Is There a Doctor Onboard?

Goodbye Europe Hello America!

Our amazing time in Europe had come to an end and it was time to continue our journey across the Atlantic towards the USA. If you are planning to utilise any lounges in Lisbon, be aware that they are all in the schengen area, so if your flight is to a destination that is out of the schengen zone, you will need to go through immigration/passport control and this line is variable. Although we had e-passports and Australians (along with a select number of nationalities) had access to a separate shorter line, we had to go through the "all other passports" line because we had members in our group who are less than 18. Darn you children!!!

A few hours into our nine hour flight, an announcement was heard for a doctor onboard to make themselves known. Malcolm jumped into action, it was his dream come true. To be technically more correct, Malcolm didn't hear the announcement, and only jumped when he received a whack from Belinda who was concerned about the flight being turned around! He left with the cabin staff and returned adorned with gloves, stethoscope and an oxygenated patient who he sat next to in business class for the rest of the flight. Upon arrival we had to wait until a handover was done before we could proceed to immigration. We were dismayed with the sight that greeted us. This was when we realised we should have asked for a cart or perhaps gone with the patient. The rest of the passengers along with others from other flights had saturated the line during our wait. It took us nearly an hour to get through....welcome to America!

Our plane to take us across the Atlantic

Always happy to fly business class!

Our home for our stay in Miami was Hotel Colonnade. It was a lovely hotel with nice rooms and away from the beach crowds. Conveniently located near miracle mile, there were trolley stops right outside. A free room upgrade was taken with gratitude!

It must have been tiredness, but our brains forgot that America was the land of the big. At dinner, we ordered a ramen expecting the usual single serve (Australian single serve...) and received a family sized bowl. Fortunately the children were craving Japanese, we were starving and somehow we finished all our food. We also successfully rendezvoused with Oma and Opa, who were on different flights. A big shout out to Lufthansa, who ensured they made their connections successfully with the last one being tight (40 minutes!!!). 

Waiting while we check in

The "thank you" from TAP

Japanese. Not the best angle but the bowl is larger than it looks in the photo!