It happened.  It finally  happened!

The announcement I’d long anticipated.  Late.  Actually, a couple of decades overdue.

You’ve certainly heard the news by now . . . in an epic and surprise announcement, President Obama outlined his plan to normalize relations with Cuba after 53 years of punitive, futile, isolationist attempts to force regime change.

I’ve been fervently following this issue since 2010, when I first visited the “forbidden” island with a WOW! Travel Club group.  Back then we traveled on a religious license.  The next couple of visits were with humanitarian licenses.  All visits were legal, but the process of planning such journeys was more than a little ominous.  Not because of any rules or restrictions from the Cubans, but – ironically – because of my own government’s prohibitions!

Websites were blocked back then.  A humanitarian organization had its license abruptly revoked just days before we were scheduled to travel on their license.  When I came back through U.S. Customs with a pound of coffee beans after my first visit in 2010, the Customs officer apologized profusely, “I’m afraid I have to confiscate your coffee, Ma’am. I’m truly sorry. It’s so stupid, because none of this will matter in a year.”

Even he predicted it would have ended by now.

From my perspective as a travel planner, Cuba is a challenge.  Repeating a destination usually becomes easier but with Cuba it seemed like there was always a new and unexpected obstacle to overcome.  These glitches were invisible to my travelers … but some of them kept me awake at night.  I remember telling my staff – more than once:  “Next time I talk about taking another group to Cuba, please shoot me.”

And yet, after every trip, I returned with a fervor and passion I could not suppress and was excited about going back as soon as possible.  I encouraged people, “Go now – before the hordes.”

And I say again, “Go now!”

Obama’s announcement is good news, despite the fact that the tourist floodgates will open.  As in all things, there are positive and negative aspects to this decades-old enmity.  The restriction on development and free trade caused hardship for the Cuban people, but created a magical destination stuck in a time warp – a place like none other I’ve ever experienced.  I have priceless memories like these:

• Signing a traveler’s check (remember those?) in the presence of an official money-changer, who then rejected it because my pen had gel ink – which she’d never seen before – and which aroused suspicion.  So she simply said, “No.”  And I had to repeat to myself for the thousandth time: “This is Cuba.”
• Walking through the decrepit back streets of Havana – the part where locals live in decaying building – feeling completely safe.  Some boys were playing baseball with a stick and a beanbag “ball” … and I;ll never forget their wide-eyed delight when I gave them a bright green tennis ball.  (I wrote a blog about it in Nov, 2010…)

The backstreet boys of Havana

• I fondly called her “The Richest Lady in Cuba.”  Quite possibly the ugliest, too – in an endearing sort of way!  She and her cohorts commanded a place near the Bodeguita del Medio, famous as one of Hemingway’s haunts.  Every tour group passed by and every tourist wanted a photo with her.  “One Peso!” she would scream to everyone who approached her.  (One “peso” was slightly more than a dollar.)  And if you dared to photograph her from a distance with a telephoto lens – her buddies would come after you demanding payment!

I posed with her every time I went to Havana … and presented her with framed pictures on my subsequent visits

Sadly, when I visited last summer, she wasn’t there.  Her friend tearfully told me she had passed away.  I often wonder what she did with all that money.  Certainly didn’t get her teeth fixed!

So, what does Obama’s big announcement mean for travelers?  Nobody quite knows for sure, but here are my predictions:

1. There will be further loosening of travel restrictions to Cuba which will increase the numbers of Americans going there.
2. Hotel rooms, guides, buses and other essential resources will be in demand – and prices will naturally increase.
3. Cruise lines – with the potential to disgorge hundreds of thousands of day-trippers, are salivating at the pier.  The COO of Crystal Cruises said the cruise line has “contingency plans in place for the inevitable,” referring to an opening with Cuba. “We all just thought it was just a matter of time.”
4. There will be more imported goods to buy and designer goods on display.  Eventually (horrors!), there will be MacDonald’s and Starbucks and other American brands on display.
5. Americans will be allowed to stay in Casa Particulars (private homes).
6. Hustling will increase.
7. Credit cards will be accepted and ATMs will be prevalent.
8. U.S. based contractors and developers will move in to upgrade many more historic buildings.  Hotels will be built.
9. There will be much wrangling in Congress over how to undue Obama’s progress and thwart any kind of reconciliation.  These efforts, hopefully, will fail.

Thankfully, many things will not change:   Vintage cars will still rattle and roll down the streets and rural roads.  (I hope the Cubans will not allow for wholesale exportation of these old cars.)  Old men will sit on park benches and argue about baseball.  Colorful laundry will still flutter from ornate balcony railings.  Mojitos will be as tasty as ever.  And the Cubans will still dance and sing with abandon!

And, I’ll go back … I have a People-to-People cultural exchange program on the WOW! Travel Club calendar for April 18-26, 2015.   I still have a few rooms available.  After that – who knows?

Like I always say, “Go now!”

I’d like to ask my WOWees – especially, my Cuba alumni – to add their comments (in the box below, please!) . . . what are your predictions for Cuba?