Spa culture is kind of weird. Once, in the weeks leading up to our wedding, Bekah thought it would be hilarious to convince me to join her for something called a facial. In a dark earth toned room they wrapped my head up in a boiling hot cloth, provided me a library of scents to select from and informed me that I was about to be taken on a sensory journey. Then they repeatedly jabbed a little steel instrument deep into the tip of my nose. That was my first spa experience.
Every kid grows up loving hotel swimming pools. Immersion in water is a primal experience. It’s inherently appealing. A swim in a pool is a simple way to engage with a place on a tactile level.
Hotel spas, however, are more complicated amenities that definitely take some getting used to. I’m not entirely sure I’m used to them myself. Though what I do appreciate is that spa treatments work in concert with the surrounding atmosphere of a place to provide a total immersion aesthetic experience that goes far beyond what a swimming pool alone can offer in terms of mood, subtlety and physiological effects.
Bekah and I took these photographs at the following hotels:
