This time last year I was sitting at Gatwick waiting to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Havana.
I'd been looking forward to it for months and I was genuinely excited.
As it happens the 'trip of a lifetime' was a bit of a disappointment. From the uncomfortable nine-hour flight to the variable weather and unremarkable food, I returned seven days later a little underwhelmed.
Nevertheless I'll never forget that initial sense of anticipation and I look forward to returning to Cuba when the Americans have moved in and there is a McDonalds on every corner.
Cigar aficionados attending the annual Habanos Festival (which begins today) may not want the country to change but poverty and a totalitarian regime shouldn't be a tourist attraction.