Our Journey Begins

Kevin and Adam jammin'

Resting up.

Our trip begins at 10:30 pm in the parking lot of St. Paul's by the Sea Episcopal Church in Jacksonville Beach. There are 13 in our group, 5 adults and 8 youth. The youth are Kevin Todd, Mary Giles Morgan, Carl Schifanella, Zac Kendrick, Devon Jones, Paul Cuffe, Jordan Rodak and Adam Coston. Adults are Mike Coston, Tom & Betsy Schifanella, Anne Wiggins and James Kendrick. 

Mike, James and I will be traveling in style in Mike's huge SUV and the rest of our group in a 16 passenger rental van driven by Anne. The plan is to drive all night and arrive at the airport early the next morning for a 9 am flight to Havana Cuba then a two hour bus ride to a youth camp in Cardenas. The purpose of trip is to meet the youth of our sister church in Cienfuegos, make new friends and bring needed supplies for the congregation there. More importantly, this trip is an opportunity for our youth to experience another culture and learn the true meaning of God's gifts.

Traffic is light and we make good time on interstate 95. A couple of stops for gas and we arrive bleary eyed at the Miami International Airport around 3:30 am. MIA is already alive with activity and our group finds a spot near the TACA check-in counter. We are going to be met by Magaly our travel agent who will bring us the necessary visa documents so that we can enter Cuba legally. At 6 am, Magaly arrives with our paperwork and we begin the lengthy check-in process. We have a ton of bags and supplies to check, including two used surfboards that were donated by a local surf shop. We are not the only passengers with unique cargo. I spy a woman checking 4 tires and another passenger shrink wrapping a bicycle! In fact, many people wrap their bags in plastic for extra security so we look like refugees fleeing some third world disaster. We get all of our bags checked without any problems and quickly depart for our gate.

Checking any tires on the flight today?

What would we do without Anne?

Our first glimpse of Cuba!