As the flag went up outside the Cuban embassy in Washington Monday, the flights out of the Communist island into kept rolling into Miami International Airport.
Jubilant travelers returning from Cuba were reuniting with kids and relatives. Cuban-Americans know the significance of the flag being hoisted outside the Cuban embassy in Washington.
Giancarlo Sopo returned from Cuba Monday morning, after visiting family and friends he hadn't seen in years.
"Some of what I saw on the island is that hopes go up and then their government kind of like shoots it down, so people are optimistic about the future but they take that optimism with a grain of salt," Sopo said. "I am proud to be one of the Last Americans today to drive by what was formerly the U.S. Interests section and there's a lot of hope and optimism on the island about the establishing of new relations."
Next month the American flag will be raised at the embassy building in Cuba. It's a move that must come with real change, Cuban exile Nibaldo Perez said.
"It's good to warm the relations between both countries but a lot of things have to change over there about freedom," Perez said.
While travel restrictions have recently eased, flights to and from Cuba have been operating for years, with brand name companies, like American Airlines and others, running charter flights.
And while many are thrilled, Vanessa Gonzalez knows some are not.
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"My boss, I know, doesn't want to go, she was one of the Peter Pan kids and she's really against it," Gonzalez said. "I understand where she's coming from."
