Is It Always Fun to Travel Abroad?

About The Author

Antonio Evaristo Morales-Pita, PhD is a retired professor of International Political Economy at DePaul University in Chicago, who had taught for fifty-four years in Cuban, Mexican, and American universities. He has been recipient of eight international awards as a professor, and a scholar in the three aforementioned countries.

He has published nine books, six of them as a scholar in mathematics, economics, research and environment in Cuba and Mexico, and the remaining two as non-fiction, epic, and historical biographies in the United States. He is a polyglot traveler of the world.

Dedication

In memory of my mother, Siria Pita, who has been my inspiration as a tenacious person.

In memory of my second wife, Gladys, to whom I would be eternally grateful for dedicating part of her life to transform me into a better human being.

To my children, Rosita and Tonito, whom I love and admire for making me feel realized as a father.

To the United States of America, thanks to which I became a free man after turning 55 years old, and an American citizen shortly before turning 63 years young.

Copyright Information ©

Antonio Evaristo Morales-Pita, PhD 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Morales-Pita, PhD, Antonio Evaristo

Is It Always Fun to Travel Abroad?

ISBN 9781649798855 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781649798862 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021918388

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2021

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[email protected]

+1 (646) 5125767

Acknowledgment

Dr. Miles Harvey, who is my inspiration in pursuing the objective of publishing a book with a serious and prestigious publishing company.

Introduction

Has the reader ever had the need, the curiosity, or a burning desire to travel abroad? When you go to the movies and the film takes place in famous cities like London, Paris, Madrid, Moscow, or places like the Trevi Fountain, the Sistine Chapel, the Capital of Australia, La Tour Eiffel, would you wonder about the possibility of your being right there? But then imagine that you happened to be living in Mexico City for a week, and while living in the United States, by watching news, just by chance you see a group of people singing at the Basilica de Guadalupe. Don’t you feel the joy of having been there? Do you remember the first time that you boarded a plane? Didn’t you feel afraid that something might happen to you while in the plane? And what about the landing of the plane, or the moment that the steward announced turbulence and you felt as if you were going down with the plane?

To travel abroad may be possible, likely, or even impossible for certain individuals going through a variety of situations. For example, nowadays it is very hard to travel for Cubans who live in Cuba because of political, financial, and family-like limitations. Before the revolution of 1959, it was relatively easy for Cubans to save one hundred dollars and travel to Mexico, or to Miami; especially if they had relatives living in those countries.

Generally speaking, the ease or difficulty of traveling abroad is strongly related to the motivation to leave the country, and the source of financing the trip. For example, some outstanding college students may receive the opportunity of studying in a foreign university, under special financial circumstances. In my personal case, I studied for one year a master’s degree in Scotland, which was financed by the United Nations. During my time as faculty at DePaul University, I met students who had traveled to Europe, after having saved over a period of several years, as tourists.

The travelers may run into many difficulties, such as:

To be in love and requiring to travel with the most important another, but one of the two members of the couple faces a difficult situation with his/her family.

Some people may dislike, or be afraid of, traveling by air.

Some persons require to fly with somebody else, not alone.

To travel abroad may become an adventure, a tragedy, a pleasure, a need, a nightmare.

The author assumes that the readers of this book will basically be individuals who enjoy traveling abroad maybe by car, plane, boat, or a train.

I was born in Cuba almost two decades before the revolution led by Fidel Castro. I always loved to learn foreign languages, especially English, which was necessary for individuals aspiring to have better jobs in Havana. For example, a stenographer would make by far more money if he/she knew how to take shorthand in Spanish and English. My first job, when I was 16 years old, was as a bilingual secretary to the general manager of El Mundo newspaper. I was studying in high school in the evening and working forty-four hours per week with a salary of $110.00

The first time that I took a plane was going from Havana to Holguin to apply for a job, whose salary was $200. I couldn’t get it, but I could survive with my job at El Mundo newspaper.

