Havana, Cuba

[KJG]

haha... im sure you will do fine!! but i have to admit i cant wait for you to give some news about it! I feel like because our apps were so similar that we`ll end up going through a similar process... ill be gone till the 8th anyways too, so ill be checking upon my return for sure!! Im so excited for you!

me too....getting super excited.......my husband is so calm and cool......baby we have been together 3 years I know everything......do not worry.....you are my soulmate and that is all that counts......he sure calms me down......not that I am usually over excitable but when things aren't in my control it is bothersome!!! LOL

so are you going away for thanksgiving??

 

[Avana]

Actually working on booking it right now!! Looks like it will have to be varadero though, and only fri to sunday. sucks, but better than nothing! still havent booked it yet but when I do i will let you know! he`ll probably go to havana sunday night and then hand in our extra proof monday morning and fly back to Holguin after that. (he can hand it in as much as i can right??)

 

[KJG]

Actually working on booking it right now!! Looks like it will have to be varadero though, and only fri to sunday. sucks, but better than nothing! still havent booked it yet but when I do i will let you know! he`ll probably go to havana sunday night and then hand in our extra proof monday morning and fly back to Holguin after that. (he can hand it in as much as i can right??)

yes he can keep handing it in until a request for interview, if he is called....then he has to hang on to it and bring it to the interview!!! well I am flying out of varadero on the sunday.......my flight leaves at 9pm....so will be at the airport between 6:30 and 7:00pm.....let me know when you are booked and your return flight time.....it would be cool to sit and chat at the airport!!!

 

[Avana]

hmmm... havent booked yet, but it looks like when i do ill be leaving from varadero at 6:05 pm, if my flight gets delayed we can find each other for sure!!

 

[KJG]

hmmm... havent booked yet, but it looks like when i do ill be leaving from varadero at 6:05 pm, if my flight gets delayed we can find each other for sure!!

so close...yet so far....LOL.....not too often do I find the flights get delayed at the cuba end........you will already be in the air probably before I get there because of course I will want to spend every minute I can with my husband.........so are you staying in Varadeor or Matanzas???

 

[Avana]

Sorry I didnt answer so long, my parents got back tonight and I went to go listen about how much fun they had and everything that happened with MY husband... so jealous! lol

Really?? Its happened to me the last 3 or 4 times that my flight was delayed from there an hour or hr and a half and I always get so mad because they couldnt tell me before I crossed and said goodbye?? lol

I know right, so close yet so far?? lol we'll miss each other by an hour!! small world anyways!

Not sure where we were gonna stay yet! When we go there we always stay in varadero, although i cant say ive ever been super happy with a hotel there as of yet... can you recommend somewhere in either places? we will go somewhere close and easy since i would arrive friday at 10 30 am and leave sunday at 6 pm.. short trip so we dont wanna travel to much for sure... what about you guys?

 

[KJG]

Sorry I didnt answer so long, my parents got back tonight and I went to go listen about how much fun they had and everything that happened with MY husband... so jealous! lol

Really?? Its happened to me the last 3 or 4 times that my flight was delayed from there an hour or hr and a half and I always get so mad because they couldnt tell me before I crossed and said goodbye?? lol

I know right, so close yet so far?? lol we'll miss each other by an hour!! small world anyways!

Not sure where we were gonna stay yet! When we go there we always stay in varadero, although i cant say ive ever been super happy with a hotel there as of yet... can you recommend somewhere in either places? we will go somewhere close and easy since i would arrive friday at 10 30 am and leave sunday at 6 pm.. short trip so we dont wanna travel to much for sure... what about you guys?

Majority of the time we stay in a casa in Matanzas......I am within walking distance to a beach -albeit not as nice as varadero but I am more of a sun worshipper as opposed to swimmer.....close to local restaurants.....inside and out....a club or two and grocery stores....cost is usually $25.00 to $30.00 cuc a night.....and I am with locals and it is way cheaper than varadero by far......where is your husband from? I know you have mentioned but I forget!!!

 

[Avana]

haha.. hes from holguin! but weve been everywhere in cuba together really...

 

[sassylassie]

Hola!!!

