Take an amazing trip and gain the best experiences points

 
 

"You must go on adventures to find out where you belong."
—Sue Fitzmaurice

Sitting high on top of Buda overlooking the Danube in Budapest. I started traveling last year and I can’t wait to hit the road again.

 

After ten years of raising my children alone it was time to hit the road. My daughter started college in the fall of 2019, and my son headed out to California at the beginning of March 2020. A week later, I was going on a bucket list trip starting in Iceland that Covid squashed. Three years later I'm thrilled to be planning this exciting expedition again! First stop Iceland, where I'll make a date with a guide named Thor, who'll take me into the wilderness during the new moon in search of the Aurora Borealis. Then a week in Spain, driving from Barcelona to Valencia, and then to Holland in time for the tulips. I'm so excited. I've waited decades for this experience. If you have any tips please share with me!

 

My artist friend, Andi, and I took the train from Paris to Chartres to walk the Labyrinth. Ask me about my surprising mystical experience next time we’re together!

 

Traveling is magical. It expands our perspective and introduces us to new cultures, customs, people, architecture, languages, climates, land formations, and food. We can't help but grow into greater versions of ourselves. We gain compassion and connectedness for and with people we would never have known. I take thousands of pictures to use as reference. All the spectacular scenery inspires my artwork.

I had the most amazing trip last year, spending a week visiting friends in Paris, then five days visiting my daughter in Prague, then traveling through Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest. I learned a lot by planning that trip, and I nailed it! My friend Freya helped me plan and joined me in Prague through the end of the excursion. Since it was so successful, I'm sharing some wisdom with you for designing one of your bucket list trips. Do the research. Lots of research and collect a list of great restaurants, nightclubs, music venues, cocktail bars, places to get great oysters, cool boutique hotels, museums, hot neighborhoods, good shopping, hikes, day trips, natural wonders, etc. Freya and I used an app called TripMaster, an excellent tool for planning a multi-destination adventure. Ask all your friends for recommendations. Do this in advance to protect your valuable vacation time from having to look things up on your phone.

Here are SEVEN tips for booking a fantastic vacation:

  1. Roll with the punches. Not everything will go as planned; sometimes, that's where the most remarkable magic happens.

  2. Make reservations for transportation and lodging as soon as it becomes available. Trip Master is great for this, allowing detailed views of every available hotel in any location.

  3. Plan one thing a day; a boat ride to orient yourself when you first arrive, a class, a museum visit, or a garden visit, and a dinner reservation for most evenings. 

  4. Learn the local greetings and simple phrases like; thank you, where's the bathroom, how much is this, do you have it in pink, and check, please.

  5. Find the best season or time of year to go to your destination. I prefer off-peak most of the time. Places are less crowded so it's more pleasant, and you can get reservations and tickets more easily. 

  6. Pack comfortable shoes. You can get cool ones from Sorel or get insoles. You are going to walk a lot! Wearing comfortable shoes can make the entire experience more enjoyable or miserable. You get to choose!

  7. Make sure to splurge on a few things like seat upgrades on airlines or trains, one or two nights in a luxury hotel, a Michelin-star restaurant, etc. There's a reason they get the star. You want to experience it. You only live once, and you can't take it with you. 

 

Freya and I sipping a Kir Royal and enjoying a scrumptious dinner in Salzburg, Austria after a hectic day of traveling.

 

Be present, be curious, have fun, relax, and enjoy the ride. It's a beautiful world out there. So gain some amazing experience points and have an adventure!

Travel safe, happy trails,
Love,
Leslie

 

Life's amazing adventures have me inspired to be back in the studio

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”
― Oprah Winfrey

 
 
Pretty woman with long blonde curly hair standing in front of a marina and a brilliant blue sky.

Standing in front of The Lake House in Canandiagua in August. Waiting for the wedding to begin

 

What a whirlwind summer I had. And all of a sudden, it's Autumn! My adventures give me loads of fodder for paintings. I'm sure your adventures would make beautiful paintings too. The best news is my mother has settled back into her home after a lengthy hospital stay. It's been a long road, and she still has far to go, but things look very hopeful. She has been steadily improving. I greatly appreciate the outpouring of love and support.

 

I couldn’t resist the big chair in downtown Canandaigua.

 

I spent several days in August on Lake Canandaigua attending the wedding of a dear friend's son: Friday night–French food and cocktails, Saturday –wedding, Sunday–brunch, and a day on the lake with friends. It was gorgeous, and the weather was spectacular. It was an honor to celebrate this beautiful couple. One of the biggest joys in life is celebrating milestones with friends and family. So I'm inspired to create paintings of the centerpieces from the weddings I attended this year. A personalized painting of the wedding flowers allows the couple and family to maintain a deep visual cord to one of the most joyful days in their lives. How special is that?

Any of these pictures I took, will make a meaningful and beautiful painting when I personalize it with loving words specific specific to the happy couple.

On the way home from Upstate New York, I stopped in Ithaca for a few days to visit my beautiful daughter, who is starting her senior year at Ithaca College. She has had one of the strangest college experiences ever. Covid started during her freshmen year. I'm so grateful that she still got to go abroad for her junior year. And I was so fortunate to visit her in Prague. Next Summer, she'll complete her major requirements in Los Angeles. She has thrived during this unprecedented time, and I'm so proud of the resourceful, resilient, ethical, inspiring, and beautiful person she has become.

 

Adison and I had a lovely dinner and drinks in downtown Ithaca.

 

I spent a week in Montauk with my dear friend Lucille. We lay on the beach while sipping cocktails and watching whales frolic in the sea. We ate lobster at Duryea's and Ice cream at John's Drive-In. It was just the magical week I needed to connect me to the beauty of nature. While I lounged under the umbrella, I finished reading "The Big Leap" by Gay Hendricks. Read it!

 

There is no better way to finish a day in Montauk than enjoying oysters and a Lobster dinner at Duryeas’s as the sun sets on “The End” of Long Island.

 

In the last week of summer, I traveled back to Provincetown. I visited last year with the same group of friends, and we had such a wonderful time we repeated it! Our days were spent exploring shops and galleries and eating some of the best and freshest oysters anywhere.

 

I’m having so much fun collecting images of oysters for an upcoming series of paintings. These particular mollusks are from Cape Cod and they were exquisite.

 

Life is for living, and I try to do that fully every day. My adventures provide lots of meaningful imagery for me to paint. I'm sure your adventures do the same for you and your friends and family. I would love to turn your favorite experience into a beautiful painting that celebrates that moment forever. I'm accepting commissions for the holidays now. I want to have plenty of time to give it the attention it deserves, so let's do a 15-minute complimentary discovery call right away and get this party started!