קובה”) סתרה את המשמעות של תוכניות הנסיעה שלי. But he connected the dots: “Are you on that first flight today? אז אני חלק מההיסטוריה! אני לוקח אותך לשדה התעופה כדי לעלות עלטיסה ראשונה לקובה! זה יום נהדר!" גם הוא צודק. His driving me to Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) was the first step towards my being one of 150 people to board the first regular, commercial flight between the US and Cuba in 55 years.
"First" was definitely the theme of the day. Before passengers boarded the flight, Broward County Aviation Department CEO Mark Gale quoted the famous words of the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong—"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"—and offered his own version for the day: "One short flight for passengers, one huge advancement for reconnecting the world's humanities." JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes put the 55-year timeline into perspective, noting that "the last time we had commercial service from the US to Cuba, color TVs were a luxury in living rooms, let alone seatback amenities." JetBlue flight 387 was only 248 miles and lasted less than an hour, but with a cockpit crew and flight attendants of Cuban-American heritage, and US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx onboard, the trip was as much a moment in modern history as a quick לקפוץ בין מדינות. Secretary of State John Kerry noted the significance with aצִיוּץ
110 טיסות יומיות מארה"ב יועברו לקובה, 20 מהם להוואנה ו-90 עד תשעה שדות תעופה בערים שונות בקובה. חברות תעופה שאושרו כעת לשירות בהוואנה כוללות את Alaska Airlines, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit, United, American ו-Southwest. עם זאת, זו תהיה סילבר איירווייס שבסיסה בפורט לודרדייל שתהיה לה הכי הרבה מסלולים בקובה; the little airline is hoping to fly from FLL to nine Cuba destinations: Santa Clara (currently operating), Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba, Cayo Coco, Varadero, Cayo Largo, and Manzanillo.
12 קטגוריות. Traveling as a journalist, I kept notes on places visited, and filled my days with visits to cultural monuments, as well as rum stores and ice cream shops. A couple from Chicago I met on a tour of Santa Clara's cigar factory noted that they had opted to travel under the "Support for the Cuban People" provision, interpreting that as staying and eating as locally as possible and documenting their time in-country through selfies with Cubans with whom they'd had meaningful conversations.
כרטיס נסיעות לקובההוא. This small document of entry and exit is available for purchase from the airline's US check-in counters on the day of travel and must be kept with your passport at all times in Cuba. JetBlue charges $50 per person for the card, though it can range from $20 to $120 with other carriers. My roundtrip flight was $205 and includes Cuba's mandatory traveler insurance. With the Travel Card, my travel totaled $255—hundreds less than what was charged by charter flights prior to now.
