I’m not going to get into the argument about whether the U.S. embargo of Cuba is right. Instead, I’ll abbreviate the complex reality: U.S. citizens may travel to Cuba legally only under certain conditions. At the moment, those requirements are less stringent than they once were, but are still impractical for the vast majority of Americans. However, it has become all but impossible to overlook a peculiar phenomenon: There are an awful lot of travel guides out about Cuba, and they’re on the shelves of local bookstores now.
The travel guides below are all from highly respected travel publishers; and each book remains true, in personality, quality and presentation of content, to other titles in its respective series. What we’re interested in here is how carefully they address American travelers.
“Havana Handbook”
(Moon Travel Handbooks, $16.95)
This title devotes the most space–5 1/2 of its 368 pages–and does the most thorough job of explaining the legal means by which an “individual subject to United States law” may travel to Cuba, even going so far as to define such an individual. Among its considerable listings of Web sites and contact numbers are ones that provide American travelers with the most current information, a vital inclusion considering that travel books in general are researched months before they hit the market and that American travel to Cuba in particular appears to be in flux. An inset also highlights U.S.-based organizations rich in background information. All of the books reviewed here mention sites pertinent to Ernest Hemingway. But Moon’s first-edition “Havana Handbook” stands out by treating Hemingway in a way that perhaps only we Americans can understand: as a psychological tourist attraction worth a trip on its own. The other books below divide attractions geographically and mention Hemingway only in the minutiae of describing places connected to him. But the “Havana Handbook” gives Hemingway his own space as a Special Topic–and in another inset shares the daiquiri recipe for the “Papa Special.” (ISBN 1-56691-182-6)
“Cuba”
(Fodor’s, $18)
The Fodor’s series is written with mainstream Americans in mind, and this title is no different. The book’s “Gold Guide,” those amber-colored pages at the front, does a good job of explaining the complicated conditions under which Americans may legally travel to Cuba with the required license–and only lightly touches on the means by which some Americans enter Cuba illegally, hitting more heavily on the potential consequences thereof. Like the other books here, it reviews, without a trace of irony, the Cuban practice of accepting cash payments in U.S. dollars, and in fact lists all prices for hotels, meals and admissions in our own currency. And like all of the other books here, it also explains that Cuban businesses cannot take credit cards or travelers checks issued from U.S. banks. First edition, 199 pages.(ISBN 0-679-00455-6)
“The Rough Guide to Cuba”
(Rough Guides/Penguin, $17.95)
This British publisher doesn’t dwell on the particulars involved in Americans obtaining a license to travel to Cuba; it simply directs us to the proper authorities with the admonition that we must take matters from there. Neither does this book detail the ways by which some Americans find their way to Cuba without the license. It does, however, reveal what may be interpreted either as bias or British humor. After explaining the history of the embargo and the changing restrictions it has undergone, it finds that “. . . it is more than a good idea for American citizens to get their hands on the most up-to-date information about the embargo and its enforcement before deciding to ignore it.” First edition, 514 pages.(ISBN 1-85828-520-8)
“Neos Guide: Cuba”
(Michelin, $22 from Amazon.com)
Americans? In Cuba? Not in this book! It’s geared for British and Canadian travelers, as evidenced by the Cuban contact offices listed for obtaining more information: in Toronto, Montreal and London. Other than giving prices in U.S. dollars and offering in-depth advice about how to use U.S. dollars in Cuba–and mentioning the problems associated with credit cards and travelers checks issued from American banks–the book recognizes American travelers only insofar as it gives the Cuban address and phone number for the United States Interest Section (the very office that the Lonely Planet book below warns illegal American travelers to avoid). For those unfamiliar with this new series, the Neos Guides are the ecologically aware, culturally compassionate, “We Are the World” spin-off of the French travel-guide behemoth Michelin. The Cuba title’s 330 slick pages feature judiciously spaced maps, sketches and photos, all in color, and lead you through the text with abundant use of bold-face type. It communicates as if it’s written by insiders, and its satin-finish cover feels good in the hands. Still, it’s hard to completely trust a book that doesn’t print its price on the cover. English edition.(ISBN 2-06-855201-9)
“Cuba”
(Lonely Planet, $19.99)
As usual, Lonely Planet takes no prisoners. At the top of this title’s 10 Worst attractions for Cuba is the American Naval Base at Guantanamo: “The U.S. government continues to squander countless millions of American tax dollars,” the book says, “on this humiliating relic of early-20th Century imperialism.” This volume from the renowned Australia-headquartered publisher devotes 2 of its 525 pages to the situation of U.S. citizens who wish to travel to Cuba; and much of those two pages dwells on how Americans can beat the system. Conversely, Lonely Planet takes no responsibility, as in: “The author and publisher of this guide accept no responsibility for repercussions suffered by U.S. citizens who decide to circumvent” the restrictions on travel to Cuba. Second edition. (ISBN 0-86442-750-6)
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Contact Resourceful Traveler in care of Toni Stroud at tstroud@tribune.com.
