A young Cuban resident in the United States shared on TikTok the exhausting process she went through to prepare for her return to Cuba after five years away from the island, in a video that gathered nearly 128,000 views in just a few days.
Danielle Machado (@danielamachado2002) posted last Wednesday the first of a series of vlogs about her trip, and right from the first minute, she made it clear that the experience took her by surprise: "I never thought returning to Cuba would be so stressful until it happened to me."
One of the first details he revealed is that he kept the trip a secret until the video was released: “one of the things I always said was that I was not going to tell anyone so that everything would go well for me,” he explained.
The stress began the moment she bought the ticket and never left her during the preparations: "Every day, without fail, it reminded me that I was forgetting something," she admitted.
The reason behind that constant forgetfulness was summed up by her with a phrase that many emigrated Cubans will recognize: "How can I forget when there is a shortage of everything over there?"
That structural scarcity that persists on the island was precisely what shattered her original plan to travel light.
Danielle had promised that she would bring "just one suitcase" and wouldn't carry "a ton of stuff," but the reality was different: "when the time came, the suitcase wasn't enough, and I had to pack another one," she recounted, adding that not even all the items fit in her carry-on bag.
Time also played against him: he started preparing for the trip just after returning from Corpus Christi, with very few days left to get organized.
To expedite her purchases, she turned to TikTok Shop: "since I use TikTok Shop, I've been ordering most of my things there," she explained, a practice that is increasingly common among Cubans preparing their bags from the U.S.
The exhaustion before the trip was also reflected in her daily routine: Danielle admitted that she hadn’t cooked in about a week and had no intention of doing so before leaving, preferring to order takeout through DoorDash or Uber Eats.
"I am your super lazy one when it comes to going out," she joked, before recommending her favorite pizzeria for takeout.
This type of testimony has become a well-established trend on TikTok during 2025 and 2026, featuring emigrated Cubans documenting their returns to the island in front of audiences that identify with every detail of the narrative, from the stress of luggage to the joy of family reunions.
The phenomenon is not exclusive to Danielle: another Cuban who returned to Cuba after five years had an emotional reunion with her father in March that also went viral on the platform.
Danielle's video inaugurates a series of installments about her journey, allowing her community of followers to closely monitor how this much-anticipated return unfolds, loaded with bags.
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