I Went to Cuba Despite All the People Who Told Me Not To Go, and I’m Glad I Didn’t Listen

None of you know the true reality of this country.

“We want to go to Cuba.”

When my cousin and I told our parents and siblings that we were going to Cuba, there was extreme silence at the family reunion. Finally, one of them asked a question:

“Are you sure?”

And then they all laughed.

Throughout the month, I heard similar comments from different types of people, friends, and co-workers. Many of those comments were ignorant:

“What’s there?” “Aren’t you scared?” “There is no security there,” “There is no food,” “There is no wifi there,” “I hope you come back alive,” “Did you do the right investigations?”

There was a point where I began to doubt whether it was correct to travel there because of all those comments, so I started looking for videos of tourists on TikTok, which made my fears worse.

Even though there were cute short videos of landscapes and happy people, most of the comments within every video I saw said, “This is not the true reality of Cuba” and “I wish my country was like this video.”

By the time the day of the trip arrived, I had zero expectations. I didn’t know what the trip was really going to be, and I was a little scared because my cousin and I were two young women traveling alone.

But what I didn’t expect was that I was going to spend the best week ever in a completely beautiful country. The “reality” of what everyone says about this country is mostly false, and I’m glad I went despite all the comments from people who don’t know what it’s really like there.

Let’s explain to you why.

Yes, there is a general crisis, but the internet exaggerates with the true reality.

In Cuba, there is poverty. That’s a fact.

I personally do not know the main reason for these conditions (even though I have an idea based on what I have read and what people told me while I was there).

Also, I am not the best person to talk about a crisis because I am not a professional politician or an ambassador for any international aid organization.

Therefore my opinions on the subject are from what I saw while there as a tourist.

You will not see a complete crisis on the street as people say on the internet. People live there as normally as other people live in a third-world country.

It is also a safe country.

You can walk with your phone in your hands without any kind of problem, and nothing will happen to you.

Contrary to some parts of the world where there is a lot of robbery and crime in general, or it’s unsafe to even walk or eat in a restaurant, Cuba doesn’t have any of this, and I felt safer there than in some parts of my own country.

Also, you will not lack food at any time. As long as you can pay for a plate of food, you will have it. There are restaurants and hotels with everything you need for a comfortable stay.

Although there are limitations with the wi-fi, I always had internet in the hotel. Also, I bought a chip with a signal in 100% of the country.

People love tourists there (just like in most countries), and you will always be well-received wherever you go.

People who say that it is not a good country for vacationing do not know what they are talking about since my experience there was completely perfect in terms of safety, quality of life, and general conditions. I was also well-received, and people were happy with us there.

All the comments I wrote at the beginning of the article from the people who told me not to go are false, and they said it with ignorance based on things that happened in the past or fiction, but it is not the current reality.

None of you know the true reality of this country because it should not concern us, but to accept them and be part of them the way we can.

It is one of the best countries I have visited so far.

I consider Cuba one of the best countries I have visited recently because the experience was surprisingly positive.

The country is beautiful in all aspects and has a lot to offer, and I was not bored for one minute because there was always something to do.

I didn’t feel unsafe or unwelcome for a minute, and people were always very kind and helpful with everything I needed without anything in return.

Obviously, you will not have the modernity of a first-world country, and there are some limitations at the level of technology in certain places.

But even that makes the experience there different and unique from the place where you live, which is part of the main reasons for traveling: getting to know other cultures.

One of the things that I liked the most about that country is how different they are culturally from other countries that I have visited and how they have learned to be independent and feel very connected to their history and traditions.

And learn about everything was very refreshing and made me value many things from my own home.

I had lost the motivation to travel a while ago due to bad things that had happened to me in the past while traveling, but going to Cuba made me want to take more planes, meet new people and cultures, and learn from others again.

Final thoughts

Sometimes we are our first enemies.

I have spoken badly of my country for things that I do not like here, and I have also seen Dominicans be the first haters on the island where I live. However, for other people, this is a paradise.

I think the same thing happens with Cuba, people who live or lived there feel that it is not a good country because of things that happened there in the past, but they do not realize that the bad propaganda makes others not want to go and realize that it is possibly an excellent place for them.

I am happy that I did not pay attention to anyone and saw for myself if it would be a good experience because it allowed me to get to know a wonderful country that I want to be part of again in the future.

Cuba gave me back the desire to travel again.

Now I want to go to more countries with bad comments and see how good they really are because I don’t want to be part of judging without knowing again.

I consider that this adventure taught me that I should not have an opinion about something based on comments but that every experience could be different depending on what they like.

So don’t decline or reject something just for other people’s comments. You will not know if you really will like something until you check it by yourself.

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