Not Your Average Gal

Copywriter. Content Creator. Constant Sassypants.

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Howdy, Million Mile Secrets Readers! Come on in.

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So you’re new ’round these parts? No worries. Pull up a chair. I’m really glad you’re here.

When Emily asked me to do a segment of the interview series for Million Mile Secrets, I had a total fan girl moment. “You’re asking me?” I’ve been a huge fan of theirs for years and have amply surrounded myself in all things travel hacking since.

So what is this Not Your Average Gal thing about then, lady?

Glad you asked.

hong kong waterfront
Hong Kong

 

Not Your Average Gal

I’m a little quirky and admittedly also a bit basic (you should see my messy bun). I didn’t take the stereotypical path in life and I think a lot of people can relate to that. This little corner of the interwebs is a place we can all gather to discuss not being average. It’s usually about traveling, but I do have my soapbox moments and I also like to share my entertaining life antidotes. Basically that means when I’ve done something embarrassing, I must share it.

Barcelona, Spain

About Me

I’m a Michigan transplant living in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida where the palm trees and grandparents are plentiful. I’m a marketing copywriter at a boutique ad agency (marketing jargon) located downtown and work with some kooky colleagues and often kookier clients. Ultimately, I’d love to use my writing and copywriting expertise to work remotely around the world.

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia

 

My husband, affectionally known here as, the hubster, is an ER physician completing his residency 1400 miles away in Metro Detroit.

Link: We make it work.

Our wedding in England.

 

I used to be an avid runner until I got injured. Next week is my last Physical Therapy appointment and then WATCH OUT, I may pass you running at a moderately slow pace. I lived and interned in London for a bit after college. I still think London is my favorite city in the world, but Tokyo is surely a close second. I know an obnoxious amount of information about the British Royal Family. I’m a sucker for good beer, good friends and Netflix documentaries. In that order. Spice Girls lyrics were used in a reading at our wedding. Nope, not joking. Discovering new food, new cities and new running shoes make my heart sing.

Havana, Cuba

I like open minds and open hearts.

And I like that you’re here. I hope you stick around. (Very often, we have tequila.)

 

Keep up with me here:

Some posts to catch you up:

Most popular Travel Hacking posts:

Things To Do In Havana Cuba

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So you’re thinking of heading off to that large island in the Caribbean, heralded for its strong coffee, friendly people and often shaky relationship with the US.

After you’ve figured out how to travel to Cuba, jot down a few of these items and I promise you’ll be happy you did.

Things To Do In Havana, Cuba

 

Explore Old Havana all day

Things to do in Havana Cuba Things to do in Havana Cuba

Honestly, give yourself at least an entire day to explore every alleyway, church and market in Old Havana. Pop into La Floridita for a famous daiquiri or bargain over Cuban antiques in Plaza de Armas.

Things to do in Havana Cuba Things to do in Havana Cuba

There is always something going on and with Cubans being ever-so-friendly, and willing to teach a quick dance or smile for your photograph – you can’t go wrong. Plus, I’m a major people watcher — just sitting in a park snapping pics is one of my favorite things to do. That sounded creepy, didn’t it? Carry on.

Try a traditional Cuban dish

  • Ropa Vieja – Braised shredded pork or beef, often over rice in a flavorful sauce.

Ropa Vieja

  • Moros y Cristianos (black beans stewed with white rice) – I will never look at black beans and rice the same again. Stewing the black beans is the way to go, plus hot sauce.
  • Sofrito – This is often the base used in soups and black beans.
  • Cubano – Cuban sandwich which is a variation of ham and cheese with pickles.
  • Pollo a la cacerola (not sure how traditional it is, but it was my favorite dish of our trip) – Probably had enough butter to make Paula Deen happy, but the chicken was falling off the bone. Mix it in with moros y cristianos … *heaven opens*

Things to do in Havana Cuba

Two of our favorite restaurants on the trip:

Things to do in Havana Cuba

La Bodeguita Del Medio

 

Drink a Mojito…or Cuba Libre…or Cubata…or Daiquiri

Things to do in Havana Cuba Things to do in Havana Cuba

The mojitios are less sweet than the American version, but just as potent. I’ve never been a huge rum fan, call it PSTD from my college days, but the smell of it often makes me shrivel my nose. That is until I had Cuban rum, Havana Club specifically. It is great! The Cuba Libre is rum, coke, sometimes sugar, always lime. A Cubata, which ended up being my favorite drink of the trip is the same as a Cuba Libre, except they use old/aged rum.

Thank me later.

