hello everyone and welcome back to another sweltering hot day in Havana
Cuba so I've been here for about a week now so I thought it'd be a good time to
do a bit of a tips and advice video particularly for those of you that are
coming to Havana for the first time or indeed Cuba as a whole I just like to
clarify or get started that many of these points in this video I named
budget backpackers or long-term travellers not so much holidaymakers
going to a resort all-inclusive that kind of thing however saying that a lot
of these points do apply to everyone so on that note let's get going and if
you've seen some of my other videos you'll notice that I've had a bit of a
roller coaster over the last seven days sometimes it's been a bit frustrating
it's been a bit rocky it's been a bit emotional by thing when you go over that
and when you embrace the differences in Cuba then you will find that Havana is
one of the most amazing places you could ever visit so point number one is about
your arrival when you get to the airport in Havana now pretty much the only way
that I've found of getting into Havana City is by getting a taxi when you walk out
of the airport you will see a lot of buses but generally these are like tour
buses or taking people to other areas of Cuba there's no actual tourist bus that
goes into the van I may be completely wrong but everyone I've spoken to has
had to get a taxi so on the subject of taxis when you walk out of the airport
so I'll tell you my story I walked over the road there's like a food place one
guy said to me oh it cost 25 CUC you see or Cuban convertible peso more on
currencies in the next point however I went back to get the taxi it turned out
that it was 30 and obviously it will depend on where you're going in Havana
potentially and you know some people have I know have been charged 25 some
have been 30 some have been 40 so it very much depends obviously the the
thing overall that you have to be aware of and this is gonna be obvious you know
you need to confirm the price with the taxi drivers before you get in to avoid
getting scammed what number two is about currency or should I say currencies yes
you've heard it right there are two currencies in Cuba similar to Cambodia
if you've been there it works it's quite similar so the first one which goes by
many names you see the CUC the Cuban convertible peso or the
tourist currency there's probably other names and I will
show you one moment here are five pesos in the Cuban convertible peso okay and
the way you identify this compared to the other one is that they have
buildings on all monuments if you like okay and I'll show you the only one in a
moment so the best way to think about the Cuban convertible peso is just think
of it as US dollars because the exchange rate is exactly the same so it's
probably easier especially if you're from America maybe just think of it as
the US dollar is quite simple and generally you'll use this one for most
of your purchases tourists are kind of expected to use this currency so if
you're paying for a tour or paying for a hotel or paying for something in a
supermarket generally you'll pay in the CUC Cuban convertible peso the problem
with this is that because it is in effectively US dollars everything will
be in say u.s. prices okay so I've given an example which I'll
come back to in a minute cigarettes okay these are a local brand sometimes when
you go to a shop you may be charged in CUC which will be about four four to
five pesos which is a ridiculous price to be honest with you on to the second
currency which is the CUP the cUP or the Cuban peso or the national currency
or the local currency see what I mean about lots of different names and I'll
show you one here so as I said the previous one you can identify that with
buildings or monuments these ones or have people on them okay they do look
quite similar but just identify it with the people or monuments okay and you
know what this currency is like a godsend it's like pot luck it's like
winning the lottery it's like the jackpot all those words okay because
it's what the locals use basically to pay for things like
for local food in local shops things like that drinks on the street that kind
of stuff and in terms of value for money the CEP is the difference is
astronomical so back to the cigarette so generally this would be about five times
less the price if I paid in these roughly okay so potentially just using
that as an example you could save huge amount of money if you use the CUP
so how do you get hold of it and many people often say that it's frowned upon
if tourists use the CUP and yeah sometimes it is in terms of getting it
there are some places where you can exchange your CUC in to see you people
okay but there are few and far between I have not been able to find one so how
did I get them so generally when I go to somewhere to get some to eat for example
there's a place opposite the Capitol building which I showed you in another
video that is we can get burger for eight Cuban pesos the local currency
which is pretty much 30 cents in u.s. okay and generally if you pay in CUC at
one of those sorts of places normally okay seventy percent of the time like I
said it's potluck you will get change in CEP and it's like winning the lottery
so once the other day I've got something I've got 50 peso notes in change and I
felt like all my Christmases had come at once but then I bought something else
and I've got change back in CUC run in and just in terms of the coins that the
silver ones are so you see the gold type ones which I think do a bit older are
the local currency okay you just have to try your luck with currencies and if
your Spanish is particularly good sometimes you'll get away with it and
you know for example I've been to one place to buy something one day they've
been fine giving me the change accepting money in CUP the next day I
went back it was a different person that serve me they refused quite point-blank
okay so there is no hard and fast rule in terms of currencies you just have to
wing it basically okay on to the next point number three which is about Wi-Fi
you may have heard there is no Wi-Fi in Cuba but that is incorrect because there
is Wi-Fi in Cuba at the time the filming which is June 2018 many hostels many
hotels do have their own free Wi-Fi okay but generally ninety percent of the time
you will have to pay for it so you can get a card which I'm going to put a
picture one up on the screen there are places where you can actually buy them
at different durations like one hour five hours that kind of thing but to be
honest with you again these are few and far between in my experience it's been
