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Ok, so I said I was going to wait until I got home to write this but my other thread seems to be raising many questions so I guess I'd better start & let you all know how it went smoke by smoke, blow by blow. I'll be putting down a few details where I think it might be useful for future visitors. I know I looked back in this forum before I went & I am sure others will do so too. So although something?s might be out of date by then, I'll be happy to answer pm's with any tips I can give.
So how did I get to make this trip to cultural heart of our hobby/ passion? Well after paying in to a Endowment for 25yrs, it finally paid out 55% of the mortgaged sum
ffice" />
I did the sensible thing with half the lump sum & paid off my current mortgage, brought a few items of essential fishing tackle (yes, a radio controlled bait boat is essential ok?), invested some & put the rest to the holiday of a life time.
We never managed a honeymoon 20 yrs ago as we had a wedding in Belgium & the following week a blessing in England so we couldn't afford one. Yes, dear younger members, we went without rather than stick it on the credit cards.
I foolishly promised the wife to take her away for the tropical holiday of her dreams, the good news was she guessed straight away which tropical island I would like to visit & didn't mind (I did offer the Maldives, Singapore?s ect as alternatives) as long as it wasn't all factories & cigar smoking.
The not so good news is my wife's ideal holiday is exactly opposite to mine, one reason we have historically had many arguments on hols, is I get fed up stuck on the beach watching her fry, when I'd rather be exploring about, checking out cultural sights & cigar shops.
An agreement was reached, a two center holiday, 5 days in Havana & 9 days in Valdero at an all inclusive 5* hotel. She agreed to do what I wanted in Havana but in Valdero, it was to be sun, more sun & sharing the hotel with up to 1200 other guests
Not surprisingly this was not in the budget I had planned (I mean it's more interesting to visit local guest houses anyway) so in the end she did put cash in to the pot as well.
I was happy to book independently on-line but it wouldn't actually have saved much over the Thomas Cook quote we got, to fly from Brussels to Valerdo direct, hotels & transfers included. As it was such an important holiday for both of us we went with T.C. hoping that if there were any problems they would sort them out for us.
The flight in an unbadged charter plane was 10hrs 30. No problems apart from the very young children on the flight. Why do some parents drag their kids so far when they'd be perfectly happy in Spain & wouldn't notice the difference anyway?
Caught up with all the excitement I said I'd splash out on a bottle of champers, didn't look quite so generous when I saw the size of it but wife was happy. SAM_2269.jpg
Well I popped a magic pill after the afternoon meal & managed to escape for a few hrs.
The bus was waiting for us on arrival & we had a further journey of 2hr 30 to our hotel in Havana. We were in the old center, which is barred to buses so we were taken the last bit of the way by the rep. We stayed at the Hotel de Tejadillo, in the road of the same name. Its location was the primary reason we chose this one. It currently scores 11th place on Trip advisor but of course is much cheaper than most of the higher scoring hotels.
After unpacking & admiring the inner courtyard, with a single enormous tree going right up to the roof, the canopy filling the space & filtering the sunlight perfectly for drinks at anytime.SAM_2276.jpg
We just decided to walk until we found somewhere we like the look of for dinner & we stopped at the Ambus Mundo, one of Hemmingway's watering holes. The restaurant is on the roof & quite breezy, luckily we managed a table tucked in behind one of the screens. We enjoyed a fine meal of lobster for me & pork for my wife & heard the city cannon go off at 2100.
Realizing this was a great romantic night, I thought I'd stay in the good books & didn't take one of the aged sticks I had taken with me. But after the meal I was feeling so good & the mood seemed right so I asked the waiter if they could show me their humi?, turns out a surprisingly limited selection. Monte 4's for 5CUC or Cohiba Esplen for 17.30CUC. I would have been happier with something in-between but no prizes for guessing which one I plumbed for & it was a good one too if very young, with a generous amount of Jamison?s. SAM_2281.jpgAnd so ended our first day in Havana. My wife pointed out that we had risen at 0400 CET & it was 0400 CET the following day, when we finally got to bed in Havana.SAM_2285.jpg She slept well, I was still buzzing...