Wow you guys are amazing and fast at answering : ) Thank you so much for welcoming me and for all the congratulations : ) We are both super excited about the birth of our daughter. And disappointed about the results of the visitor’s visa app. But as you said KJG…no surprises.

Today my boss gave me the day off because I looked tired yesterday at work : ) Pregnancy to my advantage : ) I used the time to pull out everything we had started to prepare before the Visitors App. I went through and dbl checked all the forms for spelling mistakes, sorted each form and proof (our ID’s, passports, marriage certificates, medical certificates, penal certificates, list of my family who have met him and when, the list of all 77 people who attended our wedding …this was daunting lol, letters of support from my family members and friends who know him, all the expensive ..sorry that was a vent…translations etc. into its own sheet protector.
I have preciously printed out pictures from all of my visits, I have printed copies of my phone bills (it would be funny…not really : ) to see who once had the highest phone bill), copies of travel tickets, car rentals and hotel stays, I have copies of a couple of cards I sent him etc. I now just need to get all the bills from July-Sep 2012 together. I am going to take your advice of sorting everything similar and clipping those together and also separating pictures by visits with a lil blurb of who is in each pic, where and when.

Am I missing anything that you suggested?
Oh!!! I will also include a letter with my plans to stay in Cuba with my husband for 3 months, and an explanation of our short courtship (thank you for that suggestion). We were only together 7 months before we married and have been together almost a year now. But we talk, text or give missed calls several times a day and I was in Cuba 4 times during those 7 months.
ANYWAYS……Avana I am interested to know how you book a long weekend away to Cuba?!? When I look online it is always flights for a min of 7 days. I guess you still end up paying $500-$600 for the flight? I wish to do that sooo bad….if I could just cuddle with my husband for one day it would make me the happiest girl alive…..
OMG I have so many questions to ask all of you. But I will save some of them…maybe one a day?! This post is already putting some of you to sleep I am sure : )
I will end just by saying…thank you again for welcoming me. It is amazing to speak with others who are experiencing what we are. My family and friends are sooo supportive, but really they only know as much about the process as I know and share with them. You ladies (can I assume that you are all ladies based on your recent posts?) are all inspiring. It amazing me that you have been with your partners for several years without being together all the time and you are still sane : )
Have a beautiful day ladies!
~Sassy~

 

[Avana]

Hey SassyLassie!

AWESOME about the extra day off.. and a little jealous too.. lol. My best friend (that I also work with) is also pregnant and im certainly starting to see the advantages! lol It's great that you were able to get the (technically) working day to work on something super important and get things together. I remember the amounts of times i sat at my dining room table with papers sprawled EVERYWHERE and the anxiety knots in my stomach. (Just thinking about it now, the same feelings coming back--UGH) Sounds like you did good! We had 65 people at out wedding and the list of his friends and family that had met me was even bigger so I know the craziness of getting all that down! I remember telling my husband, uuhhhm, i really dont think its necessary to put the clerk at the store next to your house.. and he was like, why?? they know you by name and they have met you and theyre the ones that see my family everything, so it shows you were here! so i let him list it allll out. lol

Dont worry--vent all you want, thats why were all here, and ive certainly had my days! lol. As of now I'm still on a high from our CIC approval but I can imagine it will start to diminish as we wait to hear something--ANYTHING-- from Havana...

OMG--my phone bills were RIDICULOUS for a good part of our relationship.. over 1000$ a month at times, but it was the only way and I had to do it..now with the blackberrys its gone down a LOT.

Ive managed to do a lot of weekender trips throughout the year. A typical year post Cuban husband (and once bf) for me looks like this: 2 weeks december/january, one week in march, one weekend in april (easter), one weekend in May (victoria day) Two weeks early July, one weekend September (Labor day), One weekend October (thanksgiving)--and lather, rinse,repeat. its absolutely RIDICULOUS, but it would kill me (and him) to have it any other way. weve been extremely lucky with the timing! It usually takes a few days of searching, but i always find either Fri-Mon, Thurs-Sun or something of the likes. This time though will be short. Friday morning ill arrive at 10:30am, and leave SUnday at 6pm, but as you said, its totally worth it. 2 nights of snuggles will get me through the rest of the time till december. Problem with this is we cant be picky about where. we have been to Camaguey, Varadero, Havana, Holguin (where my husband is from)sometimes landing in varadero and traveling together to Havana to get back home.. pretty hectic. but worth it. My husband has said that it doesnt matter where, if i can get there he will be at the airport waiting for me! (and always with a gift, mind you--can you believe the cuban is the one out of all my relationships that has spoiled me the MOST??)

