Stuck in Cuba

It's my final day in Havana - my flight is just before midday, so I really only have the morning free. at 7 am, I take a walk around Vedado, visiting the Che Guevara Monument and the Cemetery. I'm feeling pretty content with the amount of sightseeing and am keen to get back to the US.  It's been an enjoyable trip, lots of walking, lots of sightseeing in this very interesting city. I've enjoyed the friendly people, the gorgeous architecture and the vintage cars, there's a real sense of charm in this country. 

I arrive at Havana airport at 10 am for the 11:45 flight, the lady returns my passport and says "Sorry, we can't let you get on this flight with an ESTA. You need to talk to the service counter". Confused, and taken aback, she points at the American Airlines service counter. I walk over and show the same documents, the service representative prints out a piece of paper and tells me that "You cannot enter the US with an ESTA from Cuba". The piece of paper says the ticket/fare is invalid and has a supplementary leaflet about canceled flights. I ask her to repeat herself. Her English is good, I make out something about the ESTA being invalidated when entering from but suddenly a wave of dread rushes through my body. She points me in the direction of another counter "they can help you with flights out of Havana".

I walk over to the ticket counter, it's an independently run counter specialising in flights out of Havana. "This happens sometimes, we had a lady from Australia last week who had the same issue, she didn't know you could not fly back into the USA from Cuba on an ESTA, you need to get a new visa, or fly back indirectly. Most people fly through Panama or Mexico, then you can re-enter the US". My connecting flight from Miami to Frankfurt is at 16:45. It's not 10:15, it dawns on me that I might miss this flight to Europe. I ask her how much flights are from Havana to Panama or Mexico. She quotes me $350 USD  to Panama, and $420 USD to Mexico. She tells me I need to have to show an exit flight ticket if I enter Mexico. I look at my cash reserves, I had initially brought over $700 USD, 100 EUR and 100 GBP. I was down to $180 USD, 60 EUR and 100 GBP. I ask the lady if she will accept GBP, "I've never seen this currency before, it's pretty. Sorry, but I can only accept USD or Euros for this flight" (No Pesos). 

There's a Money Exchange at the airport, they have different FX rates to Cuban Pesos. I'm hoping that I can exchange currency in return for USD. "Sorry we can only change other currencies to Peso, not the other way around". The ATM at the airport only dispenses Pesos. There's also a chance my bank card doesn't work with this ATM. There was no way to get more legal tender (eg: USD or EUR). One option was to catch a taxi (40 USD one way) back into Havana where I could find somebody to exchange GBP or Pesos (assuming I can get more Pesos) to USD. It was already 11 am, I was at the airport and there was no way to get more money to buy a flight. Panic sets in. I need internet. I search for a sim card, there aren't any but I find a vendor who is selling 30 min and 60 mins wifi cards. I bunch of 60 min cards for 1 USD a piece, watching my USD savings drop.

I jump online and message my parents that I won't be in Istanbul as expected. I'm able see what flights are available, the flights to Panama and Mexico from Havana are like 800-1000 USD, and the flights from Panama and Mexico back to Miami are another 300-400 USD. This could be an expensive exit! 

Unfortunately, all the flights get me back to Miami tomorrow, so I would have to change that flight. I look up at the board to see what other flights are available out of Havana,  most of them are to Miami, Houston, part of the US. Outside of Mexico and Panama the only other destinations are Buenos Aires and Madrid. Madrid at 21:45! That's Europe, that's where I need to go. I navigate to the website and try to book the flight out on Air Europa, the transaction fails. I try another credit card, that also fails. I try a travel site, that also fails.The feeling of not being able to get out of Cuba, whilst being in Cuba has sunk in. I help from outside of Cuba. It's now midday.

I message some people in Sydney and Hong Kong, most people are asleep. Nothing I can do now, I walk over to the Air Europa service desk, nobody is there, but somebody mentions that the counter will open at 17:00. I have to wait around until then. It's a helpless feeling, not having access to your money, not having access to your credit cards, not speaking the local language, not having internet. Everything gets stripped away. 

So I sit at this airport, periodically reading, walking around, essentially trying to kill 5 hours. I'm also sparingly using my internet cards, as who knows how long I'm going to be stuck here. It's a long wait. I watch people arrive at the airport, check into their flight, and then depart. It's so simple. Nobody else is being denied entry into the US. This is tough work. Feeling dejected and annoyed to have missed first the first day of Turkey, I continue to wait.

At 17:00 I scratch another wifi card and get back online. People are awake, Jen is awake, Jing is awake. Jen replies first, I ask her to try to book that flight for me. The problem is, it's already tomorrow in Sydney, so it's a challenge to book a flight that was technically 'yesterday', she tries a few things and eventually gets the right flight, however when she tries to book, her credit card also fails. Ok, this is weird. By now the the Air Europa counter has opened, I ask if they accept credit card, they say "Yes", we process the ticket and I go to pay. Both cards are denied. OK, International Credit Cards just DO NOT WORK in CUBA. 

Plan B, Jen manages to contact her work travel agent who has an international travel agent network. One final attempt to book a flight out of Havana today. Unfortunately, Air Europa is not recognised in the system as a familiar airline vendor, so there is a due diligence process required before tickets can be booked and issued. In the meantime, I contact some hotels near to Havana Airport. Worse case, I stay another night in Havana and try to exit again tomorrow. One of the hotels has rooms, I just need to get there before midnight; At least I have somewhere to sleep.

At 18:30 there's a breakthrough! The travel agent, confirm Air Europa as a vendor and secures a seat on the flight UX0052 from Havana to Madrid on the 23rd May at 21:45. I'm down to my second last wifi card, I go to the counter at 18:40 and check my luggage and receive a boarding pass. It's a 9 hour flight, and it's a middle seat, but I don't care. A wave of gratitude, fills my body. Relief. Escape. Gratefulness. So long, Cuba.