You can also get the best daiquiris I’ve ever had in my entire life from La Floridita in Old Havana. Apparently, Hemmingway also frequented this place and said as much. Psst. I agree.

Things to do in Havana Cuba

 

Ride in an old American car

Things to do in Havana Cuba

We worried we may not be able to get a chance to ride in one, but don’t you worry. They are everywhere! Relics of our American past, these well-tended puppies are just a wave away from being your taxi.

Things to do in Havana Cuba

Bonus points if you get to ride in a pink convertible.

Sip on Cuban coffee

Also referred to as: Café Cubano,  Cuban espresso, cafecito or crack, as we like to call it in our office.

Oh Fort Lauderdale and Miami, you have ruined me. I will never be able to sip weak coffee again. Why? Because it’s all Cuban-based brews and styles here. The cup is small, but the brew is a big punch in yo’ mouth. A café cubano is an espresso sweetened with sugar while it’s brewed. There are plenty of variations of this, but most use a darker Italian or Spanish roasts.

Now typically, in the states, I’ll enjoy it without sugar, but I guess that would just make it an espresso… I digress.

Learn about The Revolution

Fidel Castro, Che Guevara Fidel Castro, Che Guevara

The government influence in Cuba, especially Havana, is hard to miss. There are constant reminders of The Revolution and how it is working. Whether or not it is, is probably up for debate in another post on another day.

Fidel Castro, Che Guevara Fidel Castro, Che Guevara

That said, take some time and learn about Batista, The Bay of Pigs, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and now his brother, Raúl. All play a major role in La Revolución Cubana and how Cuba operates today.

Grab a seat on a rooftop terrace

In a past life, I must have been a monkey. I like to climb and observe where I am. That’s why when we asked each another what the one thing we wanted to do most in Havana was, I said, “Get on a rooftop with a drink, my pals and some laughs.” And we sure did. Our AirBnb had an amazing rooftop terrace.

Plus, any chance we got to eat, we looked up for a restaurant. Havana is beautifully chaotic and it’s best to be viewed from up high.

Things to do in Havana Cuba Things to do in Havana Cuba Things to do in Havana Cuba

 

Bring toys for kids

Things to do in Havana Cuba

Perhaps our favorite memory was handing out soccer balls to boys and giving necklaces to girls. I may have been attacked at one point, but it was worth it. We were told toys are expensive and hard to come by in Havana, so we brought some in case. Just small items. I hesitated to bring toys at first because I didn’t want it to be condescending, nor part of a missionary trip. It at the very least helped to strike up a conversation with the kids and adults around.

Things to do in Havana Cuba

I handed a Barbie-like doll to one girl and told her in my best Spanish it was a gift from friends in the US. Her mom asked me in perfect English where I was from in the US. I bet she totally heard me reciting my Spanish before I gave her daughter the doll. Doh!

Take a locally guided tour

Things to do in Havana Cuba Things to do in Havana Cuba

The best way to explore a new area? Have the locals show you. We took a walking tour of Old Havana the second day we were there. It gave us the best lay of the land and our tour guide Jorge, absolutely was the icing on top. He wanted to hear just as much about us, as we did about him and Cuba. He was open and friendly and full of facts that you won’t get by reading any signs. If you’re in Havana, look him up!

Put your phone away!

This was incredibly hard at first. I wanted to Snapchat everything. But soon enough, I wasn’t even looking at my phone other than to snap quick pictures if my nice camera wasn’t nearby. I learned an essential lesson that trip:

The world still revolves if I’m not on my phone.

 

I hope you have the most amazing time in Havana — shoot me a comment below if you’re heading there or have been there before! I’d love to hear about it.

Hate Won’t Make Us Great

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My intention was to publish a post, What To Do In Havana, Cuba, but with the recent executive orders, this felt more timely.

America currently resembles a group of friends gently coaxing their inebriated buddy back to the table to prevent a fight. They’re embarrassed by his sudden, unnecessary aggression and are left walking him back to the table, raising one hand up in the air to the whole bar as if to say, “Alright! We’re alright. We know. We know. He doesn’t represent us. He’s a moron, but…*sigh*…he’s our moron.”

President Trump signed an executive order that barred refugees, migrants, legal residents and green card holders from 7 Muslim-majority countries, which in turn, triggered chaos and outrage. I won’t bore you with the statistics and facts about this unprecedented event, as that’s not what this little space of the interwebs is about.

I would like to, though, restate what I’ve alway believed in the deep, dark crevasses of my heart. Traveling can prevent fear. Fear of different religions, race and ethnicities.

