Travel to Cuba: Essentials

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, visiting Cuba for the first time will be something you will never forget. Cuba has its own unique smells, sounds, and rhythms. History surrounds you, and despite the lack of many the things that we Americans may consider vital, people in Cuba seems to live life a little more intensely than anyplace else. Leave your preconceptions at home, as well as your political opinions, and you are sure to experience something unique. Cuba is a country free of many of the things we associate with a modern society. What it lacks in amenities, it makes up for in art, music, dance, literature, and history. It is a living experiment on the human potential absent the capitalistic influences. As you travel there, you can judge for yourself how successful it's been at achieving these goals, but like most opinions in Cuba, your ideas are best kept to yourself. Another thing you will discover about traveling in Cuba is that "rules' seem to change each time you visit. What was permitted the last time is now illegal and what was illegal may now be tolerated at some level. Recommended Reading: You should not go to Cuba without having done a little research. There are two books I would recommend in order to get a better idea of the Cuba of today and yesterday. Dr. Roberto G. Fernandez's book, Raining Backwards, has some great observations about the exile community in a hilarious novel, published by Arte Publico Press. My personal favorite is the comment by one exile about the eggs in Cuba being so large in pre-Castro Cuba that they had to give the chickens C-sections. The other book I suggest is Mi Moto Fidel by Christopher P. Baker, which details the author's adventures riding his motorcycle throughout Cuba.

There's no shortage of theories on the best way to make phone calls while overseas. Some folks are devotees of calling cards. Others love technologies such as Skype, which allow calls to be made via the Internet. But for convenience, nothing compares to your own cell phone. Not all cell phones are compatible with the technology used overseas, however, so the first step is figuring out if your phone will work in your destination. The GSM network, used by T-Mobile and Cingular, is the standard for most of the world. If you have a Verizon Wireless phone, which operates on the CDMA network, chances are you won't be able to make calls in Europe, Australia, or Africa. The frequencies, or bands, also have to match. Some cell-phone models are dual-band, which is fine for the two GSM frequencies most common in the U.S., 850 and 1900 MHz. Others are tri- or quad-band, so they work at home and abroad, where the most common frequencies are 900 and 1800 MHz. Go to cellular-news.com/coverage to look up the networks and frequencies used at your destination. Then ask your provider or look in your manufacturer's handbook for the corresponding info. Once you know your phone will function, the next step is figuring out which cost-saving strategy makes the most sense for you. International plans If this is the first time you'll be using your phone overseas, before leaving home tell your wireless provider to activate the international roaming option. But be aware that outside the U.S., calling home, checking voice mail, or dialing across town in your destination can cost $10 before you know it. In general, rates are higher in areas with poor infrastructure. Using T-Mobile, calls from most of Western Europe are $1-$1.50 per minute, but dialing from Uganda or Russia will cost you $5 per minute. If you plan on traveling abroad often, ask your provider about international rate plans. Cingular's program costs an extra $6 per month, but it discounts international calls by 40¢ per minute on average. Local SIM cards A SIM card is the postage stamp-size chip that stores account info in all GSM phones. After replacing your SIM card with one intended for the country you're visiting, you instantly have a local number. Making reservations at a nearby hotel becomes a local call, often costing less than 25¢ a minute. As a bonus, incoming calls to your new number are usually free, though anyone dialing you from the U.S. will pay for long distance. The downside of swapping SIM cards is that no one calling your old number will get through; you probably won't have access to stored phone numbers, either. But if you need to make or accept lots of calls in the place you're visiting, the trade-offs are probably worth it. You can buy a new SIM card through telestial.com and dozens of sellers at prepaidgsm.net. It's usually cheaper, however, to pick up a SIM card in your destination. Cards, which start at $20 to $50 depending on where you're traveling, come with a certain number of minutes included. Your handset must be unlocked to switch SIM cards; if necessary, contact your wireless company to find out how to unlock it. And keep your old SIM card in a safe place. You'll want it when you get home. The callback service Using a new SIM card lets you make cheap local calls in your destination, but dialing back to the U.S. still incurs hefty charges. Here's the trick for avoiding them. Register your new number and a credit card with a service called GlobalPhone (gphone.com). Then, when you want to call internationally, first dial a country-specific "trigger" number. Let the phone ring once and hang up. A few moments later, your phone will ring, and you'll be prompted to punch in the number you're trying to reach--at a much cheaper rate than dialing directly. You're basically accepting an incoming call--and remember, that's usually free with a SIM card meant for the country you're visiting. GlobalPhone takes advantage of bulk international rates, and the result is that most calls between Europe and the U.S. wind up costing less than 40¢ a minute. Registration is free, and you're only charged for the calls you make.

