Start Making Sense is going to Cuba.
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Old City Havana
Start Making Sense
Old City Walls
Havana Skyline
The cars
the food
Reserve your space. No money due now.
Notice:
Scheduled meetings and other planned interactions are subject to the availability of the professionals we seek to collaborate with, as well as allowances made by the Cuban government to grant visits to visitors. Where permission from the Cuban government is required, adjustments may need to be made. We arecommitted to featuring replacement program activities that will retain the content and quality of this cultural experience. Included:
*daily itinerary subject to change* |
April 25 - 29, 2018
An educational/cultural/performance/ people-to- people exchange trip to Cuba. Discover the magic of Cuba. “The full history of Cuban music is filled with some of the most beautiful compositions and rhythms, which, due to its strength, has influenced music around the globe. Getting closer to that place may give us all a better understanding of the Talking Heads’ music, the music that inspired it, and music in general,” says Start Making Sense front-man Jonathan Braun. $2575 includes round trip airfare from Philadelphia to Havana, four nights in the Hotel Four Points by Sheraton, breakfast daily, Two Start Making Sense Concert Events, all group activity transportation, travel visa fees, a pre-departure meeting before we go and all the activities listed in the itinerary below. This is a fully guided people to people cultural exchange tour with English speaking guides and air conditioned transportation. All rates are per person double occupancy and include airfare. There is a $364 single supplement charge for solo travelers. Reserve your space. No money due now.
We go for the music...
The trip will feature two live performances by Start Making Sense in Havana, as well as a tour of the historic city and local museums. This is a chance for fans to fully immerse themselves in the Afro-Cuban music and culture that influenced a large portion of Talking Heads’ eclectic sound. More than just a trip abroad, Braun says it is a cultural journey -- a journey that took eight months of work to arrange and one in which the band hopes to connect with fans and the Cuban people on a deeper level. “We all know that music is a universal language; let’s be part of a larger conversation,” he said. In addition to their performances in Havana, Start Making Sense will be adding philanthropic elements to the trip. The band will be donating drum sticks, guitar strings, colored pencils, pens and other items and encourage fans who travel with them to do the same. “We have seen the happiness and joy that Start Making Sense shows have brought to people across the United States,” Braun says. “We plan on bringing that contagious joy with us and sharing it with the Cuban people.” Reserve your space. No money due now.
Interplanner
Tour logistics and travel services are being provided by International Planning Services, Inc. d/b/a INTERPLANNER. Porterra Travel will work closely with you and Interplanner to ensure everything goes smoothly. Visas Visas will be obtained by Interplanner on your behalf and are included in the tour price. Participants are required to provide a clear photocopy of their valid passport, to be collected by Porterra Travel. Reserve your space. No money due now.
Itinerary
April 25, 2018. Wednesday Day 1 American Airways flight 1744 departs Philadelphia 5:15 AM and arrives in Havana at 11:15 AM after a brief layover in Charlotte. Transfer to our hotel, check in and settle into your rooms before meeting in the hotel conference center for your welcome briefing. Your delegation leader will have some time to address the delegation and facilitate group introductions. Later, enjoy a welcome dinner at La Concordia Paladar. This paladar is known as one of Havana’s best. Start Making Sense evening concert at Casa de la Musica - EGRM April 26, 2018. Thursday Day 2 Breakfast will be provided daily during your stay in Cuba. This morning the delegation will have a welcome orientation to Cuba on behalf of the staff at the Cuban Institute of Friendship with People in conjunction with our local team at the Casa de la Amistad. This mandatory meeting focuses on Cuban/U.S. relations, and is a required component of all US visits to Cuba. Continue your explorations of Havana during a walking tour of the historic center of Old Havana, a village founded in 1519 and declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1982. You will have the chance to walk throughout the area and see the restoration of the colonial core of the city. The area is undergoing a massive restoration funded by tourism, preserving colonial architecture and renovating housing and services for neighborhood residents. Visit restaurants and eateries, hotels and inns, and artists’ studios in Old Havana. We encourage you to stop and interact with the locals involved in these ventures to see what residents experience when centuries-old buildings are renovated. Lunch at El Bodegon de las Brisas Paladar, a place related to the life of the famous writer and to Gregorio Fuentes, the captain of his fishing boat. Continue on visit to the Hemingway Museum located in the Finca Vigia, former residence of the American writer located in the San Francisco de Paula neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. We will tour along the beltway of the city reaching Cojimar, a fisherman’s village where Hemingway docked his fishing boat “El Pilar”, a source of inspiration for this famous novel “The Old Man and the Sea” Evening entertainment at Havana’s Jazz Café. April 27, 2018. Friday Day 3 After breakfast depart for a visit to the city of Regla. Visit the church of Nuestra Señora de Regla, one of Cuba’s most frequented pilgrimage churches. The most impressive is the statute of the Virgin of Regla who is black and cradles a white infant in her arms. She is the patron and protector of sailors. She is considered the equivalent of Yemaya, the goddess of the sea in the Yoruba religion. Visit the Municipal Museum of Regla. There will be a ritual dance of Santeria, the religion brought to Cuba by African slaves. Lunch will be provided at Artechef Restaurant & Culinary School Afternoon visit to the Artechef Restaurant & Culinary School in Vedado, which is a combination culinary school and restaurant. The chef/instructor will demonstrated the proper preparation of a typical Cuban dish which you will be able to sample; so simple, but so good. Learn how to make the real “Cuban Mojitos”. Then to the Fuster Project in Jaimanitas, a small coastal neighborhood west if Havana, led by famous Cuban painter and ceramist Jose Fuster. April 28, 2018. Saturday Day 4 This morning we'll attend a rehearsal of the MalPaso Dance Company. Founded in 2013 under the artistic direction of Osnel Delgado, MalPaso Dance Company expresses the passion and uncertainties that define Cuban life and are embodied in the country’s rich dance tradition. Afterwards we'll have some "Time for Q & A with the company members”. Stop at the Centro Cultural Antiguos Almacenes (local market) to visit and talk with private sector owners of more than 300 different booths selling art, handicrafts, clothing, and a variety of Cuban products. Lunch at La Casa Paladar. This evening farewell reception at the Santa Isabel Hotel terrace in Old Havana. The stilt walkers dance group will entertain you as you follow them dancing in the streets to your farewell dinner. Share your memories of Cuba with other delegates at a farewell dinner at Café Del Oriente Restaurant in the historic center. Evening concert by Start Making Sense at El Delirio Habanero. April 29, 2018. Sunday Day 5 Prepare your luggage for check out. Please settle all incidental expenses incurred during your stay. Delegates will transfer to the airport for their flights home. Departure is scheduled this morning on American Airlines. American #802 – Havana-Charlotte – 12:15pm-2:50pm American #196 – Charlotte-Philadelphia – 6:00pm-7:37pm Reserve your space. No money due now.
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