Spa Experiences Around the World

Aaaaaah...the spa, and extremely good way to start anew, reboot your psyche, recharge your batteries and refresh your mind. Not just for society's elite anymore; the new breed of day spas, conference hotel spas, and those with men-only menus are springing up all over the world. According to the International Spa Association; 73% of its members plan to increase their facility size and amount of treatments offered since patronage is up 16% over last year. That doesn't even count all the seated massage centers in airports, shopping centers, and office towers which are the fast-food answer to the spa experience. These instant-massages are done fully clothed and cover the neck, back, and shoulders for around a buck a minute. Chalk it up to a workforce that's overworked, over-stressed, over-worked, and overdue for a personal overhaul.

In Hawaii alone, there are five major spas on Waikiki, Maui, and the big island to cater to burnt-out tourists seeking lomi lomi massage, ti leaf bodywraps, and seaweed facials. Other wellness centers offer guests stress-management, nutrition, and holistic healing classes as well as traditional European, Asian, Native American, and Hawaiian treatments for the day or an extended stay.

Across the U.S. you can choose between the resort-like spas with resort-like prices set amid gorgeous acreage for a multi-day renewal or a few hours at a day-spa amid the business parks and shopping malls of your hometown. You can be rejuvenated at the Greenbriar or the Homestead, both in Virginia and both among the first grand spas in the county, or try Berkeley Springs, West Virginia a little closer to Washington, DC. George Washington was said to
partake in the restorative waters of this area and resorts like The Woods and Coolfont Spa offer treatments, retreat settings, and pure relaxation.

At either type of spa, you can choose aromatherapy, masks, mudpacks, and manicures from an ala' carte menu or choose a package for yourself or as a welcomed gift certificate for a stressed-out recipient.

To find a spa in your neighborhood, check out www.spafinders.com. Each center has a unique ambiance and specialty, so it's good to do some research before you go to know what to expect.

Most spas in Europe have "textile free" areas for mixed genders. The standard is to carry your towel with you to sit on in the sauna or in the sunbed and stroll nonchalantly in your birthday suit between treatment areas. Some European spas provide robes for strolling or sitting at the snack bar while others expect you to bring your own. Changing rooms can be mixed, but you
have individual shower areas and personal changing cubicles. European and Asian bath houses and spas are not for the shy. Be naked and walk proud through these venues and keep your head up and your eyes forward.

The treatments in Europe may be performed by mixed genders and it's sometimes possible to request a male or female depending upon your comfort level of being in the buff. One of the grand historic spas of Germany is the Roman-Irish Baths in Baden Baden. Any town with the name Baden in it means it once had a mineral bath in it. You know this had to be a special place
since they named it twice - it's twice as special as most spa towns. Very upscale, amazing restaurants (try Provence, a French bistro), great architecture, fabulous hiking and hills surrounding the town and the centuries-old bath house is quite unique.

Next door to the traditional Roman-Irish Baths is the modern Caracalla Therme which boasts a regular indoor-outdoor pool atmosphere where families wearing swimsuits frequent the various hydro baths. Each pool has special aqua jets, bubble beds, bubble chairs, whirlpools, and falling waters where you decide how long to play at each place. Upstairs is the textile-free area.

The Roman-Irish Baths have catered to royals and the rest of us for centuries and its statues, mosaics, great dome, and antiquated over-sized showerheads attest to the grandeur of what a spa was meant to be. Heated towels, toga-clad attendants (mixed gender), and a sleeping room make for an amazing experience.

Some days are co-ed and some days are separate. Call ahead if you have any trepidation about wearing only your locker key in mixed company. While you're on the phone, make an appointment for a massage following your two-hour trek through all the treatment rooms. There are "trail maps" of the room layouts posted in each room with approximate times and order you should visit each space. Be aware that the most elegant, domed, Romanesque-statued
swimming room is reserved for men only unless it is a mixed day.

Here's a play-by-play guided tour of what to expect on your visit:
1. Leave EVERYTHING in your locker except your locker key which is worn around your wrist.

2. Go to the heated towel room where you are met by a toga-clad attendant of either gender and swaddled in a warm towel. Talking from this point on is done only in a muted whisper.

3. Emerge into the shower room, put on a pair of rubber sandals and wash down. Watch out for the stool as you bathe - as it is a bidet-type stool and can give you a bit of a surprise!

4. Enter the warm room and put your towel on the chaise lounge and rest.

5. Walk into the mosaic-tiled hot room and do the same. Make sure to wear your shoes or you could burn your feet on the hot tile.

6. Move to the soap and brush massage room and hang your towel on a numbered hook and remember your number as you walk into the steam room. Leave your shoes under your towel.

7. The tiered steam room is a holding area while you relax and wait for your 9-minute soap and boar-bristle brush massage.

8. When they call your number, you flop onto a cement slab and lie on your back where the attendant of either gender soaps you down and scrubs you, then flips you over to do the other side. When you get a slap on the bootie, then you know your turn is finished.