For 50 years, Arkansas native Nadine Anglin has been wintering in the California desert. Unlike the snowbirds who flock to Palm Springs, Anglin, 85, prefers an abandoned World War II naval base called Slab City, 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles. There's no electricity, no bathrooms, no formal law enforcement--and no rent. Anglin is part of a community of people who call themselves boondockers--people who park their RVs together in remote spots (the boondocks), thereby forming temporary settlements. "When I go back to Arkansas, it always seems so dull," she says. Slab City, a 640-acre stretch of state-owned desert near the Salton Sea, is the most popular location in the country for boondockers to congregate. In the height of winter, the community is about 3,000 members strong. While official RV parks offer electrical hookups, cable TV feeds, and waste disposal facilities--for as much as $200 a week--the only amenities at Slab City are a weekly church service, a bulletin board on the main road with info on barbecues and other events, and a stage for open-mike nights. The closest working plumbing is in Niland, Calif. (pop. 1,200), a few miles west. "You have to love the outdoors," says Anglin, who's fond of dune buggying through the desert, "and you have to be able to handle problems like your RV's battery going dead." She counts on three other things for survival: solar panels to cut down on the cost of gas-powered generators; a CB radio to communicate with neighbors (Anglin's CB name is Colorback); and a big tank for "black water," the name given to the RV occupants' waste. You also have to love the nomadic life. Many boondockers spend the season moving from one settlement to another. "I get tired of sitting at a campground, looking at the same people day after day," says Bernard Schnieders, 73, who makes regular stops at Slab City. "I like the freedom." The three main websites for boondockers are escapees.com, boondocking.org, and desertdutch.org. The latter is maintained by Slab City "resident" Dutch Schaafsma. When asked how he'd advise potential boondockers, he says to inspect your neighbors closely before you set up camp. "If you don't like 'em," he says, "you can always move to another spot." The main entrance to Slab City is off Highway 111, four miles east of Niland, slabcity.org.

Anish Kapoor's latest sculpture, Sky Mirror, will be on exhibit at Rockefeller Center in New York City from September 19 to October 27. The three-story-high concave mirror will reflect the top of 30 Rock on one side and Fifth Avenue on the other. On select weekend days, L.A.'s Walt Disney Concert Hall offers 45-minute tours of its community garden (musiccenter.org, $15). An Atlanta CityPass goes on sale this month. It includes admission to the CNN studios, the World of Coca-Cola, and the Georgia Aquarium (citypass.com, $59). Miami Restaurant Month runs until September 30. Midweek, three-course lunches cost $20.06; dinners are $30.06 (miamirestaurantmonth.com). Tickets for next year's Carnaval Parade in Rio (February 17-20) are on sale now through travel agents. Find one at rcvb.com.br. A new Paris footbridge connecting the National Library and the Parc de Bercy was inaugurated on July 13. Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, the city's 37th bridge, is the first to be named after a woman. Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport is scheduled to open later this month. Thailand hopes the international airport, with the capacity for 76 flights an hour and 45 million passengers a year, will be a hub for visitors to southeast Asia. Colonial Williamsburg has launched an interactive program called "Revolutionary City." Actors portray townspeople struggling with the pivotal events that led to America's independence. Outdoor performances take place daily throughout the fall (colonialwilliamsburg.com, $34). The once-supersecret government nuclear-fallout shelter under The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., is open for tours again after two years of renovations (greenbrier.com, $30). Skype, the Internet calling service, is dropping its usual fees and allowing customers to make free calls to traditional landlines and cell phones through the end of the year. Low-cost airline Ryanair announced it will soon be flying to Morocco, with as many as 20 routes from Europe. The new Clipper Swiss Army Knife comes with a real, full-size nail clipper and a file, so there's no need to pack a separate set or make do with those miniscissors (wengerna.com, $33). Following Hilton's lead, Marriott is installing kiosks that allow guests to check in for flights and print boarding passes at more than 100 of its hotels. Passengers flying American Airlines can pay $10-$20 to drop off bags and check in for flights up to 24 hours in advance aboard Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity cruise ships, as well as at certain U.S. hotels and convention centers. Spafinder.com has launched sister websites with databases for finding spas in Europe and Japan. A new guidebook, There Is Room at the Inn, lists 117 wheelchair-accessible B&Bs and inns throughout the U.S. (emerginghorizons.com, $22). Avis is giving out a Family Safety Travel Guide and a $10 coupon for a child's bicycle helmet at major U.S. airport locations through the end of September. Travel-insurance company Access America began selling a special $19 add-on to policies; with it, you'll be covered if your job requires you to cancel or interrupt a vacation.