it hit me HOW alone I actually was on a date that is pretty meaningful in my life so I Whatsapp video called my boyfriend in the middle of a park in downtown Singapore and was there for a good hour talking to him. Remember you are physically alone for a temporary time, live in the moment of how awesome being wherever you are is – your family and friends will still be there when you get back.

Self reflection will happen and sometimes it will be emotionally overwhelming. The thing about traveling alone is there is a lot of time spent in your own head. You are experiencing everything alone and you will grow as a person while doing it and will also learn a lot about yourself. It can be very scary but it can also provide such incredible clarity that would not have been possible if surrounded by the noise of other travelers. Embrace it all. 

Go do it. Stop waiting on your friends or family to pick a date or a location bla bla bla. You know exactly where YOU want to go, so get to going! Start your planning (or heck, e-mail me and I’ll plan it for you) and go live your life without the constant waiting on others. 

I hope these 10 things helped some of you in your plans/considerations of traveling alone. I spent seven years in post-secondary schooling and I can tell you that some of the biggest life lessons were learned while traveling alone and not while at school. 

– Mirna 

Chicago Baecation Recap

I love Chicago. 

I love Chicago the way I love Nutella. I just really can’t get enough of it and I like it in so many ways that it would take posts on posts to explain it properly. 

This past weekend was my fourth time going to Chicago. I went once with my best friend, another time to get my mind together after a breakup and a third time to go to the NFL Draft. This time I took my boyfriend on a little baecation for the weekend because I wanted him to have an awesome 30th birthday and also for him to see how incredible the windy city is. 

Friday, March 31st – Arrival

On Friday we went to Billy Bishop Airport and took a Porter Airlines flight to Midway. Flying from Billy Bishop is so much better than Pearson because as a downtown dweller it means less time spent traveling to the airport and more time enjoying the free snacks and water bottles at the airport (picture below). I also love flying with Porter! The people who work for them are always so nice and you get to drink and have snacks on the airplane at no additional cost. Also, their complimentary shuttle from downtown to the airport comes in handy. After much beer, wine and chips – we landed at Midway.

The subway system in Chicago may be a bit dated, however, I would choose their system over Toronto’s ANY DAY. I love the 3-day unlimited rides pass for $20 and I also love that both of their airports are connected to the subway. No extra fees or needing to take a special subway or bus, you just hop on the subway lines and can make your way downtown so easily. 

As we boarded the subway to our destination, we were accompanied by some gentlemen we had met on the Porter flight who were heading to Chicago for a wedding. We mentioned that it was my boyfriends birthday, at which time they handed him a bottle of Crown Royal to start drinking on the subway. I will neither confirm nor deny if this happened, as that may be considered lewd behaviour – to some. Not me.

We arrived to our hotel for the weekend, the Millennium Knickerbocker. This is an old school looking hotel in downtown Chicago. I loved everything about it. I booked the king room which was a nice size for the two of us and came with complimentary Wi-Fi and a very nice bathroom. In their lobby they even had a jazz band playing by the bar on the Friday evening which gave us the real feel of the history in the hotel. 

After relaxing for a little while in our room it was time to take my boyfriend to eat the most important meal in Chicago – deep dish pizza. I love deep dish pizza. I LOVE IT MORE THAN THAT THIN CRUST THING THEY SERVE YOU IN NEW YORK. Yes, I said it. I prefer Chicago deep dish pizza to that thin stuff in New York. We went to the closest Giordano’s we could find via Google maps. Upon arriving there was a bit of a wait, however, you can pre-order your pizza which takes 45 minutes to make anyways so it was at least being worked on while we waited for a table. 

I realize between Gino’s East, Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s everyone has their own favourite pizzerias in Chicago and you can stick to whichever one you like best. For proximity and the massive screens they had both NBA and NHL on, Giordano’s was very good for us. This was the perfect meal to send us into a food coma and sleep to prepare for our busy Saturday.

Saturday, April 1st – Birthday

I thought I was going to sleep in on this weekend getaway, but as someone who has been waking up at 6am on weekends for the past three years – no chance. My boyfriend was still asleep and since it was officially his birthday I took a stroll to the hotels lobby to get some breakfast for us. Let me say this, holy shit breakfast at hotels is expensive. I know I should have just assumed that and maybe planned better, but I didn’t want to be gone long so I could surprise him as he woke up. I purchased the two breakfasts and made my way back up to the room and surprised him. The food was OK, not the worst breakfast I’ve ever had nor the best. At least the miniature jars of jam that it came with were really cute.

