#you know in new jersey we have a convenience store walled wawa | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

paulwbenjamin · 7 years

Text

Cuba trip, days 1-3

In late March and early April of 2017, Susan and I went on a trip that took us to Florida and Cuba. We were celebrating our 40th anniversary, which is actually in August, but the timing and the weather were better in the spring. The feature of the trip would be Cuba, a place that we have wanted to visit for a long time, but there were activities in Florida before and after Cuba, which are included here. The Cuba part of the trip was by cruise ship. I’ve written a review of the cruise itself, which has some overlap with this series of posts, but is more for an audience of cruise enthusiasts. This first post is mostly logistics, if you want more pictures, etc., you can skip ahead to day 4.

We flew to Orlando, with a connection in Dallas, and had to get up very early to do it. I had taken our cat Lizzie to the pet motel the afternoon before. The choice of flights had been between first class with one connection and an early departure or a nonstop in coach that was later and direct. I think I should have gone with the later coach deal, and Susan drove that point home a few times, but it was what it was. Free flights with frequent flyer miles. The first leg to DFW was just a few miles shy of the minimum for getting a meal, to make matters worse. We got to Dallas a little early and had plenty of time to make a relatively tight connection. We were soon in Orlando. We had been in the airport about 2 months earlier but had not checked bags. Orlando seems to have the longest time between landing and receiving your luggage of any airport I know of, and this was no exception.

I am putting this part in the blog not because it is particularly interesting but so I will remember it next time: VERIZON HAS NO RECEPTION INSIDE THE GARAGE WHERE YOU GET RENTAL CARS. For the second time this year I got in a rental car, attempted to get directions from my phone, and was forced to leave the airport with no clue where I was going. Next time I need to connect to Google Maps inside the airport, tell it where I am going, study the first few turns and start the navigation. Then by the time I get a connection I will be headed in the right direction.

We stayed in the same Ramada Suites near the airport that we had stayed in a year earlier. Nothing fancy but not hugely expensive and conveniently located.

We had dinner at a hole in the wall Cuban restaurant that Susan had been to a few years earlier, Numero Uno Cuban Restaurant. I had the first of several Cuban Sandwiches on the trip, Susan had a Cuban Sandwich as well, and we sampled the black bean soup. I had a Presidente, a Dominican beer, which became my go-to beer in Florida and on the cruise ship. Not a big fan of the crafty hoppy stuff and this was perfect. Susan had a glass of wine. The food was good and the place was reminiscent of some of the smaller local mexican places in Phoenix, like Pepe’s Taco Villa.

On the way back from dinner we stopped in a Wawa convenience market to get some sodas. There was no safe in the hotel and we had $800 Canadian with us to exchange in Cuba. Susan had put it in her purse. At the Wawa, she wanted to take a picture of the sign. We had been to Wawa in New Jersey and wanted to show our son John that they had them in Florida. Canadian bills are partially plastic and therefore slippery. They came out of her purse and went under the seats as she pulled out her phone. For a while there we had lost $200 (or at least what passes for that in Canada). After we got to the hotel, armed with flashlight, I found them.

The next day we drove to Susan’s father’s place, just outside of Dunnellon, which is a little under two hours northwest of Orlando, near Ocala. That night we had dinner at Carmela’s Restaurant, a surprisingly good little Italian place, situated in what looks like an old motel. I had Italian sausage and linguini with garlic and oil, Susan had the grouper. Good salad bar. If you ever find yourself in Dunnellon, it’s worth a try.

The drive from Dunnellon to Miami is mostly on Florida’s Turnpike, which crosses the state at more or less of a 45 degree angle until it reaches I-95 near Fort Pierce and then plays tag with it on down the Atlantic coast towards Miami. Pretty boring drive and a lot of traffic. It was a Saturday, but I figured the tourists would thin out south of Orlando given that it was the end of snowbird season, or at least it was that in Arizona. Wasn’t the case, pretty thick traffic the whole way. When we got past Palm Beach, Google Maps started issuing dire predictions about congestion ahead. The estimated time to our destination, the Miami airport, kept going up. Finally Google informed us that we could save over an hour by taking an alternate route that took us west then south and approached the airport from the west. We took it and it did.

I returned the car to Hertz at the airport. The Hampton Inn near the airport had a deal where they would pick you up at the airport and take you to the cruiseport when you checked out. I called the hotel and they picked us up in about 15 minutes. Boarding time for the cruise the next day had been delayed until 3:00 pm. When I checked into the hotel they told me that the last cruise shuttle left at noon. There was a 3:00 shuttle but it was a special one and it was fully booked. When I complained they told me that we had not booked the right package that included the shuttle. After checking to see how much Uber would cost I decided to drop it.

Our plan had been to have dinner that night at the iconic Versailles Restaurant, but the 3 hour delay to embarkation left us with nothing until 3 the next day. We decided to move the Versailles to Sunday lunch. Across the street from the hotel was a shopping center that included a Publix supermarket and a liquor store. Many trips have a not-in-Kansas-anymore moment. This was it. Nobody in these stores were speaking English. We managed to obtain dinner and drinks however and took them back to our hotel room. The adventure would begin the next day.

Next: Cuba trip, days 4-5: Little Havana and the Adonia

0 notes