So What's This Site All About?
About The Geographical Cure
The Geographical Cure is a mix of curated content showcasing my travel tips and itineraries, cultural destination reviews, and oddventures. It began as a response to the passion sapping nature of 21st century life — distractions, children, jobs, stress — all of which can result in a murky cocktail of exhaustion and indifference.
Extricating oneself from a rut is rarely easily done, when complacency and trepidation mix together like dual ingredients in gunky glue. But life is frighteningly short. I needed a felicitous way to do battle against oblivion.
The lure of travel was an antidote. Travel appealed to my hardwired sense of adventure. It provided an opportunity to forge a stronger spirit, a chance for cultural escapism, and psychological euphoria.
Many denounce “the geographical cure” as a fantasy. I find that a temporary vacation is absolutely regenerative and has a blissful effect on the soul. Having a vacation on the horizon also provides a delightful frisson of excitement and is a tincture against thorny daily issues.
I created this space to share my passion for travel and culture and to provide a continuing stream of wanderlust inspiration for those, like me, who might need to reframe or recalibrate their spirit or who, in their next act, simple yearn to know and experience more.
About Me
You can be devastated when something unexpected and stressful happens in life. On the other hand, if after a spasm of self pity, you redirect your energy and challenge yourself with something new, you became a stronger person because of it. For me, though I still swim, my enslavement in the natatorium has ended.
People are more than one thing in life; I am also a passionate traveler and amateur art historian. And so, while waiting for my old self to re-materialize, tip toeing the balance between life and loss, I turned to travel. As it always has done, travel provided the requisite boost to the psychic bin.
Now, resilience intact and fairly well restored, I plan and embark on travel and cultural adventures whenever I can. To date, I’ve been to 45 countries and counting. As the saying goes, I travel not just to escape the daily grind of life, but for life not to escape me.
I’m a real Europhile. It’s my favorite place to travel and I have a special focus on Italy. And I adore Paris and London.
I prefer to travel independently by foot or by car on my geographical cures. I adore road trips and crafting the perfect itinerary.
I am also a culture vulture who flourishes on a steady diet of beauty, history, culture, art, and food — and I’m on a quest to consume as much as possible.
I especially like quirky offbeat historical destinations, not just the typical tourist sites.
I write only about places I’ve chosen to travel to. And I do all the writing on my blog myself. I don’t accept sponsored links, sponsored trips, or press trips. I don’t recommend any products.
About My Next Trip
In the next six months, I have trips planned to Colorado, Italy, California, and Vienna & Prague.
Leslie
Contact Me:
lcl655@aol.com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/191876035@N02/51718433200/in/photostream/
Hi Leslie. Many thanks for your geographical cure. It works!
I hope you do not mind… I have included a link on my Flickr account… attached to a series of photos of Palais Garnier. [Let me know, and I can of course remove it].
Keep writing!
Phil Brandon Hunter [philbhu.com]
Beautiful photos!
Thanks for that.
Please call in when you reach England…make it soon.
Hi Leslie,
I stumbled here looking for Louise Bourgeois…ha!…and found something that totally made my day. Your writing is really great. I enjoy how you craft your stories about your travel experiences. I’m looking forward to reading more.
Thank you so much!
Great site & thanks for sharing your story. Very inspiring & motivational!
Loved your quote, “I travel not just to escape the daily grind of life, but for life not to escape me.”
Thanks so much CJ!
I too find travel necessary to re-set myself and add interest to they sometimes daily grind of “real” life. I find your site to be exceedingly inspiring and informative. I am headed off to my 17th visit to Italy tomorrow and look forward to checking out some of your off the beaten path suggestions. I will be back here frequently to spend time lost in your stories.
Thank you too much Rosan! Where are you off to in Italy? I am heading back for a long visit in May and am very excited. You can never get enough of Italy.
Hi Leslie: Yours is one of the best travel blogs I’ve discovered. We are going to Portugal this November. I booked an airbnb in the Graca neighborhood and then coincidentally noticed the great comments you made about this neighborhood! Would you recommend staying there, because I also noted that you said to avoid Tram 28, which seems to be one of the major ways to get around. Thanks for your advice!
Thanks Michele! It’s a fine place to stay. I would take the tram, as it seems like the main way to get to Graca. Just, in general, I prefer to walk. Just be alert for pickpockets, as you would be on public transportation in any big city. Have fun!
Hello Leslie. I am such a fan of your site! I’ve planned 4 trips to Italy with a focus on “undiscovered” towns and cities and those trips with my husband were wonderful. Sadly he has died and I am working to turn melancholy into adventure. I am dreaming of a trip to Italy on my own but am quite nervous about taking the leap. Your site inspires me. Perhaps I will cross my fingers and begin to plan. Do you travel alone? Thank you so much for your site. And may you travel safely and happily for years to come.
Hi Kathleen. So sorry to hear about your husband. I travel all the time on my own. Europe is pretty easy for solo travel. But being a tad nervous is normal. You can drive. Or just travel by train, which is very efficient in Italy between cities and large towns. Most people speak English in Italy, except maybe in a small out of the way town. You can also take a tour, but I would be picky if you went that option. If you travel solo, you can do exactly what you want and not be on anyone else’s eat/sleep schedule.
What a wonderful discovery I have made in your website/blog. I stumbled upon it doing research for my scrapbook on Monastario de Jeronimos in Belem, Portugal. Now, I want to read more, and get excited about travel again, with the pandemic mostly behind us, I hope. I have traveled my who life, but mostly with my mom on tours, so solo travel on your own is a foreign thing, but sounds awesome. Keep writing, keep sharing, you are inspiring!
Thank you so much for the kind comments!
Time zone of transcending array of hope and light that ever blossoms red roses and liiy that transforms barriers and situations to positivity.all in all the arc the light.
Thanks for your various articles. I have Irish and Italian blood, as well as Apache and Comanche, and I love to travel when I can. I have been married 55 years, and my wife has had 2 hip replacements and then 5 years ago, it was discovered she has congenital heart failure, so our traveling days of any distance is over. I really enjoyed your article on Civita-di-Bagnoregio as this is the type of place I really enjoy to visit. In the meantime, my wife and I are located in a gated Village that is quite rural with lots of hills, trees, lakes, and solitude.
I came across your article on the Palio di Siena (I’ve been many times) while looking for something good to send to friends who are considering going. Your post on the race was one of the very best I’ve seen. Excellent! Thanks. Glad to have found you.
Thank you John!
Leslie: I stumbled upon The Geographical Cure today, while searching for background information on Nuremberg Germany. Your in-depth information about places in Europe is outstanding, as is you wonderful gift of the English language. We will be referring our visitors at Cosguide4travel.Com to your website. My wife and I take 3-month long DIY travel trips to different parts of the globe each year. We agree that travel is a wonderful cure for getting away from the daily extremist political views and hatred in the US that are the basis of most cable news and social media.
Thanks Paul! An escape is always good and 3 months is impressively long.