After lounging around for a little bit more, we started our walk to Navy Pier. The scenic route along Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive is always something to be delighted about, especially on a day where it was sunny and 15 degrees. My next birthday gift was a lunch boat cruise on the Spirit of Chicago. All I can say is WOW about the whole experience. The staff (shout out to our waitress Nicky) and the ambiance was incredible. The cruise came with a buffet lunch and a two hour ride on the water. I purchased some extras for our ride like the shrimp cocktail and also a window seat. Another thing we decided to purchase while on the boat was a 45-ounce rum punch drink. Yes, you read that right, 45 ounces. It didn’t even matter than we had a massive buffet lunch, once that rum punch hit we were both wavy. 

There was a DJ on the boat playing some music and people did dance, we saw some get down real hard to the Cupid Shuffle. Many people aboard were either celebrating birthdays or anniversaries and ALSO drinking that 45-ounce rum punch –  very jubilant crowd. 

As we disembarked from the cruise we were also handed freshly baked cookies by the staff and I was able to take my 45-ounce glass with me home as a souvenir. Overjoyed, and birthday boy was having a great day.

The plan after the cruise was to go shopping, that definitely did not happen. Due to the large consumption of alcohol we fell asleep in our hotel room for almost four hours. Wasted the afternoon, literally. When we woke up and realized it was evening and that the NCAA Final Four games were on, we decided to just order some food and watch those. 

Now it was time to party. I had read about there being a reggae lounge called The Wild Hare with live bands and a Twitter follower of mine had sent me a flyer for a hip hop club named The Evil Olive that also had a dancehall/afrobeats/soca room in the back. At the reggae lounge the cover was $10 and the crowd was definitely there for the vibes and food, not so much dancing. We stayed there for about 30-45 minutes taking in the wonderful singing on stage but we decided that we wanted to go dance and not just observe that evening. At this point we left for the hip hop club. 

Cover for me was $10 but for my boyfriend it was $20, also, he had a light sweater that he had to put in ‘mandatory coat check’ – odd. I was a bouncer for five years and had never witnessed a mandatory coat check, especially of a light sweater. This place was booming. The front had a large dancefloor with an elevated area for the DJ and many strobe lights. I hoped to walk through and hear Faneto, that did not happen. We went to the tiny room in the back that was designated for dancehall instead. 

This room was so small and the people were not even dancing. I loathe that there are so many people (men and women) who spend all this money to go out and look nice but do not dance and just spend the whole night Snapchatting themselves pretending to have fun. It was a strange thing to see as my boyfriend and I came there for the sole purpose of dancing. The DJ was OK, his choice of dancehall songs to mix was very odd. I would say he was maybe a notch above the dancehall selections top 40 clubs in Toronto play. Eventually some people began dancing (3am) but by 4am we were ready to leave and go to sleep. 

Sunday, April 2nd – Departure

On our final day in Chicago, I took my boyfriend to my favourite brunch place there called Yolk. I had been there numerous times on my previous trips and their red velvet french toast stuffed with cream cheese was calling my name. The place was very busy and we were eventually seated. The french toast was delicious and so was the raspberry lemonade that felt like it was being served by the liter. 

Following this large brunch we walked over to Millennium Park to do some touristy Chicago things. The Bean, the stage, the walkway to the Art Institute of Chicago and the front entrance of it. I wanted my boyfriend to see all the wonderful architecture that Chicago has to offer that is not inundated solely by glass structures of condos on condos on condos. (Sorry, Toronto)

Sadly it was time to return to Midway for our flight back to Toronto. I love that our hotel had a bag hold for no extra charge so we didn’t have to spend the day carrying our luggage around while sightseeing. After picking our bags up we hopped back on the Red Line and then the Orange Line to be on time for our 7:30 pm Porter flight. 

Overall, this was an awesome weekend getaway for both of us. He got to celebrate his birthday being inebriated on a boat and I got to eat more pizza. Most importantly, this was another person I had converted to loving Chicago. To understanding that there is more to Chicago than just media headlines. I hope to be back in July for my 5th time, so I can attend the Taste of Chicago!