So how did I get to make this trip to cultural heart of our hobby/ passion? Well after paying in to a Endowment for 25yrs, it finally paid out 55% of the mortgaged sum
ffice" />I did the sensible thing with half the lump sum & paid off my current mortgage, brought a few items of essential fishing tackle (yes, a radio controlled bait boat is essential ok?), invested some & put the rest to the holiday of a life time.
We never managed a honeymoon 20 yrs ago as we had a wedding in Belgium & the following week a blessing in England so we couldn't afford one. Yes, dear younger members, we went without rather than stick it on the credit cards.
I foolishly promised the wife to take her away for the tropical holiday of her dreams, the good news was she guessed straight away which tropical island I would like to visit & didn't mind (I did offer the Maldives, Singapore?s ect as alternatives) as long as it wasn't all factories & cigar smoking.
The not so good news is my wife's ideal holiday is exactly opposite to mine, one reason we have historically had many arguments on hols, is I get fed up stuck on the beach watching her fry, when I'd rather be exploring about, checking out cultural sights & cigar shops.
An agreement was reached, a two center holiday, 5 days in Havana & 9 days in Valdero at an all inclusive 5* hotel. She agreed to do what I wanted in Havana but in Valdero, it was to be sun, more sun & sharing the hotel with up to 1200 other guests
Not surprisingly this was not in the budget I had planned (I mean it's more interesting to visit local guest houses anyway) so in the end she did put cash in to the pot as well.
I was happy to book independently on-line but it wouldn't actually have saved much over the Thomas Cook quote we got, to fly from Brussels to Valerdo direct, hotels & transfers included. As it was such an important holiday for both of us we went with T.C. hoping that if there were any problems they would sort them out for us.
The flight in an unbadged charter plane was 10hrs 30. No problems apart from the very young children on the flight. Why do some parents drag their kids so far when they'd be perfectly happy in Spain & wouldn't notice the difference anyway?
Caught up with all the excitement I said I'd splash out on a bottle of champers, didn't look quite so generous when I saw the size of it but wife was happy. SAM_2269.jpg
Well I popped a magic pill after the afternoon meal & managed to escape for a few hrs.
The bus was waiting for us on arrival & we had a further journey of 2hr 30 to our hotel in Havana. We were in the old center, which is barred to buses so we were taken the last bit of the way by the rep. We stayed at the Hotel de Tejadillo, in the road of the same name. Its location was the primary reason we chose this one. It currently scores 11th place on Trip advisor but of course is much cheaper than most of the higher scoring hotels.
After unpacking & admiring the inner courtyard, with a single enormous tree going right up to the roof, the canopy filling the space & filtering the sunlight perfectly for drinks at anytime.SAM_2276.jpg
We just decided to walk until we found somewhere we like the look of for dinner & we stopped at the Ambus Mundo, one of Hemmingway's watering holes. The restaurant is on the roof & quite breezy, luckily we managed a table tucked in behind one of the screens. We enjoyed a fine meal of lobster for me & pork for my wife & heard the city cannon go off at 2100.
Realizing this was a great romantic night, I thought I'd stay in the good books & didn't take one of the aged sticks I had taken with me. But after the meal I was feeling so good & the mood seemed right so I asked the waiter if they could show me their humi?, turns out a surprisingly limited selection. Monte 4's for 5CUC or Cohiba Esplen for 17.30CUC. I would have been happier with something in-between but no prizes for guessing which one I plumbed for & it was a good one too if very young, with a generous amount of Jamison?s. SAM_2281.jpgAnd so ended our first day in Havana. My wife pointed out that we had risen at 0400 CET & it was 0400 CET the following day, when we finally got to bed in Havana.SAM_2285.jpg She slept well, I was still buzzing...
. So many resturants, so little time.
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