today I'm travel hacking by booking an all-inclusive resort in Varadero Cuba
and then skipping town to head to Havana. so I'm out here in sunny Varadero
Cuba I'm actually on a resort. Resorts and something that I don't usually do
in fact it's something I've never done it's my first time doing a resort
package. For Canadians and most travelers here
the packages are only just a few dollars more than the flight sometimes. When I
looked it up it was actually less to get the resort package than to buy a
flight to Havana so the plan right now for me is to get the resort package to use
as an easy in and out point and then skip town and head to Havana but for now I'm
going to try to make the best of resort life show you what's here. So there's
unlimited food but it's well known amongst Canadians that Cuba's resort
food is pretty bland and to bring your own hot sauce because some resorts often
seem to run out but hey for a resort virgin like me did
I just come up with new word? Unlimited food buffets seems okay
because I'm not really picky eater and it goes well with the unlimited beer and
mojitos but to be honest to you viewers - yeah the food is pretty plain. There's
plenty of food I never touch like this bland pile of cakes and the Chinese food
is laughable
here we have fake kanji
then there's the parades activities and variety shows that most guests didn't
seem to care about honestly it seemed like people just want to lie on the
beach and drink
The diving is pretty good though the water is very clear
and the trip to the Matanzas cave is pretty good too, the delicate formations
are out of this world
Cuban kitty Oh killed it mosquitoes kill - Oh got three, got four!
So I don't really have any tips for the resort because everything
is handled for you but you do have to bring bug spray because the mosquitoes are
insane they're so aggressive unlike back home
in Canada where the mosquitoes kind of hover around you and try to find the
perfect spot. The Cuban mosquitoes just land wherever and they have a sharp bite
hey resort life's nice but by the third day there are signs that is time they go
first, I find myself killing time by making
videos on how to do the butterfly stroke. The most important tip to think about doing
the arms first and then kick arms , kick so arms start the wave, kick, and then
kick and pull okay. Next I start wandering off to local beaches instead
of staying on the combeded resort beaches. Out of curiosity I also swim across a
canal to another local beach to discover how drastically different it is. There
are horses and donkeys for transportation, tons of seashells
compared to almost none on the tourist side and the waters a lot murkier here from
garbage and sediment
okay so to arrange my getaway in Havana I have to book the Casa particulare which
is essentially a bed-and-breakfast at someone's home. It's Airbnb before Airbnb
but before Obama opened things up booking at casa particulare was a little
more difficult you had to go through a website and an email an agent who would
act as an intermediary and they would do the booking for you
and charge a fee which was a flat rate of five dollars a night. Of course things
have opened up more since then and now you can make the booking through Airbnb
However because Cuba's internet is isolated from the rest of the world
you're actually still using an agent and paying the agent fee. However, I
stupidly roll the dice and I call up the casa particulare direct and try to
arrange my stay in broken Spanish. It kind of works but on the first night I'm
actually redirected to the owner's sister's place to stay which isn't as
nice but it still works but if you're gonna do it I'll recommend that you use
Airbnb for the first few nights and then while you're in Havana you can make
other arrangements so the next thing I do is I inform the maid that she doesn't
have the borrowed to clean my room because I'm not gonna be back for awhile
and she gives me this incredulous look because no one really does that and then
I hop on to a french-speaking day tour to Havana from the resort and I'm all set
(French)
I just settled down in Havana, wandered the streets a bit, it was really hot so I wasn't
too keen on hunting for casa particulares. I tried to arranging one over the phone
before I came. Spanish definitely goes a long way out here upon arrival however I
was surprised that the room I wanted wasn't really available for a few nights it's
really busy. Oh my goodness my first choice of accommodations is
gorgeous - except for the "permaguest" sleeping on the couch but I'll be checking it out
in a few days. It's a pretty great - I got high ceiling. Really nice hosts
So as you can see the street behind me it's pretty central, really Cuban
really lively having a lot of fun just looking at people coming about
Everyone's going about at a really slow pace. Time to ditch the resort bracelet.
Havana is as awesome as I thought it'd be. The art scene is incredible
I had so many adventures there that I'll have to break it up into other episodes
Eventually I have to go back though but honestly I could have stayed in Havana
for months
okay quick secret - if you're trying to go to Varadero or get out of Havana
and you don't want to go all the way to the Terminale Viazul. It's pretty far, it's
an expensive taxi ride you can just hop on right here near Plaza San Francisco
along the waterfront there's like tons and tons of busses here. Made it onto the
bus right near the Cathedral, the cathedral plaza or Plaza de Armas all
the buses leave around 4 o clock. There's about 20 or 30 buses ahead so you can if
you want to get a better price I paid 25 CUCs but my agent told me that you can
go as low as 20. So I've saved the best tip for last. The tour agency that I
booked with, Sunwing vacations, I called them up and I asked them how much it
would cost if I just returned on a much later flight and they told me it was only a
hundred dollars. You can book the all-inclusive resort, stay a bit, enjoy the
resort life and then tour around Cuba, come back, say a month or two later and
it's only a hundred dollars extra. Okay so let's summarize the entire strategy
now. One get the resort package and extend your return flight for a hundred
bucks then enjoy the resort for as long as you like. Two, book your stay in Havana
at the resort or in advance. Just remember that the best internet you'll
ever get and the "cheapest rate" is probably at the resort so you want to
get as many internet things done at the resort as possible noting that it's not
fast. Three - if you extended your flight then make sure you book a casa particulare for
your return flight in Varadero or wherever your resort is. Don't try to
book room at the hotel because it's usually over booked and they also overcharge
Four - head to Havana on a one-way day tour, enjoy your stay in Havana or wherever
you decide to go in Cuba. And five - on your way back just hop on any of the day
tour buses heading back to Varadero or whichever resort you're staying. So that
summarizes my little resort hack for Cuba don't forget to click like
subscribe if you haven't because I got lots of interesting videos coming out of
Havana
hi my name is Jesse and I'm on a quest to face all my fears and learn as many
skills as possible
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