I was lucky enough to grow up in Metro Detroit. Outside of the Middle East itself, Metro Detroit has one of the highest concentrations of people of Middle Eastern descent in the world. Before I even knew what Islam was, I found myself sharing pivotal life lessons as a kid and eventually as a teenager with many Muslim friends.

There wasn’t room for hate, these were my friends and on a very basic level – humans. I guess that’s what’s so hard to wrap my head around and man, traveling makes you conscious of that. It slaps you in the face with your preconceived notions and makes you aware of your privilege.

Traveling shows us that were are far more alike than different. No matter where I go, what corner of the universe I place my foot on, on an incredibly fundamental level – we all have the same common hopes, dreams, goals and priorities. 

Think about that the next time you run into a divisive rhetoric.

The Women’s March on Washington was one of the most powerful and positive experiences of my life. I learned very quickly I wasn’t alone in feeling worried about our future, but that sort of energy brought about something different: hope.

Let us cling to hope. Let us resist hate. 

I’d love to share a few of my favorite photos from the Women’s March.

I appreciate your time in reading this and hope it at least sheds some light on the current mood in America.

Why I March

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Cruising at 32,000 feet currently, on my way to Washington D.C. for the Women’s March on Washington. Have a celebratory Angry Orchard in my hand and my laptop on my tray. This is my happy place.

So, why the heck am I marching? Why would I take precious PTO and travel one day after my birthday to exercise my first amendment rights?

Because it matters. Because I matter. Because you matter. 

Like many Americans, I was reeling after the election. Stunned. This wasn’t so much a partisan issue as it was about electing a man who has made fun of minorities, people with disabilities oh and hey, 50% of the world, you know, women. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Sure, I’ve leaned left most of my life, but I’ve supported and voted for Republicans. I wasn’t as torn up after George W won a second term. I still felt the country was in safe hands, even if I disagreed with many, many policies.

But now? Well now, I’m worried. We’re a tweet away from a war. Honestly, think about that. Let that sink in. An elected official is using 140 character to put all of our allies on the defense and in return, our lives in danger. Dramatic? Sure. Realistic? Sadly, yes.

I get so bummed out seeing apathetic friends who find it easier to say, “Let’s not get political…” than read about and understand the very issues that now affect them because they chose not to vote or on a basic level, form an opinion. They’re angry now, but where were they 4, 8, 12, 16 years ago? It doesn’t need to personally affect you to be concerning. That’s a privilege so many are unaware they have. It’s frustrating.

You know what’s helped? Knowing that millions of other people feel the same way and have united together to show that we matter, our lives matter, our votes matter and they must be represented by the people elected.

I felt moved enough to book a hotel the moment I heard that this “women’s march” may actually be happening. I texted several of my fierce friends, invited my husband and called my sister. Turns out, they were feeling the same way and soon enough, my hotel room was full.

My grandmother, whom I’ve written about, was a card- carrying Republican. Her husband, the love of her life, was a card carrying NRA member. I know they would be sick about who is representing the party they held so dear. So, I found her high school graduation ring, grabbed mine and put it on a necklace I plan to wear at the march.

This is the bottom line:

The more I travel, the more I realize at the bottom of my gut how much we are the same. We have common goals, common dreams, common hopes for our children; we have far more common ground than not.

Fear of differences will not win. I won’t let it, by making sure my voice is heard.

If you don’t agree with me, that’s okay. I encourage intelligent discourse. I fully acknowledge that our diversity in both ethnicities and opinions is what makes this country so wonderful. I don’t want to lose that.

Hell, I was vice-president in 8th grade and put together a petition to make sure our end of the school year dance lasted just as long as previous years. (It didn’t work.) I look back on that feisty 13-year-old and wonder if she’s kept quiet over the years to oblige the status quo.

Well, she’s back.

She knows that hate won’t make us great.

That’s why I march. 

 

How I Traveled To Cuba As An American

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With travel restrictions slowly being lifted, lots of Americans are interested in heading to the land of mojitos, cigars, music that gets your hips moving and beautiful, wonderful, amazingly strong coffee. Ah, Cuba. A forbidden country for so many years as Americans, it’s easy to see why there’s such an influx in tourists. I was just there two weeks ago and wouldn’t hesitate to head back again.

My current recommendation? Go now. First and foremost, we ran into plenty of Americans while in Cuba. In my experienced traveler opinion, this will only increase and with such a tourist increase, there’s bound to be some complications and drawbacks. Second, and perhaps most important, we were asked by more than one Cuban what will happen once Trump becomes president. All of us sadly shrugged our shoulders and shook our heads. The fact is, no one knows how much longer this will last and my inclination leans more towards the relationship declining between our two great countries. While you’re still able to — Go!

