The warm Caribbean sun seeped into my body as I stepped out of the air-conditioned restaurant. Full of seafood paella so tasty that I’d literally scraped it from the bottom of the pan and one-too-many mojitos, I started to walk (maybe a littttle unsteadily) down the cobblestone streets towards my hotel in a happy daze, my boyfriend bracing me with a hand on the small of my back. An old man, skin dark and leathered from the sun, nodded as we passed, exhaling smoke from his cigar. The sweet scent of tobacco lingering in the air made me think of my father.

“I should bring him back a few cigars,” I thought. “He’d like that.”

My father is something of a cigar aficionado and it was because of him that my family and I first visited Havana, Cuba, a decade ago. This time around, things were different. Hints of an economic revival were in the air and, leading up to the city’s 500th birthday in November, the government had started complex renovation work on some of Old Havana’s neglected buildings. WiFi, cellular data, and air conditioning have all become more prevalent in this part of town, too. For better or worse, Havana’s years of being described as a city “frozen in time” may soon come to an end.

The worry for travelers like me — for whom a major part of Havana’s appeal lies in its romantically imperfect and rustic aesthetic — is that the Havana I love today could look and feel drastically different over the next few years. That’s why I fought to have it on the 2020 UPROXX Travel Hotlist and why I think you should make a trip this year, regardless of what the US government says. Of course, the evolution of a country that is not my own (hopefully, carried out with the aim of improving life for the people living there), isn’t mine to judge or push back against.

Quite simply, it is what it is. And my trip proved that there’s definitely an upside. Already, Havana boasts a wide range of new restaurants, hotels, and bars to discover.

Adam and I ate the meal mentioned above at Mas Habana — a new Paladar that had opened up a short walk from our hotel in Old Havana. The restaurant had tall ceilings that allowed for a loft space with additional seating and featured an entire wall of windows. Light poured in, warming the room and creating a welcoming environment to eat a double serving of paella in.

Our feast came a day after, we’d ventured to a “club,” a 15-minute taxi ride outside of the city center. I say “club” because Fabrica de Arte Cubano is more of a multi-room art gallery warehouse space that turns into a multi-room music venue at night. When we arrived, the line was around the block and it took over an hour to get inside. Luckily, I’d found a small local sandwich shop on the next block and bought a couple of beers for us to enjoy while we waited in line. It didn’t take long for us to make friends with another couple and a Brazilian guy who were waiting in line beside us and before we knew it we were out of beer and at the front of the line, ready to go in.