Cuba
January
24, 2019
Atlanta
to Havana to Miami to Havana
How
hard could this be? A two-hour, non-stop flight from Atlanta to Havana,
arriving at 1:30 pm in plenty of time to join the rest of the group for the
three-hour bus ride to Cienfuegos and our festive welcome dinner. Right on
schedule the pilot was making the landing approach and then suddenly he pulled
up. A rainstorm had settled over the airport, closing it temporarily. He
circled and went back with the same results. Another circle and then he told us
he didn’t have enough fuel to keep circling around until the weather lifted so
we were going to Fort Lauderdale instead. No, wait, Lauderdale is also closed
because of weather so we’re going to Miami instead. By that time Havana should be
open and we could fly the 45 minutes back BUT the flight crew had reached their
maximum hours so another crew would have to be brought in from Atlanta. It’s
sounding a lot like that “three-hour tour” on the Minnow.
Amazingly,
none of the passengers made a fuss, just a group shoulder shrug. The two guys
ahead of us and their two buddies two rows behind us were thrilled. They had
polished off all the tequila on board and could only think, “They’re gonna
restock this plane in Miami.”
Since
we hadn’t landed in Cuba we could get off the plane in Miami. Alas we were on
the concourse that time forgot. The Delta SkyClub just steps from our gate was
not just closed, but the escalator leading to it was shut down AND barricaded. Our
dining options were a Pizza Hut (personal pan pizzas only), Quiznos or the
Budweiser Brew House while we waited for the new crew to arrive. The passenger
list was a blend of returning Cubans, Americans visiting relatives in Havana, a
quartet of bearded dudes that looked like a Z Z Top tribute band plus the
Tequila Boys. The Budweiser Brew House was a bit overwhelmed by our food orders
but the waiter moved at warp speed to uncork a bottle or two for the Boys. The
dozen or so of our tour group on the flight had the time to meet each other while
waiting for food and flight crew. When
the new pilots marched through the gate area a few hours later they were
greeted with a standing O. The two new flight attendants followed on another
flight, one of them saying, “I’m supposed to be in Shreveport.”
I’m
not quite sure when we left Miami (the pilot bought everyone a cocktail to
thank us for being so patient and treating them “like rock stars”) but we
finally landed in Havana in the rain in the dark at 22:40, 11 hours after we
left Atlanta. We all got through immigration and customs without any problems
(it seemed that all the customs and immigration officers were in their 20s, all
wearing tan, short sleeved uniforms. And in the case of the young women those
uniforms were very tight and the skirts very, VERY short worn with lace
patterned sheer black panty hose.).
Arrangements Abroad, the company that put the tour together, had one of
their representatives, Kaylea, there with a (very nice) bus, food and wine and
off we went, arriving at Hotel Jagua in Cienfuigos three hours later. It is
very, very dark in Cuba when the sun sets. Kaylea thanked our driver for
navigating through the dark and fog (?) and sheep (???). Another AA rep, Lynda,
was there and had us checked in and in our rooms as quickly as possible. I must
say that Kaylea and Lynda handled the entire situation calmly and efficiently.
What could have been a horror show just seemed like a little hiccup.
It
was 2:53 am when I turned out the light.
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