What kind of special skills a frequent traveler might need? You may think of travel logistics first, and you’re right: finding great new places to go, or booking cheap tickets well in advance is important. But there are some not obvious things that make the experience even better. For example, staying vital state during a trip is a mandatory skill, too. Over the years, I’ve been exploring massage – a powerful way to relax and regain energy.
Travel can drain a lot of energy, especially if you change time zones, seasons, your usual food and environment. As a result, you might face a discouraging problem: you have breathtaking views to contemplate and great new people to meet, but you find yourself in a state where you cannot actually enjoy it. There are some tips and tricks on how you can do it better and keep yourself in a good shape (keep you posted). But I want to pick one thing to start.
Today I’d like to talk a little bit about massage. To me, massage is a quick way to come back to my resourceful state. First of all, it helps to balance energy: relax or cheer up depending on conditions and technics. For me, it’s a particularly useful tool when I’m too tired to go to a gym or I need to compensate negative effects of stress: at least, there is no headache or sleepiness after massage compared to alcohol. It’s an immediate help to feel better, but it’s also good for health and wellness in general. I’m a big fan of massage and I know how difficult is to find a good one. Here I put some examples from my own experience.
Bangkok, Thailand
Strong massage for health and energy
Specialists tell about northern and southern schools of Thai massage. I have never been to Chiang Mai (north), so I can share my experience of the southern tradition. There is a massage center right on the territory of the famous Wat Pho Temple in Bangkok. It offers 2 types of massage: foot massage and full body massage.
It’s nice to come here after a day of sightseeing, so you can find lots of tourists. When I stayed in Bangkok for more than just a couple of days, I tried to make a course of several treatments. Last time I decided to learn how to do a proper massage myself, so I paid for one week training course in Wat Pho massage school.
Please note that Thai massage can be traumatic, so I wouldn’t recommend you to do it with strangers on the beach. Take care of yourself!
Kerala, India
Oil massage for health and rejuvenation
Kerala is all about ayurvedic massage, and it’s a part of a holistic approach to improve health and wellness. People who come to Kerala especially for Ayurveda spend one to three weeks at a resort having 2-3 hours of massage and other treatments daily. Some resorts are luxury and suit for holidays; some are very basic.
I stayed at Somatheeram, they serve mostly foreigners and have doctors who study both western medicine and ayurvedic tradition. Massages turned to be very relaxing, most of them oily with herbs, some of them are done in 4 hands. Besides Ayurveda, the resort provides yoga and meditation classes, vegetarian food, a beautiful garden and a warm ocean.
Once, an old doctor told me not to open my laptop as part of my treatment – and it was its hardest part. Love this place and these people!
Vichy, France
Thermal water massage for relaxation
Vichy was an unplanned point during our trip to France, from North to South. It was a nice summer time and lots of old people sit in open-air cafes playing cards and laughing. We spent one day there and decided to try a local experience in this famous SPA city.
It was a good thermal shower and hand massage. I wish I have this type of massage in my home city. There is no much to do in Vichy if you’re not here for long-term treatment due to medical reasons. But if I come to the age of 80+ and still have enough money, maybe I will come back!
Rotorua, New Zealand
Beautiful open-air thermal pools and massage for a price of 10 massages on Bali
It was my first ever experience of an earthquake. Given the geological situation in New Zealand, it’s not surprising at all, but some parts of the northern island are definitely more active, like Rotorua.
Here Kiwi have a SPA center with beautiful open-air pools of thermal water of different temperatures – I would definitely recommend it, it’s a really nice place to chill out and talk to your friends and strangers. Only now, selecting photos from my archive for this post I realized that this place is in TOP 10 globally, wow.
Massage, however, feels like a good massage at a good hotel, nothing special. The special part was about applying treatment based on local mud, so if you’re allergic, be careful. It was the most purple of any of my massages so far!
I have many more examples of different massages – from Bali, Turkey, Egypt, Tibet, China, Russia, etc. It seems that if I continue, I can write a book. If you have some great massage places to share, please add your comments or send us feedback. Someone can say, it’s a girlish business, but I would tend to disagree, men do this too! Talk to your doctor in advance, but if you don’t have any contraindications, enjoy it around the world!