– Mirna

 

 

 

The Cost of Travel Vaccinations

Yesterday I went and conquered one of my biggest fears – needles. I have had a needle phobia since I was eight years old, when we were having all the medical tests done to come to Canada. Something along the lines of, I remember a LOT of blood being taken out of me and ever since then I have been terrified of needles.

For my upcoming trip I will be going to Shanghai, Bali, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This is a new part of the world for me as I have only ventured to the Caribbean and Europe. This trip is largely the reason I began blogging again, because I wanted people who do not travel much to get a glimpse into how much work goes into a long/large trip.

The one part of their traveling budget people overlook is vaccinations. I know I definitely did not think of this as part of my budget until my nurse friends brought it up. The cost of vaccinations is rarely spoken about in general and let me warn you, this next picture is the scariest thing you will see this Halloween weekend.

You see that number there, on the bottom right?

$539.50 CAD (aka $402.75 USD aka $366.60 EURO…..)

As I am someone who works on contract currently and have no benefits, this was all paid by me. According to most people I spoke to, travel vaccinations aren’t really covered by anyone, it is usually up to the traveler to pay all this themselves. OHIP in Canada does not cover these either, but it will cover the Tetanus and MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccines I still have to get. (ALL of you should be up to date with Tetanus and MMR, I’m just a big chicken so I’m updating them now)

I went to this place called Passport Health in downtown Toronto – I read very good reviews about them online and these prices actually fell in line with what I read everywhere else about the costs of travel health prep.

Luckily for me, I only had to get one needle from them and I opted for the ViVAXIM combination one that is for Typhoid and Hepatitis A  = $120.00 

I will have to go back to re-up on the Hepatitis A within six months to make it last longer so if I go abroad like this in next two years, I won’t have to do all of it again.

The other costs:

My office visit: $69.00 (but I filled out the medical questionnaire before arriving and got $10 discount)

Dukoral: So this is something I will have to drink three weeks before departure, followed by drinking a second dose two weeks before departure. This is to protect my tummy from Cholera and E. Coli = 2 doses x $59.00 = $118.00

Malarone 250mg/100mg: These are pills that I will take 2 days before, every day during and two days after my trip to protect me against malaria. The nurse at the Passport Health Clinic told me it is unlikely for malaria to be an issue for the countries I am going to. This was something I actually insisted on getting just to take extra precautions. My blood attracts bug bites of all kinds like this Bosnian kid attracts metal.

They love me and I know I will be bitten all over even even if I use every measure of protection I can, so I rather pay the extra money and sleep better at night NOT thinking about contracting a serious disease like malaria = 23 pills x $9.50 = $218.00

Azithromycin 250mg: These are antibiotics I will take with me to have just in case I get ‘Bali belly‘ or just any kind of serious internal issues that will keep me on the toilet instead of out enjoying my vacation = 6 pills x $4.00 = $24.00

I realize this is a lot of money spent on not ‘necessary’ healthcare, more like cautionary. I am choosing to travel there, of my own free will, I am putting myself in some new types of possibly harmful situations. But as my mom says, IT IS A YOLO!

I rather be protected and properly prepared than heaven forbid get sick while there or come back with some disease that will have me hospitalized and unable to work. #ItsNotOneOfThose

The overall experience of going to this Passport Health clinic was amazing. The nurse (wish I could remember her name, sorry) was so nice to me and took her time with me, since I am a big chicken and had to lay down and be given a lollipop to settle my nerves. When I arrived she also had a THICK folder set up with all needed information for my trip.

This folder had for China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore everything and anything I needed to know to keep me safe.

This included:

  • suggested vaccines for each country

  • what illnesses to look out for in particular parts of each country

  • travel advisories

  • passport/visa requirements

  • culture

  • laws

  • climates during time of travel

  • LGBT travel

Yes, my arm hurts and its been over 24 hours.

Yes, my wallet is burning because I could have bought so many cookies with this money instead. 

However, YES I feel good about all of this because I know in the long-run these preventative measures are needed to keep me safe on my trip. (Update: I did not get sick or have ‘Bali Belly’ even once during the entirety of my trip and I ate everything in sight. Jan/2017)

Travel vaccinations and travel vaccination costs should be something you guys should really ponder about going forward. I hope this blog piece was informative and helpful to any of you intent on traveling to parts of the world where vaccinations are recommended.

Safe travels!

– Mirna