COVER STORY This issue: Getting back out there (or starting to) with TIME’s third annual list. The challenges of the past year and a half have transformed our world, and few industries have been as affected as travel, tourism and hospitality. In many ways, our third annual list of the World’s Greatest Places is a tribute to the people and businesses at the forefront of those industries who, amid extraordinary circumstances, found ways to adapt, build and innovate. It shines a light on ingenuity, creativity, revitalization and reopenings in destinations across the world…To understand the world we live in, read TIME.

Floods expose the West’s hubris. DEADLY DELUGE. A section of a castle partially destroyed by heavy rain and flooding in Erftstadt, Germany, on July 16. Pia Negro’s family has lived in a castle in Erftstadt, in western Germany, for 300 years. They have spent the past 30 years restoring it to its former glory. But they left it in minutes on July 15, evacuating at around 4 a.m. as the worst floods to hit the country in centuries rushed toward their home. “We couldn’t bring anything—not the very old furniture, not even photos that are highly emotional, just our phones,” says Negro, 32. The castle’s 40 inhabitants, including Negro’s family and renters, had spent the previous day moving furniture to higher floors and…

Ethan Brown on the real price of meat. Ethan Brown, the chief executive officer of Beyond Meat, a leading player in plant-based meat, believes that the drought in the American West will help raise awareness of the climate impact of what we eat. Says Brown: “I can’t help but hope that people are drawing the connection between the temperatures that they’re feeling and the drought that’s occurring and their food choices, particularly the center-of-the-plate protein. I spent the weekend with my son and his high school basketball team outside of Phoenix, and it was so hot that homeless people were on the edge of the road begging for cold water…