7 December 2024, Air France
8 December 2024, Havana
La Mansion del Centro €25 (R495)

The circumference of the earth at the equator is 40,075km.
Charl and I have cycle toured 40,220km together – so we’ve circumnavigated the world once.
Today, we fly into Cuba for five weeks to make a small start on our second trip around the globe.
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Departing OR Tambo (ORT), Johannesburg / Arriving José Martí, Havana…
On arrival at ORT check-in, the pre-checker who studied our passports, was not happy with the fact that they were brand new. He wanted additional proof that we were resident in South Africa. We could offer him none as we are travelling light and had not packed our IDs or driver’s licences!
He waved us through to the counter where a young man took one look at the bikes in their boxes and confessed he had never before checked in bicycles. This was a mere technicality, easily resolved. Before that, however, he required assistance from two others to confirm our Cuban visa was in order.
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DID YOU KNOW that if you fly into Cuba from or via the US, whether a US citizen or not, your visa costs twice as much as if you fly in from anywhere else in the world?
The week that we applied for our visas, at just R315 each, was the first week the Cuban Embassy in South Africa had taken the visa application process online.
A very simple form with only proof of payment and a customs declaration required. No photos, no bank statements, no itinerary, no proof of accommodation, no insurance. And our visas were emailed to us in under 72 hours.
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Unfortunately, the revised Cuban visa process had not been updated at ORT, resulting in confusion and anxiety when all we could present was an email containing two numbers purporting to be visa numbers. Discussion between the three men and some sort of online engagement finally gained us access to the flight to Paris, but not before we had to deal with the oversized luggage guy who complained endlessly about how difficult it was to manage our bikes and asked for cash. We were not willing to pay one penny, the bikes already having cost us a sizeable sum, and hoped that telling him we had no cash Rands on us (which happened to be the truth) would be the end of it. But no, he assured us he was happy to take a bank transfer!
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Layover at Charles de Gaulle, Paris, for several hours. Beautiful shops, expensive coffee. Will be in Havana this evening 1745 Cuba time; after midnight SA time. Air France took the dirt road from Jnb, making for a bumpy ride.
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One expects queues at airports; Havana’s are somewhat haphazard - very much a case of “if you see a queue, get in it” as it may lead somewhere useful. There was no system to take the next in line, so if you chose the slow line, too bad. When Charl reached the front of his line, while I still lagged in mine, he was turned away from the immigration window and told to wait while a short woman in a short skirt went away to consult. She came back shortly and, having taken our photos, ushered us both through without stamping our passports. Mmmm…
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DID YOU KNOW that there is only one (government-owned) mobile service provider in Cuba? Cubacel often suffers shortages of, for example, SIM cards, and wait times can be very long. To cater to tourists, therefore, you can pre-order and pay for your SIM card online before arrival and collect it at the airport. An unexpected efficiency in a communist country.
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It took awhile for our bikes to make it through the oversize luggage process and be delivered to us, but the boxes were in good nick (not always the case) and shortly thereafter they and we were in our pre-ordered taxi and on our way to Havana Centro…
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35 hours door to door!
During our two Air France flights, we learned a new French word, turbulance, oft repeated with exhortations to return to one's seat and buckle up. I know this reads English, but if you pronounce it to rhyme with Lance (Armstrong), you get my drift.
We were surprised at Charles de Gaulle airport to find that the third language in which announcements are made, after French and English, is Chinese.
Our Havana host, Yola, had pre-booked a taxi to collect us and the bikes from José Martí airport.
We have transitioned from 35° in Johannesburg to 10° in Paris to 24° in Havana; from Rands to Euro to Peso.
On the road again...
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We ordered a very simple pizza at a place near our place, which was not particularly good. But at just R90 for pizza, beer and cola, no complaints.
As we were arriving, a man was taking away his ordered pizza, which was handed to him on a piece of paper, no box.