I just spent a completely legal week in Cuba, split between Havana and Viñales. An American in Cuba in 2015 is a six part series on the trip. This post will focus on things I wish I’d known about lodging and transportation in Cuba before going

Full Series

Entry, Exit, and Legal Requirements
How to Book Flights or Ferries into or Out of Cuba
Internet, Money, Food, Nightlife
Transportation and Lodging (this post)
Trip Report: Viñales
Trip Report: Havana (coming soon)

Transportation
I got around with taxis, shared taxis, buses, a scooter, and my own two feet.

Updated June 6, 2015: 3/5 accomplished, a fourth I've booked for this month. North Korea is still tantalizing.

I've passed the 55 country mark this year, but there's still so much more of the world I want to see.

The Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card offers two free weekend nights (Fri, Sat, Sun) at almost any Hilton worldwide after spending $2,500 in the first four months.

"Almost any Hilton" basically excludes only all inclusive properties and time shares. This is the full list of excluded properties:

You’ll note that the “Conrad Koh Samui Residences” is excluded.

Last month, I helped my friend book a bread-and-butter United award to Europe. She flew from Newark to Rome to spend a few days, continued to Madrid for a few days, then returned home to Newark. All of it was booked as one award for 60,000 United miles + $110 in taxes.

I had helped her book one of the three highest value United awards to Europe, the "Stopover (Complete Two City)" award.

Last month, I helped my friend book a bread-and-butter United award to Europe. She flew from Newark to Rome to spend a few days, continued to Madrid for a few days, then returned home to Newark. All of it was booked as one award for 60,000 United miles + $110 in taxes.

I had helped her book one of the three highest value United awards to Europe, the "Stopover (Complete Two City)" award.

Updated June 4: Hilton has moved up its free wifi to today from its originally announced date of August 1.

Hilton, Hyatt, SPG, Marriott, IHG, and Fairmont all offer free internet in their hotels worldwide if you meet certain easy conditions. Finally the great hotels of the world are catching up with a standard benefit of hostels for the last decade.

Yesterday, I looked at How to Fly Singapore First Class and Suites Class from the United States to Europe or Asia. Today, I will look at the actual award space for 1-3 people in Suites Class.

I tweeted this deal first from @MileValueAlerts. Follow @MileValueAlerts on Twitterand follow these directions to get a text message every time I tweet from that account. I tweet from @MileValueAlerts only a few times a month because it is designed to be used only for the best and most limited-time deals–like mistake fares–so that you aren’t bombarded by text messages.

Travel from Fort Lauderdale to Cartagena, Colombia (on the Caribbean coast) for $198 roundtrip this Fall.

Southwest is offering $49, $99, $129, and $149 one way fares if you book by tomorrow (June 4) and fly between August 25 and December 16. Fridays, Sundays, September 3-5, September 7, and November 20 - December 1, 2015 are blacked out.

For other restrictions and all the city pairs, see the sale page. Here are the $49 fares from Baltimore:

There are even a few sale prices under $49.

If you prefer to fly with another carrier, check to see if they are matching the sale.

Updated June 3: The Asiana miles showed up today, meaning the transfer took 14 days. My last transfer in September 2014 took 17 days. In the interim, I've decided not to book Lufthansa First Class from Europe to the United States in June, but the Asiana award chart is so good that I don't mind have 60,000 points on hand. That's almost enough for Business Class one way USA to Argentina (35k) + First Class USA to Hawaii (27.5k).

You can book Lufthansa First Class for 50,000 Asiana Club miles--40,000 Starpoints--one way.