difficult to find one so how do you get one
so and this might sound a bit dodgy you go to basically a Wi-Fi hotspot area
plus that's where I could use to describe it it might be like a park or
something or a hotel and I'm gonna put a couple of locations down the bottom
where you can use Wi-Fi where you can get a Wi-Fi card things like that and
basically there will be locals there usually young guys or young women who
are selling Wi-Fi cards and I'll say in English Wi-Fi card amigo that kind of
thing the only thing is with these is that you will pay double so you'll only
do not the one hour one and you'll pay two pesos for that so yeah you might say
it's a bit of a ripoff but end of the day it's not the end of the world and
and it allows you to get on the internet however just because you're in a Wi-Fi
hotspot area doesn't mean that the Wi-Fi is going to work it will be intermittent
at best the place that I put down in the bottom of the screen before the hotel by
the sea it's a big blue tall building but Wi-Fi works fantastically they also
have actual computers in there which you can put your code into to use the Wi-Fi
there and it works an absolute treat obviously you know the mistake I made
was I didn't plan things for my future travels before I came to Cuba I was
expected to be able to do with the Wi-Fi I didn't expect it to be so intermittent
so try and plan before you get to Havana point number four is about Jineteros
okay it's locals basically and to be always well I haven't had the huge
problem with this there has been a couple of instances where basically
particularly if you're in a tourist area like Capitol building or old Havana or
something like that in a plaza people locals may come up to you and spark up a
conversation or where you from that kind of thing and you can tell if what
they're doing they'll start to tell you information about the area or try and
give you advice about places to go that sort of thing basically they're just
doing it because they want to charge you they want to get money out of you for it
and I've had a couple of incidents where I've sensed this has started to happen
but I just politely say no and I saw that I need to go or something like that
and and I get away from them and you know I understand why they're doing it
end of that day they need to make money somehow but as a tourist it's just not
what you want it can may give you a negative experience I guess of Cuban
people but and actually on the whole Cuban people absolutely
amazing don't get me wrong they're absolutely fantastic i've
had very minimal issues with those sorts of people and the last point point
number five I'm gonna lump four things together food water restaurants and
tipping so firstly with food and more in terms of convenience stores anything
that you might expect about things like 7-elevens or Family Mart things like
that there are none okay for obvious reasons you know American chains they
wouldn't be operating in Cuba okay so in terms of getting your basics like food
and more it can be a struggle at least I found it to be like that so you know
sometimes you might have to walk quite a while to find someone that actually
sells water and most of the time they will only sell like Coke or orangeade
or something like that you do very much have to shop at local places but
actually this is a good thing in my opinion because it means that you can
use or get the CUP as change meaning you can save money that way in terms of
supermarkets there are some supermarkets but I would more call them like slightly
larger mini marts if you know I mean the range isn't fantastic the other thing
about these places is that all the prices will be in cuc and also CUP but
in terms of value for money they're very much I guess
Western prices if you know what I mean so you wouldn't be able to get you know
something for a ridiculous bargain in a supermarket
another thing about supermarkets is that and again you would expect this is that
you convenience is just not a thing in Cuba so you wouldn't find a shop where
you can buy your health and beauty products your fruit and veg your wine
except you like that in one place generally you have to go to all sorts of
different places for example your health and beauty stuff like shampoo some
supermarkets or places will have a separate section where everything is
behind glass cabinets things like that you'll find shops which are specifically
for health and beauty products things like that so you know it does take a bit
again use - especially for use - convenience that kind of thing and on to
restaurants and tipping so especially if you are eating out a lot which
realistically probably are considering there isn't many options in terms of
cooking for yourself if you a budget backpack and that sort of thing
restaurants a bit hit-and-miss in terms of authentic Cuban food I've
not really seen many places in the air I'm staying probably in more tourist
areas there are generally four proper Cuban food I found like local places on
the street there were small places you just put your head in and say can I have
this kind of that but the restaurants that I've eaten in and I'm gonna put one
down the bottom which is very close to where I'm staying
it was awesome so but the thing is you have things like pizzas lasagna that
kind of stuff but in terms of quality it was fantastic and in terms of tipping in
restaurants and places like that it can be a bit sometimes you think should I
touch or go no and actually some places do specifically say that the service
charge 10% is included in the total price of the meal but to be honest most
places that's not the case so you didn't have to remember to give your 10% tip
when you pay okay so those have been my five tips based on my experience of my
seven days in Havana I hope you have found these useful if you do have any
questions or anything like that you can write them in the comments below and
message me on Instagram wherever you like and I'll do my best to answer them
okay don't forget to Like comment and subscribe and if you'd like to see more
from Cuba I'm gonna link the playlist to my Cuba videos by the up above on a card
and also in the description below so you can check out a couple of videos one
from Old Havana one from new Havana and a couple of videos about my experience
if you like in Havana thanks for watching if you're coming to a band I
hope you have an awesome time I certainly have I cannot I'm not
exaggerating when I say Havana is one of the best places I've been to you'll have
a great time if you come there thanks for watching I'll catch you later