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One of its appeals is no septics. If they are then allowed to travel we'll be elsewhere.

 

The down side is there are a lot of Canadians. I was very surprised by how fat they were and in the resort we stayed in rather than using the the glasses that the hotel provided many of the fat, greedy slobs had their own, larger glasses. The ones that weren't grotesquely obese ranged from mildly irritating to an absolute pain the arse, bragging about their cigar rooms at home, what amazing snorkels they were, we went of a snorkelling trip and this helmet went off on his own and claimed he saw a load of barracuda, funnily enough no one else saw them.

I was most surprised as up until then I had though Canadians were by and large okay, but have to say there was little difference to yanks.

 

As for Cuba it is a fantastic place, the food is superb and the rum out of this world. we stayed in Cayo Guillermo, which was beautiful. However it was also a good 8 hour drive from Havana which will mean a two day trip if you want to visit so you'll be better off staying in varradero if you're intending on going there.

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Turks,

The down side is there are a lot of Canadians. I was very surprised by how fat they were and in the resort we stayed in rather than using the the glasses that the hotel provided many of the fat, greedy slobs had their own, larger glasses. The ones that weren't grotesquely obese ranged from mildly irritating to an absolute pain the arse, bragging about their cigar rooms at home, what amazing snorkels they were, we went of a snorkelling trip and this helmet went off on his own and claimed he saw a load of barracuda, funnily enough no one else saw them.

I was most surprised as up until then I had though Canadians were by and large okay, but have to say there was little difference to yanks.

 

As for Cuba it is a fantastic place, the food is superb and the rum out of this world. we stayed in Cayo Guillermo, which was beautiful. However it was also a good 8 hour drive from Havana which will mean a two day trip if you want to visit so you'll be better off staying in varradero if you're intending on going there.

 

Turks, you need to make your way to the What is wrong with America? thread.

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Cuba is excellent. Make sure you spend some time in Havana, as it's so different from Veredero. Have to agree with Turks though, the Canadians are absolute cocks. Had a very similar experience at the hotel I stayed at.

 

Anyway, as mentioned they might be the least of your troubles - as the place is soon to be flooded with yanks!

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October is during hurricane season in the Caribbean......

 

Getting towards the end of it but you only need one. This is expected to be a quiet year with only one major hurricane but again, you only need one. We were on Bermuda five years ago in mid September and all went well until the big storm that I was keeping my eye on turned into a hurricane and swung straight towards us. We got out a couple of days early on the last plane out. They had been boarding everything up for a few days. It was strange seeing a storm develop so slowly. In the UK a storm blows through quickly but this took a week to build up with the the seas getting steadily bigger until the beach disappeared as the storm slowly crept nearer at 7 mph.

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The down side is there are a lot of Canadians. I was very surprised by how fat they were and in the resort we stayed in rather than using the the glasses that the hotel provided many of the fat, greedy slobs had their own, larger glasses. The ones that weren't grotesquely obese ranged from mildly irritating to an absolute pain the arse, bragging about their cigar rooms at home, what amazing snorkels they were, we went of a snorkelling trip and this helmet went off on his own and claimed he saw a load of barracuda, funnily enough no one else saw them.

I was most surprised as up until then I had though Canadians were by and large okay, but have to say there was little difference to yanks.

 

As for Cuba it is a fantastic place, the food is superb and the rum out of this world. we stayed in Cayo Guillermo, which was beautiful. However it was also a good 8 hour drive from Havana which will mean a two day trip if you want to visit so you'll be better off staying in varradero if you're intending on going there.

 

OK, I'll take the bait on this one.

 

Point One: Obesity. If you check the figures (excuse the pun) - I'm using a 2007 WHO study - Canada sits 35th (61.1%) in the percentage of its population that are overweight (a BMI index number above 30). But the U.K. numbers are worse: 63.8%, putting it 28th in the list. Increases in the number of overweight and obese is a world-wide phenomenon - it's up 8% world-wide between 1980 and 2013. That 2007 study found U.K. residents were the third-most overweight people in Europe (only the rates in Iceland and Malta were higher).

 

Point two: Obnoxiousness quotient. Your observations about Canadians, of course, were a gross (excuse another pun) generalization. I've traveled a lot over the years and noticed how different nationalities tend to behave when they're overseas as tourists. My observation (again a generalization) is this: Canadians tend to mix more with other tourists; they accommodate themselves more to local food and customs; they are not as loud and assertive as Yanks and Brits; and they are polite. Brits, on the other hand, tend to be more ethnocentric - they want to get food and drink they are familiar with; Brits are more likely to drink to excess than Canadians; Brits can be more bossy and self-assertive.

 

And if you think that there is little difference between Canadians and Americans, you really haven't been paying attention! This year I was holidaying mid-winter in Mexico. The resort contained a majority of Americans. Previous years (4) I have been in Cuba - where the holidaymakers are primarily Canadian. The differences in behaviour are very noticeable. As a "mid-Atlantic" ex-pat, I am sensitive to these (often-subtle) differences.

