If spring has you dreaming of a sun-drenched tropical getaway, with exotic flowers, white, sandy beaches, South American cuisine, and Italian-style wines, then get ready to jettison off to the exciting country of Brazil.

I’m from California, but I don’t smoke marijuana—dope, grass, mary-jane, pot, ganja—whatever you choose to call it. So, when I hauled my tired body out of bed at 3:30 a.m. to catch a 7:45 flight from SFO to Amsterdam, it wasn’t for the drugs. I was thinking canals, not cannabis; Anne Frank, Van Gogh, and Rijksmuseum, not reefers.