Visiting the Caribbean island this year, our tour operator suggested that we hire a car for the drive from Havana to Trinidad. Apparently no problem as 'there is only one motorway'. What they neglect to tell you is that road signs are non-existent. Luckily, a hire car is a form of alternative public transport for islanders as hitchhikers gather at crossroads to help bewildered tourists.

Our early morning start (armed with a map) was wasted by driving around the city until a hitchhiker we had passed three times offered to guide us to the motorway (at a price). Once on the motorway, we lost our way again and a police officer showed us a dirt track that would put us on the road to Trinidad - but was it left or right when the track finished? Luckily, our third lot of hitchhikers, a mother and baby, knew the way to the outskirts of the town and by this point we were joined by seven other rental cars looking for Trinidad and formed a convoy. The journey should have taken five hours, but took seven.