9. Shower off in the same room before meandering back into the steam room and into the hot pool.

10. If you are male or if you are female on a mixed day, proceed into the grand swimming hall.

11. Then wander into the shallow warm mineral water pool where you lay on the bottom and the water just covers your body as it bubbles around you.

12. The cool exercise pool comes as a shock after all this warmth and it closes your pores as you move to keep your lips from turning blue.

13. If that wasn't enough, a quick plunge in the ice dip takes your breath away.

14. Afterwards, reenter the heated towel room to be enveloped again in a warm towel and led to either your massage or to the "rest room".

15. The "rest room" is a darkened room with many beds full of napping guests. The attendant wraps you in a cocoon of blankets and elevates your feet so you may relax for 30 minutes before you get dressed and descend the great curving staircase to reenter the real world below.

A completely modern European experience is the Therme 2000 near Maastricht, in the Netherlands. You can stay at their hotel or at a nearby castle and make arrangements for your mudbath, massage, or herbal wrap prior to your visit. Bring your robe, towel, footwear and swimsuit. Most of the pools and whirlpools are in the swimsuit zone. The saunas, steam rooms, and sunbeds are in the swimsuit-free zone. There is a sign stating this fact, but you catch on pretty quickly. They have outdoor log-cabin type saunas (naked bathers only) and a beautiful view from the pool deck.

The Austrian mud pack was quite exotic. You lay in an adult bassinets on top of a bladder which fills with warm water to give you a floating sensation. Between you and the bladder are sheets and blankets. The attendant smears mud on you in all the layers and fills the bladder as you lay listening to new age music and sweating out the impurities. When your time is up, the
come in with tow giant popsicle stick - one for you to scrape the goo off your private parts and one for them to scrape the rest. What can't be scraped is then showered off in a multi-head shower, followed by a nap.

Turkey and Egypt have their own flavor of traditional and modern spas complete with hug marble or cement Dias where several people receive treatments at once or in individual rooms for more privacy. Visitors to the larger cities may find modern spas in the large hotels or the more
traditional baths in more discreet areas of town. Ask a reputable local for directions so you don't get yourself in hot water (so to speak).

The infamous bath houses of Japan should not be missed. My experiences included the Gotembo spa at the foot of Mt. Fuji and a spa in Yokohama who's name I couldn't begin to pronounce. Ask those who have been stationed there for suggestions or take an MWR day trip to the Mt. Fuji area and spa.

Treatment areas are separated by gender in Japan and each visitor receives a little kit with a robe, towel, and washcloth. The locker room area has several three-sided stalls for bathing. They come complete with soaps, shampoos, a stool, mirror, and a wooden bucket for rinsing. After bathing, it's hour choice to choose among the treatments and time spent in them. It's
all self-serve from here. Select from the steam rooms, saunas, hot baths, warm pools, cool pools, and bubbling mineral baths. The ambiance is different in each center, although the Japanese focus on natural surroundings, rock gardens, and plants for a serene setting which is both inside and outside. It seemed the standard practice was to put your washcloth on top of your head while you soaked in a pool sans swimsuit. The attendants are unobtrusive or nonexistent during your session

Many bath-houses supply "pre-toothpasted" tooth brushes, razors, and ear swabs for post-spa primping. They also had a co-ed "rest room" complete with oversized Lazy Boy chairs with built-in TVs and blankets on which you could take your apres-spa nap. The massage rooms were also mixed gender, so you keep your robe on in these areas. Be aware that many massage therapists are blind and they may not see you pointing out your injured body parts. I found this out after I pointed to surgical scars on both feet prior to treatment and said "ouch" each time. I thought he understood, afterwhich he promptly stood on my feed as I lay on the ground on the futon. I screamed in pain, pulling my feet out from under him and tossing him to the floor causing
quite a commotion and a near international incident. Not quite the relaxing end to my visit.

A much less fancy version of the Japanese bath house is located on the Atsugi Naval installation. It is bare bones, but affordable and close by.

Because massages and spas are more pricey state-side , it's a good idea to seek out treatments overseas which are much more affordable - from $1.25 - $15. Every experience is an adventure in itself. Here's a sampling from the global menu:

Moscow - very sterile, rough, mechanical, and not much ambiance at the Moscow Country Club, no mood music, bright lights

Thailand - simple surroundings, 2-hour massage is popular, wear silk jammies with small women walking on you or using their elbows, toes, and legs as well as their hands to do the massage.

Kenya and Cancun - exotic and tropical, popular spots are outside wearing a swimsuit overlooking the waves or the watering hole.

Korea - my experience was not on the economy, but on military installations in beauty shops in make-shift treatment rooms, cramped, disorderly, unclean, noisy, no ambiance, hardly private, and not relaxing.

In the end you just have to think of it as an adventure, expect the unexpected, and go with the flow. Don't be shy, be comfy in your naked skin and enjoy the experience. Besides, you'll never see any of those people again anyway. Aaaaaah..... the spa, an extreme indulgence no matter where in the world you experience it, just enjoy the experience.