Since completing junior high school at Havana Business Academy when I was fourteen years old, I always loved to travel to the United States. I was lucky enough to have a talent inherited from my mother, that is to say, tenacity to pursue and to materialize my dreams. Yes, this was one of the reasons to study English. It was hard for my family to pay my tuition at the Academy, and I needed to justify the money that my father had spent on my studies. So, I studied every day, I spoke English whenever possible; even when my schoolmates criticized me for speaking in English when I was not in class. In Cuba, there was not any TV program in English, so I had to go to the movies to learn new words and to train my ear. I tried to speak with tourists in order to practice my English. My daily studies included learning ten new words directly from the dictionary. So, my vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds. With a very low level of English before entering in the Havana Business Academy, I could enter in the sixth grade because I guessed the multiple-choice vocabulary quizzes. I had such a strong vocation for the language that when I found a new word for me, I looked at it for some minutes and could guess the right meaning. During my first month, I was ignorant of most of the conversations in class, but I studied, and studied very hard. Every Friday, I visited one of my friends who had a library at his home and never read from it. I learned a lot of new words by reading and writing down new words. At the beginning of the second month, I had already overcome the largest difficulties and could speak like the rest of the group.

In the month of December, I was surprised by a special exam common to the grades from the second to the ninth. Since I had studied so much in advance, I attempted one of the best exams and could go from the sixth to the ninth. I started the ninth, and then passed to the tenth, which dealt with American writers. After going from the sixth to the tenth grade in one year, I finished high school in English, and enrolled to the eleventh and twelfth grades at the Havana Business University.

Have the readers encountered a similar situation in their lives in which they achieved objectives that they thought to be almost impossible? If you have, I am sure you will agree with me that the extra effort that you did helped you to improve as a student, as a worker, as a family member, and as a human being. Something I have found in the multiple battles I have had to fight; my enemies became my friends because their opposition had made me grow. Before narrating an interesting experience as a traveler, I would like to ask the readers: How did you feel when you overcame the obstacle? Did you have more confidence in yourself? Were you willing to face the following obstacle? If, as I hope, your answers are a YES, I invite you to continue reading a special battle I had when I was studying economic geography at the Havana Business University.

The reader should be ready to be surprised, and even possibly inspired to imitate my attitude. Here it is:

The first time I delivered a speech, I had just turned 15. I was learning English in an economic geography course at the high school associated with the Havana Business University. As part of the course, we had to prepare a report on a state or states in the United States of America. I chose Virginia and West Virginia. Every student prepared a short paper about the state or states assigned to the student and delivered a speech about it before the class. Afterwards, the other students were supposed to ask the speaker questions related to his or her imaginary trip to the state. I was scheduled to speak on the second day the speeches were being delivered.

I found the first day of speeches to be boring, especially because of the questions my peers asked the student who gave the talk. Their questions did not elicit any further information about the state. I was fed up with questions such as how much did the trip cost? Was the weather nice during your stay? Good Lord, I had expected to learn from the questions of my peers, and I took it for granted that they had done their homework. So, I raised my hand and asked a simple question to the student who had spoken about Massachusetts. I simply asked him, Why is Boston such an important city for Massachusetts? The student was mute; he stammered, became pale, and could not answer. I couldn’t imagine that he would not know that Boston was the capital of Massachusetts. The rest of my peers stared at me, frowning and making indecent signs with their fingers. I knew the worst was coming for me the following day.

The class session took place in the morning. The day before, I spent the whole afternoon in the library, consulting several books and encyclopedias to learn as much as possible about my two states. I was inspired to study very hard because I did not want to look foolish in front of my classmates and the instructor. I finished my studying late in the evening when the librarian closed the library.

The following morning, I spoke about the two states without any apprehension. I had done my best to prepare for the presentation and to do a good job. I couldn’t ask anything else of myself. So, there I was… I realized my audience would be my fellow students and that I would be explaining the subject matter to them. After I finished, I received five very hard questions. To my surprise and to that of my peers, I answered all of them exhaustively even though they would not have been answerable by a tourist briefly visiting Virginia and West Virginia. What surprised me most was that after the last answer, the whole student body stood up and gave me a round of applause. I will never forget that this event took place on 16 April 1956, shortly before I finished the Havana Business University High School. At the time, I was not aware that I was inspired to give a good presentation out of my desire not to be made fun of (at the time I was still stammering and many people made fun of my poor oral articulation). Another important factor,