We sent 3 reporters to Cuba for a week, and it was a surreal adventure from the moment they arrived

Ahead of US President Barack Obama's landmark visit to Cuba on Sunday, Business Insider sent three reporters to step back in time on the stagnant island nation.

While political and economic negotiations are underway to end the stiff US-Cuba relationship, the world is flocking to Cuba to experience the surreal time warp of this tropical nation.

Here's an overview of our Cuban adventure from June 2015.

Graham Flanagan and Tyler Greenfield contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO: Here's what it's like to stay in an Airbnb in Cuba, where everything looked great but was actually broken

We booked our visa with Cuba Travel Services and paid $900 for a round-trip charter flight with Sun Country Airlines from JFK in New York City to José Martí in Havana.

We noticed a lot of people on our flight brought flat-screen TVs and other large electronics for their Cuban relatives.

We arrived five hours before our flight and needed every minute to pick up our tickets and visas, check in, and go through security. The process, thus far, was quite painless.

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