MIA → LHR · 17:00 → 06:55+1 · BA206 · 8h 55m
Connection at Heathrow: 3h 5m
LHR → LIS · 10:00 → 12:55 · BA502 · 2h 55m
MIA → LIS · 16:35 → 05:55+1 · TP224 · 8h 20m · direct
Lands at Lisbon Terminal 1, roughly seven hours ahead of you — separate rooms and transfers, all confirmed, so no need to coordinate on the ground.
A country smaller than Indiana that once mapped half the planet. Portugal has had the same borders since 1139 — the oldest fixed frontiers in Europe — which is part of why the national identity runs so deep.
The Age of Discoveries. In the 1400s, prince Henry the Navigator turned a poor Atlantic kingdom into the launchpad for global exploration. Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498; for a century Lisbon was the spice-trade capital of the world. You'll stand at the literal monument to this on Day 3 in Belém — keep it in your back pocket for Havana.
The 1755 earthquake. On All Saints' Day, a massive quake, fire, and tsunami flattened Lisbon in a single morning and killed tens of thousands. It rattled Enlightenment Europe philosophically — Voltaire wrote about it — and the rebuilt downtown (the grid-planned Baixa Pombalina) was one of the first earthquake-engineered city centers in the world. The Alfama you'll visit is partly the medieval maze that survived it.
The Carnation Revolution. April 25, 1974: a near-bloodless military coup ended 48 years of dictatorship. Soldiers put red carnations in their rifle barrels — hence the name. It's why Portugal is a young democracy with an old soul, and why you'll see April 25 named on bridges and avenues everywhere.
Portuguese looks like Spanish on paper and sounds nothing like it out loud — lots of soft "sh" sounds. A few that go a long way: obrigado (thank you, if you're male) / obrigada (if you're female — so Rachel and Havana say obrigada), bom dia (good morning), se faz favor (please). English is widely spoken in Lisbon, so don't stress — but a bom dia opens doors. Euros throughout the trip; no currency changes between Portugal and Spain.
Tomorrow (Day 2) is a soft landing — arrive, transfer to Hotel Roma in the Avenidas Novas district, rest. The group meets Wednesday at 9:00 AM in the lobby. Sleep on the plane if you can; the heat's waiting (see below).
Israeli forces took the strategic, UNESCO-listed Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon — their deepest incursion in decades — and Netanyahu ordered troops to expand operations beyond the Litani River, past the April ceasefire line. Lebanon's PM accused Israel of a "scorched-earth policy"; France has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting. Worth a glance before you go off-grid for the night — this is the one genuinely escalating story right now. (Al Jazeera · CNN · France 24)
You're landing in the middle of an early-summer heat dome. AEMET says the opening days of June bring midsummer-level heat across the south and east, with Mediterranean sea temperatures already at record highs for late May. Good news: forecasters expect the intensity to ease in the second week of June — which is most of your Andalusia stretch — but Seville, Córdoba and Granada can still run hot at midday. Light clothing, hats, water bottles, and lean into the Spanish rhythm of a slow midday and a late evening. Sevilla and Córdoba in particular are not cities to power-walk at 2 PM. (Olive Press / AEMET · Euro Weekly)
Portugal: quiet news day. The main item is TAP flagging possible fare changes over fuel costs — nothing that touches your already-booked flights. Otherwise Lisbon's waiting for you.
Nothing demoted today — on a departure day the report runs lean by design. The seven warm-up editions (May 25–31) covered Lisbon, the Algarve, Seville, Córdoba, Granada and Madrid in depth; links are in the archive below if you want to re-skim any city the night before you reach it.