Your post is not putting me to sleep--hence the long long response... it really helps to have ppl going through the same thing, so really its good to talk about how we all manage to keep sane under these excruciating circumstances... So ask away! im happy to answer whatever i am able to! were all, KJG included, very lucky to have incredibly supportive families and friends, because not everyone is as lucky as us, and as if it it wasnt hard enough, that would make it impossible....

So now my turn to ask a Q!! haha Howd you meet your husband??

 

[sassylassie]

Avana!

Wow all that travel is inspiring.....I am off to a prenatal class now. So when I return I will tell you about how I met my man : )

 

[Avana]

Ok sounds good!! have a good prenatal class!!

 

[KJG]

Avana and Sassylassie.....awesome posting ladies.......

Sassylassie.....since you already did a visitor's visa you will have a taste for the paperwork to be done.......the biggest thing is not gaps in his history of employment and school....even if he was not working make sure you put the dates in and say unemployed.....they are very sticky on that....but basically the proof you provided for the visa is great....you will just have to do a few essay type stories and you will be good to go....it is not a weekend project as I am sure you know by now...and being pregnant the tiredness hits you suddenly (I'm a mom of 4!!) so just do what you can when you can.....try and have a deadline in mind though so it does not drag out.....because it is a daunting process and even the dishes or bathroom cleaning can seem like something better to do!!!

Avana.....I feel so duh......honestly I never thought of doing that for weekend visits......I mean I always go for a week and we have rented a vehicle and gone someplaces but duh ....I never thought of flying there and having him meet me there.......and here I am a seasoned traveller...LOL....

Sassylassie.....as long as you don't fly sunwing you can usually find flights like Avana said....westjet typically flies wed and sat......air canada....has different days and air transit also allows you to take shorter flights......sunwing might do it but I find them the least flexible airline...although I lover their service their weight restriction is a killer and even with an upgrade not that great!!!

It is nice to see we are getting more people on this forum cause you all know by now I hate being on that 2nd page.

I finished off the last of my cuba shopping last night and will be packing this weekend...and then re-packing cause I always have an issue with weight!!! Fingers crossed my next trip will be mid-november to bring my husband back to Canada....but first to get through the interview!!!

 

[Avana]

Haha thanks KJG--its good to get the thumbs up from such an experienced poster as yourself! and WOW you never cease to amaze me!! going through all this with 4 kids!?? im even more impressed with you! how do you even get the time or the strength each day?? I dont have any yet, but my husband wants kids like, yesterday... and im excited too, so not sure how long it will stay that way after he arrives!

As for my weekend trips, EVERYONE thinks im crazy in the head (cue Beyonce and Jay-Z's "crazy in love"), but if its the only way we can see each other every month or two tops, I had to do it. Unfortunately, my job doesnt allow me to take that many full weeks off (I do get 5 a year though, so I suppose I cant complain too too much..) The trip isnt so bad! I mean 4 hrs tops, and ppl have been known to do vegas for a long wknd so why not cuba? Luckily for you, you wont be needing weekend trips because your husby will be here within no time! I for wknds, I usually fly air canada or cubana, sometimes a combo if the two. I find the others offer no flexibility. This is from Montreal though, so maybe westjet and others have better options from toronto!

Cant wait for October 4th for 2 reasons, because you will have yoru SUCCESSFUL interview, and it will tell me only a few more hours till I leave and see my other half!!

 

[Avana]

ps: My husband had the sweetest idea ever, because we will be together only two full days, that we each plan activities for each other for one full day. I swear, couldnt sleep till 2 am and had to get up at 6 am because my mind was stewing so much!! :

Heres to hoping I do okay!! lol