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

So, how does one travel to Cuba as an American. I’ve laid it all out below:

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

12 Categories of Travel

“Travel to Cuba for tourist activities remains prohibited by statute. However, the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued general licenses for 12 categories of travel.”  From The US Embassy in Cuba

These 12 broad categories are as such:

  • Visiting family
  • Humanitarian projects or to provide support to the Cuban people
  • Official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments and certain intergovernmental organizations
  • Journalistic activities
  • Professional research
  • Educational activities by persons at academic institutions
  • People-to-people travel
  • Religious activities
  • Public performance, clinics, workshops, athletic or other competitions and exhibitions
  • Authorization to provide travel services, carrier services and remittance forwarding services
  • Activities of private foundations, research or educational institutes
  • Exportation of certain Internet-based services

We chose the bolded category. Earlier in 2015, the U.S. government made a significant change to the rules around people-to-people educational travel. Before the change, Americans were required to be accompanied by a sponsoring organization subject to U.S. jurisdiction. If you looked into that, which of course I did, it was really expensive. Now, we can organize our trips as individuals, as long as we had a full schedule of educational activities planned – and we did.

We were fully prepared to show the excel spreadsheet of our daily itinerary, including tours and guide names, in case any one asked. (And they didn’t.)

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

Perhaps I could have tried to use the journalistic activity category because of this here blog, but ideally I didn’t want to push the validity of this site. But I have 600+ followers on Facebook, Cuban immigration officer.

The categories are broad and my assumption is this is meant to be more welcoming, but you still need to state the purpose of your trip. You simply can’t go only to lay on the beach and drink Cuba Libres all day. And honestly, why would you?  This country is full of absolutely wonderful things to discover and learn. It is up to you which category you feel you fall into, if any. Tourist travel to Cuba is still prohibited, so you will need to choose in order to get your Tourist Card.

Cuban Tourist Card

Most American-based airlines now fly to Cuba. While before, you’d need to fly to Mexico or the Bahamas first, now you can head straight to Cuba from your homeland. We flew from Miami, MIA, to Havana, HAV, on Delta Airlines. Even got upgraded.

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

Money shot.

You can get your Tourist Card at the airport before your flight. Once we got to the airport and since we weren’t checking bags, we asked an agent if we needed to get our Tourist Card prior to security or at our gate. She pointed us to a large table to fill out our form stating one of the 12 reasons why we were traveling.

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

Once filled out, even though we were checked-in online, we simply showed our Certification of Travel to Cuba paper to the agent, she checked our passports and then gave us a Tourist Card to fill out. “Don’t mess up,” she warned, “If you fill it out improperly, you’ll need to pay for a new one.”

THE PRESSURE!

How To Travel To Cuba As An American How To Travel To Cuba As An American

The Tourist Cards cost us $25 each.

Then we were off! We arrived in Cuba where they took the second half of the Tourist Card at immigration. I simply looked at the camera (wasn’t allowed to smile), was told I had beautiful eyes (duh) and then I heard that wonderful pound—BAM—as my passport was stamped. Next stop, Currency exchange.

Currency

As I’ve mentioned before, there are 2 types of currencies in Cuba: Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC) and the Cuban Peso (CUP). While this may seem confusing, it’s not, because as a tourist, you won’t be using the Cuban Peso (CUP). The CUP is designed for Cuban citizens and the CUC for tourists.

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

$1 USD = $1 CUC

While this is great, there’s an extra penalty for converting US dollars in Cuba. It’s a hefty one too – 10%. So it’s really more like $1 USD = .$90 CUC…probably closer to .$80 CUC once you add in the exchange fees.

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

Anywho, a great workaround is to bring Canadian dollars or Euros. There is not an extra penalty for those currencies. You can go to your bank prior to leaving and request it or, if you’re lucky like us, have one of your friends who is in Europe traveling bring back Euros and then pay her back.

Boo-yah.

 American credit cards will not work in Cuba. It’s essential that you have enough cash. Your budget is personal, but I would allocate at least $100/day per person. It may be excessive, but you don’t want to be left without any cash to get around an island that does not recognize your credit cards.

Accommodations

We stayed in an amazing AirBnb and if I were to go back to Cuba, we’d use AirBnb again. For one, you can pay with your US-based credit card prior to leaving and for two, you really get to experience the culture from a local perspective.

It’s hard for me to share this wonderful place since I don’t want it to be booked the next time we go, but Antonio was so wonderful, it would be a shame not to share the love: El Paseo Penthouse

How To Travel To Cuba As An American
Our lovely bedroom with A/C!
How To Travel To Cuba As An American
Where we had breakfast each morning.
How To Travel To Cuba As An American
The morning spread – delicious!

