Programming Change

Due to unbelievable demand, I am postponing my Spa Around the World Trip until after the election and the holidays.

I want to thank you all for your comments and emails regarding Sarah’s spa trip along the campaign trail. Because this blog is for you, I am honoring your requests to not only follow Sarah’s, but also Michelle’s (after all this is a non-partisan blog!) spa escapades until election day.

Besides it is hurricane season and won’t we all really need a spa break in January – after the holidays and election?

In addition to spa coverage of the campaign, watch for:

• Spa strategies to take some of the “hectic” out of the holiday season
• How to throw an unforgettable New Year’s bash at a spa
• Spas in the cities along the round the world route
• How to surprise your family & friends with spa presents & certificates
• New episodes of the SpaLife spacast
• Celebrate the holidays with family spa getaway

Who Knows?  Maybe we’ll even see John and Obama at the Spa?!!?

Who would you like to see at the spa?

See you (and Sarah and Michelle) at the spa, Candy

How to Go Around the World and Make it Home Healthy & Happy

[Monique has just knocked out General Fang with a martial arts strike]
Passepartout: [astonished] She must be the eleventh tiger!
Monique La Roche: [curls fingers into claws] Meow.

I’m finally starting to breathe again.

The flights are reserved
Spa treatments are booked (at least one at each spa)
I’ve written my daily itinerary
My passport is good for six months after I get back and I’ve obtained

An Apple A Day – Spas in New York, NY

At this moment the detective approached Mr. Fogg, and, looking him intently in the face, said:

Mr. Fix: “Seriously, sir, are you in great haste?”

Mr. Fogg: “Quite seriously.”

“I have a purpose in asking,” resumed Fix. “Is it absolutely necessary that you should be in New York on the 11th, before nine o’clock in the evening, the time that the steamer leaves for Liverpool?”

“And, if your journey had not been interrupted by these Indians, you would have reached New York on the morning of the 11th?”

Mr. Fogg: “Yes; with eleven hours to spare before the steamer left.”

I’ll have a planning update for you later this week, meanwhile, I hope everyone is getting ready for some serious spa time.

As you can see from clicking on the Platial Map to the left, our first stop will be New York City. We’ll only be there for one night, then head for Portugal.

It occurred to me as I was writing my Daily Schedule that I since I had the chance to choose from a few spas in each city we visit so should you.

Also, I’m a little curious to see if any of you all have been to these spas and which one you would pick and why.

 

Tea at the Mandarin Oriental

So a few days before we arrive in each city, I’ll post the websites for a few of the spas I was deciding upon for you to explore.

Spa links from the big Apple:

Mandarin Oriental
Chopra Center and Spa at Dream Hotel
Ritz Carlton La Prairie Spa

Feel free to post in the comments your take or experiences at any of these. Looking forward to hearing from you, until then,

See you at the Spa, Candy

It’s A Spa World Part Deux, or How to Plan A Trip Around the World While Losing Your Mind

Lord Kelvin: I, Lord Kelvin, hereby vow to surrender my position as minister of science to Phileas Fogg if he can circumnavigate the globe… in more than 80 days. But if he cannot, he must never set foot in the academy again, he must tear down that abhorrent eyesore he calls a labatory, and he must swear… never to invent again.
[Phileas is taken aback by this vow, not knowing what to say]
Lord Kelvin: Just as I always suspected, Fogg. You promise so much, yet you deliver… oh,nothing.
[more laughter]
Phileas Fogg: [quietly] I’ll take your wager.

If my last post didn’t clue you in, I feel like I’m losing my grip on all of this.

“How on earth am I ever going to travel and visit all of these spas in 80 days?” I’m scolding myself, wondering what I’ve gotten myself into, as I’m sorting through brochures and websites.

I’m beginning to understand why our friend Phileas was hesitant to take the wager.

Procrastination

Normally when I travel I’m a fly by the seat of my skirt kind of gal. Waiting until morning to make decisions about the day’s happenings. Packing a few hours before I need to be at the airport, racing around the day before picking up odds and ends – fellow procrastinators you know what I mean ; )

But because timing is crucial on this transcontinental traipse I won’t have time to work things out as I go, so I’m going to have to

A Planning Aside: Gender Bender

Railway Official: There’s still fifty miles of track to be laid between here and Allabahad.
Phileas Fogg: But the London newspapers announced the opening of this railway throughout.
Railway Official: That must have been The Daily Telegraph. Never would have read that in The Times.

I’m so bogged down with plotting the nitty gritty details of the trip: a day-by-day itinerary, airport to spa travel arrangements, the flight times for each leg, and finally calling each spa to book my room and treatments.

Maybe insight and hints from other around the world travelers’ stories may inspire me. (I also desperately need a break. . . so far this is definitely the most tedious step of all the preparations. . . and I’m dangerously close to

I’ve Got a Golden “RTW” Ticket – Flying Around the World

Phileas Fogg: One day, I will build a machine that will allow a man to fly!
San Francisco Hobo: Flying men? Where? Where?
Phileas Fogg: Nowhere!
San Francisco Hobo: Where are the flying men? Where are the flying men?
Phileas Fogg: They’re over there!
San Francisco Hobo: Beware the flying men! Beware the Flying men! The Bird men are coming!

Okay, I know I’m mixing novels here, but hey I was a literature major so give me a break. With my schedule of 22 spa stops in place, that leaves me approximately 25 days for travel, so air is the only way to go. Then I can make the airport to spa journey filling in with rental cars, transport provided by the spas, trains, horses, whatever.

When I began to research how to buy an around the world ticket (aka a RTW ticket by us seasoned travelers – wink, wink), I was astounded by

It’s a Spa World i.e. How to Plan a Trip Around the World Without Losing Your Mind!

If to live in this style is to be eccentric, it must be confessed that there is something good in eccentricity. – Jules Verne referring to Phileas’ carefree lifestyle

Phileas ventured out around the world the same day he accepted his wager. No such luck for me. Though my course is set, I need to choose what spas to visit and how long I can stay at each, without moving at such a breakneck pace that I won’t be able

Candy’s Virtual Spa Voyage – The Ultimate “Glamour Trip”

The Origins of My Idea

Who hasn’t thought about what it would be like to travel around the world? Such an undertaking seems the territory of