Kelly & Jen (and driver) scooting through Havana in a coco taxi.

How fortuitous!

Just as we are getting ready to launch Che Spotting, a site rooted in a type of Cuban travel that is no longer allowed, President Obama announced a positive change in the United States’ dealings with the island.

Let me explain.

Jen and I, the creators of Che Spotting, met on a trip to Cuba. We went legally, with educational visas, in the spring of 2003 and traveled with a group of graduate students from the University of St. Thomas.

Just a couple weeks before our scheduled departure for Havana, in March 2003, the Bush Administration announced that it was eliminating the educational exchange program that allowed American students to travel to Cuba.

Luckily, our educational visas had already been granted by the time this announcement was made, but only with hours to spare. We were the last group of students from our university allowed to travel to Cuba. There was another group scheduled to go a month after us and their trip was canceled.

I (and I think I can speak for Jen here as well) have always felt very fortunate that we were able to go to Cuba. It had been something I had wanted to do for a long time, so in that respect, it fulfilled a travel dream. The journey, of course, broadened my perspective on global politics. But beyond both those things, my trip to Cuba gave me Jen, a friend I treasure. And yes, ultimately, my trip to Cuba resulted in Che Spotting.

I’ve always thought it very sad (not to mention maddening) that the educational exchange program to Cuba ended. Now though, perhaps it might be making a comeback.

President Obama’s Administration wants to lighten current travel restrictions which place severe limits on how often Cuban-Americans can visit the island and their family living still there. This was just one item in the announcement making the media rounds yesterday about how Obama wants to readdress a relationship America’s relationship with Cuba.

Educational exchanges to the island weren’t mentioned. I can only hope that soon, American students will once again be allowed travel access to Cuba.

Once that happens, perhaps all Americans will then be granted legal travel to the island.

And once that happens . . . Che Spotting will explode!