Getting a license to travel to Cuba – restrictions lifted

I had been waiting for this ever since seeing the spectacular (but fake) representations of Cuba in its golden years in the movie Original Sin with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie. And with the election of Obama, the restriction to travel to Cuba was one of the things I thought he would relax, which he finally did last week.

Under certain licenses detailed on the U.S. government’s website – professional, religious, and academic – American citizens can travel to Cuba. Apparently, with certain visas they have to remain within Havana, and they have to obtain non-U.S. medical insurance which can be purchased upon entry.

Alas, I have no academic or professional reasons to go, so I am stuck looking from the outside, but this is one step further to some day being able to see this once-paradise famed for its hospitality.