You can also stay in places called Casa Paticulares. These are privately owned Bed & Breakfast houses. We have heard that since they are private, not government owned, the accommodations are a bit better. Very often, you’ll get breakfast and interact with the owners.

Additionally, you can stay in government owned hotels or major non-American resort/hotel chains. The latter will cost you a bundle and, due to the infrastructure, you will not be getting the 5-star experience that comes in the price tag. US-based hotels are now making their way to the island, with a Starwood property just opening this past month.

Pre-planned Tours

While I will post in more detail about our tours, these are the 2 tours we took and I would highly recommend each. Don’t expect a good internet connection in Cuba, so you need to book these prior to arriving. Additionally, it’s important to have it all laid out if you choose the People-to-People travel category.

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

Cuba Tours with Jorge

How To Travel To Cuba As An American

Havana Tour Company

Again, I highly recommend traveling to Cuba. It’s left a footprint on my heart that is hard to describe. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them my way below!

Long Distance Marriage: 6-Month Check-In

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Hard to believe a little over 6 months ago was one of the saddest days of my life. The one that consisted of waving goodbye to the hubster, quietly shutting the front door, silently sitting in my now emptier living room and crying, while simultaneously stuffing my face with any food within 10 feet of me.

Thus began our long distance journey together.

When we found out in that bittersweet moment on Match Day that the hubster would be doing his ER residency in Michigan, we knew we needed to set up a game plan. That plan was to see each other at least once a month and at the end of 6 months, we’d do a check in to see how we’re feeling about the 1500 miles between us.

So on a warm evening last week, while the hubster was in town, we took a walk around our golf course and discussed how we’re feeling. Now, I won’t go into the nitty gritty because hey, some thing are private, but all-in-all, we’re doing well.

Even if we lived together, we’d rarely see each other. This always seems to blow some people’s minds, but for me at least, it’s reassuring. We both work long hours, sometimes on opposite schedules. That 10-15 minute phone conversation I have with him on my way home? It would be the same if we lived together.

We actually visit each other more than we thought. An unexpected injury, hurricane and days off in a row meant we saw each other once every 3 weeks usually.

Durring Hurricane Matthew.

 

Accept how tired he is. The hubster point-blank has always needed more sleep than me. With 12-14 hour shifts, up to 11 days in a row, when we did talk, the conversations were dull or he actually fell asleep. I mean, I know I’m not that boring… The times we did see each other, he often fell asleep on the couch or in bed while I was working. I try my best to understand. (This past Friday though, when my job let me work remotely so we could be together and he fell asleep on the couch…nuh-uh….mama wasn’t having it. GET UP!)

Have something planned on the horizon. We try to have our next time together planned prior to the current one ending. We have a trip to Cancun coming up (!!!), plus another vacation to plan maybe when he has time off in June. It makes the time go by faster.

Know there will be bad months. December was pretty awful. He was in the ICU and I think both of us underestimated how grueling it would be. Add in that I was tying up loose ends working long hours on holiday campaigns, getting holiday shit gifts together for relatives, and trying to plan a trip to a third world country and, you know, basically it was a giant disaster. We both made assumptions, both were in bad moods (him more so than me, of course. *adjust halo*) and both ended up agreeing that if we knew we were going to be rushed or in a bad mood, to call and catch up another (better) time.

Please know we didn’t come to that conclusion in as pretty of a fashion as it sounded. It was more like, “Mmmmkay, how ’bout I talk to you when you’re human again? kthanxbye.”

The time we do spend together is better spent. We both talked about how actually making time in our calendars to see each other for days at a time, is quality time. Sometimes it’s sitting on the couch watching a movie, but I know the time is limited so I appreciate it more, I guess.

Traveling connects us. Every time I travel with the hubster, I’m reminded why I love that man so darn much.

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them, than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

I’m oddly sentimental about things that used to annoy me. I went into the master bathroom this morning and the toilet seat was up. Awwww, the hubster was here. He left me a pile o’ laundry that smells like him and, you know what, I’m okay with it.

Our summer home is now where I live. He leaves all his shorts and golf gear here until about Mid-May when the snowbirds head back up north for the summer. I also usually get a text before he comes to take a picture of what’s in the closet to she doesn’t overpack. Ha.

Goodbyes aren’t getting easier. Sure, I’m adjusting to the time away from each other, but saying goodbye sucks. Pit of your stomach, want to roll over and go back to sleep sucks. I hear that won’t change. Weeeeee.

 

So that’s it from the home front. Looks like we’re in for another 6 months of long distance love. Buckle up!