This US couple bought a rundown farmhouse in Portugal. Here’s what happened next

The Portuguese discovered this remote archipelago, scattered 800 miles west of their mainland in the swirling mists of the Atlantic Ocean in the early 1500s. The Azores comprise nine islands, each a mythical, magical land of volcanoes, bubbling thermal waters, geysers of rising steam, turquoise-toned lagoons, and bottle-green lakes. With a landscape that seemed alive, it is no wonder that the population turned to the Holy Spirit for protection—an allegiance they still have today, as witnessed in the many shrines and chapels that dot the towns and villages. More than anything, devotion to the Holy Spirit is a defining element of being Azorean.

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Despite producing some truly delicious pineapples—and the only pineapples grown in Europe—Portugal’s Azores islands aren’t particularly well suited to growing the fruit. Which is why the third-generation owner of Herdade do Ananás (“pineapple estate”) has opted to diversify the family business.

A statue of Cristiano Ronaldo towers over a crowd of admirers as they queue to have their photos taken with it. One young man with a leather satchel thrown over his shoulder giddily takes his turn. I’m watching from the roof of the Pestana CR7 hotel in Funchal, Madeira.

February in Rio de Janeiro is usually filled with anticipation of sequins and samba with the arrival of Carnaval, but this year the streets of Rio will be a little less flamboyant. The city has decided to cancel the planned celebrations for this year’s Carnaval, and they’re not the only ones. Cancellations have occurred across Brazil in 48 cities for a variety of reasons. Some cities have voted to spend resources fighting dengue fever and the Zika virus that have been spreading throughout the country. Some cities were forced to cancel due to the economic consequences of what has been one of the worst recessions in Brazil’s history. For Rio, we can assume it’s a combination of the two with the added pressure of hosting the looming Summer Olympics.

This coming August, all eyes will turn to the beaches and stadiums of Rio de Janeiro, where the 2016 Summer Olympics will be in full swing. The Games are expected to bring athletes and tourists from across the globe to Brazil, and now for Americans, a huge hurdle has been removed. In a move to stimulate the Brazilian economy, the Brazilian government announced that it will waive visa requirements for citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the people I met in Egypt.

When it comes to traveling abroad, there’s a lot more to it than just buying a plane ticket. You need to do your research. This means finding out if you need a visa, what the weather will be like, what kind of currency they use, etc. For more popular abroad destinations, this might mean a series of quick Google searches, but when you’re traveling somewhere off the beaten path, the information you need is not always readily available.

Planning a trip to Europe or beyond? If you’re looking to tack on an extra destination to your itinerary, it’s easier than you might think. Portuguese carrier TAP is adding flight stopovers in Lisbon and Porto to all of its transatlantic routes, with added freebies like hotel discounts and free wine from their partners if you do choose to stop in either locale.

By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Thomas Cook Group, the British travel operator—which encapsulates retail travel agencies, wholesale tour packagers, and even airlines—has shuttered under bankruptcy. This is the largest tour operator failure in not-so-recent memory; it’s left some 600,000 travelers stranded at their foreign destinations, and many tour buyers who haven’t started their trips yet are unlikely to see the tours they bought or any money they prepaid. The issue raises the question: What happens to customers when a tour operator they paid shuts down; are there any legal guarantees of reimbursement? The short answer: only for some people.

The complete shutdown of Primera Air and now WOW Air are examples of the reality that an airline can abruptly fail. Without notice, even a large airline can shutter, leaving some passengers stranded away from home and others responsible for out-of-pocket costs for worthless tickets.