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OK, I'll take the bait on this one.

 

Point One: Obesity. If you check the figures (excuse the pun) - I'm using a 2007 WHO study - Canada sits 35th (61.1%) in the percentage of its population that are overweight (a BMI index number above 30). But the U.K. numbers are worse: 63.8%, putting it 28th in the list. Increases in the number of overweight and obese is a world-wide phenomenon - it's up 8% world-wide between 1980 and 2013. That 2007 study found U.K. residents were the third-most overweight people in Europe (only the rates in Iceland and Malta were higher).

 

Point two: Obnoxiousness quotient. Your observations about Canadians, of course, were a gross (excuse another pun) generalization. I've traveled a lot over the years and noticed how different nationalities tend to behave when they're overseas as tourists. My observation (again a generalization) is this: Canadians tend to mix more with other tourists; they accommodate themselves more to local food and customs; they are not as loud and assertive as Yanks and Brits; and they are polite. Brits, on the other hand, tend to be more ethnocentric - they want to get food and drink they are familiar with; Brits are more likely to drink to excess than Canadians; Brits can be more bossy and self-assertive.

 

And if you think that there is little difference between Canadians and Americans, you really haven't been paying attention! This year I was holidaying mid-winter in Mexico. The resort contained a majority of Americans. Previous years (4) I have been in Cuba - where the holidaymakers are primarily Canadian. The differences in behaviour are very noticeable. As a "mid-Atlantic" ex-pat, I am sensitive to these (often-subtle) differences.

 

So you know why pal, I forgot to check the international obesity league table when I was in Cuba surround by fat, arrogant Canadians who when they weren't eating or boasting were sitting at the poolside bar drinking lager from their own litre sized jugs. 'Big guy, big jug' as one of the m proudly bragged to me. Thanks for checking though and I'm now rest assured that all Canadians are complete crumpets. As for your second point, trying to disprove a bit of a generalisation with another generalisation? Excellent work :lol:

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So you know why pal, I forgot to check the international obesity league table when I was in Cuba surround by fat, arrogant Canadians who when they weren't eating or boasting were sitting at the poolside bar drinking lager from their own litre sized jugs. 'Big guy, big jug' as one of the m proudly bragged to me. Thanks for checking though and I'm now rest assured that all Canadians are complete crumpets. As for your second point, trying to disprove a bit of a generalisation with another generalisation? Excellent work :lol:

 

I said it was a generalization myself - or didn't you absorb that point. I was just returning the favour, because you want to characterize all Canadians as "big guy, big jug" people.

 

"All Canadians are complete crumpets"? Nice alliteration there, but just another example of the simplicity of your ideas, and the crudity of your argumentative style.

 

By the way, I am not your pal. Why would a pal of mine think that hurling insults is a rational tactic?

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I said it was a generalization myself - or didn't you absorb that point. I was just returning the favour, because you want to characterize all Canadians as "big guy, big jug" people.

 

"All Canadians are complete crumpets"? Nice alliteration there, but just another example of the simplicity of your ideas, and the crudity of your argumentative style.

 

By the way, I am not your pal. Why would a pal of mine think that hurling insults is a rational tactic?

 

Jesus Christ. I've never seen someone get so upset about someone saying they saw a few fat people on their holidays :lol::lol::lol:

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So you know why pal, I forgot to check the international obesity league table when I was in Cuba surround by fat, arrogant Canadians who when they weren't eating or boasting were sitting at the poolside bar drinking lager from their own litre sized jugs. 'Big guy, big jug' as one of the m proudly bragged to me. Thanks for checking though and I'm now rest assured that all Canadians are complete crumpets. As for your second point, trying to disprove a bit of a generalisation with another generalisation? Excellent work :lol:

 

Hey don't hold back ..........oh BTW where did your name Turk come from?? you from Gosport ?? aka turktown

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I've been to Cuba in October a couple of years ago, check out The Holiday Place who specialise in it, we got an excellent deal through them for 3 nights in Havana followed by a week in Varedero staying in Iberostar hotels in both, excellent accommodation.

We did a 2 day excursion from Varedero down to Trinidad and back visiting some cities and a walk in forest with incredible scenery / waterfalls, well worth it to see some of the real Cuba.

varedero had a lot of Canadians who reminded me of Americans, one bloke kept trying to talk to us about soccer and even after telling him several times I was a Saints fan he kept shouting across the pool "hey Sheffield Wednesday fans" , they were louder than expected.

Amazing beach, Havana brilliant, Cubans great people. I'd recommend it before it changes too much.

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I'm open to suggestions of alternatives to Cuba. It's simply a week away with no kids for some sunshine & downtime at October 1/2 term.

 

Riviera Maya, Mexico was really good. Decent value too for trans-Atlantic. Further South the better as its further from Cancun. Tulum and Playa del Carmen were great. Beautiful beaches, good food and drink. I'd go back.

 

There were a fair few Canadians, but mainly French ones. There were lots of cases of them topping up their personal beer coolers at the bar rather than having it out of a glass like everyone else, but we didn't let it bother us.

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