As part of my work I deal with people from all over the world. This morning I found myself out at reception, meeting a lady from Cuba and my instinct was to cheerfully reply I would be visiting her country this Summer and was excitedly counting down the days to travelling there. I caught myself short however as part of the paper work she was presenting to me was a letter from the Department of Justice granting her refugee status. To date I had only ever seen these from individuals from African states. Similarly I know of the rigours of the asylum application system here in Ireland and know that this lady would not have easily been issued with this letter. Knowing this and reading of such stories of how Cuban citizens can only recently enjoy legal use of mobile phones and electronic communication, has rapidly lifted the romanticised view I have had of Cuba but made me all the more excited to see this country and get a perception of the attitudes of its people and how they thrive. Only a week in Bangkok, Thailand in 2006 woke me up to the differences between being a willing traveller and being confident you can adapt to any environment to one where you are faced with the realities of such a culture shock. I look forward to tieing together all my thoughts on Cuba on the blog later in the summer.