Such great fun doing a Yoga-hula-hoop class!

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/Whats-Your-Workout-Hula-Hoop-131620493.html

It is rare when that any of us are happy when our flights are canceled or delayed. However, last week-end I welcomed the extra hour on Concourse “C” in the Atlanta Airport.

Concourse “C” has everything I love…

1.       A newspaper stand with current NY Times and pink pages of the FT, rows of candy that you have to lean over and touch when checking out, (M&M’s and Payday bars threw themselves onto my coat’s zipper and belly begging to be consumed) salty snacks, gia-normous bottles of diet coke, and the smallest packets containing one aspirin or a Tylenol (like that’s going to help).

2.       Popeye’s fried chicken- where the happiest people work and serve, extra spicy strips, and never-ever understand why I don’t want a “side” or my butter baked biscuit.

3.       X-press Massage, where the loungers vibrate and the up-selling is unrelenting.

So here is how my hour delay went down…

Firstly, I am always quick to supply my bag. If the airplane should crash on a deserted island, I, Susan Gwaltney would have enough rations for a week. So the newsstand was and always will be my first stop, after the bathroom, that’s a given.

Secondly, never swim, run or get a massage after extra spicy chicken fingers. So, X-press Massage was next. As I walked by, I did have a funny feeling of being “chatted up”, “pimped”. The massage therapists were lined up at the doorway advertising and saying to passer-byes, “you want massage?” I went to the “head matron”, who was standing by the large treatment menu and told her that I would like a chair massage. She, being the queen of up-selling and adding-on, was clearly disappointed when I only asked for 15 minute massage. Momma Matron offered me nail serves, full massages, hair, waxing, tinting and as a last minute attempt, reminded me that for $5 extra dollars, I could do a 20 minute massage. I said yes.

The therapists and staff are very welcoming, they never ask you to sign a waiver, or if you have any illness or injury that they should be aware of, but they do ask you at least ten times, “when does your flight depart?”

Music from a Chinese Restaurant plays in the background; and I suddenly want Moo-Shoo Pork and an eggroll. There is noise, lots of noise from the concourse and inside the spa.  A slight smell of cigarette smoke creeps in, as the smoking lounge is also Concourse “C.”  Strong hands squeeze my neck and lower back, pressing into my tight shoulders and then twist into my neck.

The customary, “you have tight shoulders” is said. I say, “I know” and the usual feeling of failure and guilt hit when that is reported to me. As if I have let down human-kind.

I am done and now sit on a vibrating lounge chair, which feels like a jet taking off, I automatically look for a seatbelt.  I sit for only a minute as not to bruise or lose a filling. As I am being rolled and shaken, I see a gentleman also getting a chair massage. He is a type “A” client, a multi-tasker, with face in cradle, he is on his Blackberry. I doubt he feels guilty when his massage therapist reports that his shoulders are tight. I wanted to grab his Blackberry and throw it out onto the floor of Concourse “C” as an offering, but it must have been a combination of the twang of the Chinese Restaurant music, my relaxed shoulders and Zen his massage therapist, who clearly could give a shit, so why should I!

I paid my bill, 20 minutes= $40, put my 30lb back-pack onto my newly massaged shoulders, walked past the line-up, thanked the head matron and turned left. Next stop, oh yeah, Popeye’s Fried Chicken.

Thirdly, fried chicken, goat, cardboard, shoe, and/or handbag… really, you fry it and put Popeye’s seasoning on it, serve it with Southern hospitality, I am eating it. With yellow box in hand, I walk to my gate, look out of the window, my back to the world and open, in peace, the little yellow box. The smell of zest, front porch and farm steams out of the box. I love my crunchy greasy chicken fingers.

It’s a great flight delay on Concourse “C”~

Susan Gwaltney

Essential Spa Consulting

Yesterday was the 2nd meeting of the newly formed Washington Spa Alliance .  We were a group of about 20 attendees, gathering to support our passion, life style,  and the art form of SPA.  Attendees represented a broad spectrum of the spa industry ranging from; spa operators, tourism & hospitality faculty, spa consultants, board members and a few spa icons!

We reviewed our mission:

The mission of Washington Spa Alliance is to act as a knowledge center,
connecting spa professionals in the nation’s greater capital region. WSPA works to
promote the exchange of education and innovation in the field, and to ensure
that the highest ideals of spa are met through policy and action.

But as we discussed our written mission… there seemed to be more. We were a group of men and women, working day to day in our own spa worlds, knowing that there are other spa operators and magazines and products out “there”, but too busy to connect to the people behind them. For the first time; without computers, without Blackberries, phones or interruption- we met in person,  and simply sat around a table and talked! We discussed licensing, training, what spa “used to be” and what spa has “become.” We talked about branding,  “green spa”  and guess what~ we talked about ourselves! It felt as if we were a group of ship wrecked passengers finally walking into a village and seeing other people for the first time! We kept saying to each other, “we are so happy that this group has formed.”

The 2 hours flew by, as well as our ideas, needs and future plans. We added layers to our forum. There is an operational side of spa to be investigated, and as we move forward we will look at the legislative as well as international side of our business.  We will meet as a group again, as will a thousand other spa professionals at the International SPA Conference,  in November held at the Gaylord National Harbor.

But more importantly as our “small snowball” gathers momentum we, our little group, will create a strong alliance with other spas locally, regionally, nationally and through the world. But today… we wake up, go to work, and START THERE!

Susan Gwaltney, Essential Spa Consulting- SPA BLOG

It’s Friday, soon finishing my wellness week at Rancho La Puerta. The door to my bungalow (circa 1950) is open, and a cool desert breeze is rustling the trees, and the yards of flowering bushes and …. dust, lost of dust.  Sun rays stream horizontally through any space that is not a flower or tree, and a staff member is calling for a cat to come in, “Leo, kitty kitty kitty, Leo.”

I had two treatments today- both wonderful, one was a massage and the other… was not so much a treatment but a down right necessity… I had my hair washed and blow dried.

This place is a bit funny, in the sense that when they get things right, wow, they really get things right, (food, art, instructors, landscape)  … and when they miss, it just makes me sad. I have had a 1000 massages, (you know what I mean) and being a spa consultant and developer, I do have a “cranky eye” for touches that make a nice room/treatment… into great space.(with very little money or effort attached- easy)

For example, the massage rooms at Rancho la Puerta have the most gorgeous Mexican tile on the floor, walls, sinks, you name it, there is tile.  However the massage table, has a faded maroon wrinkled sheet on it with a bath towel folded at the end, the face cradle is a pillow case that does not fit, so your face is half on the plastic head rest the other on a crease. OK, now hear me out… Mexico has the most beautiful bright  tapestry and material… why not that on the massage table, that would be “wow”? I swear it looks like someone slept on my sheets. My massage was great, but ya’know, it is the little touches here.

Now for the beauty salon, let me first say,is too, like my bungalow is circa 1950, which is fine, and makes an authentic statement. The beautician did a great job on my kinky curly hair, however at a five star destination resort- drug store cheap shampoo and conditioner, really don’t cut the cake. It really would only take about $200-300 to buy “back bar” professional products, even if it is just Paul Mitchel, or Revlon, Aveda for goodness sakes, Aveda … the products they use are so bad, they put them in a generic pump top container. Oh dear.There are no fancy gels, mousse, spray or even a flat iron. There was a guest putting rollers in her own hair!

Now that I am done with my “inner judgment”- tonight is the Fiesta, and it will be great, as they always are, especially if some guest gets drunk and sings. There will be losts of dancing, great food and a bit of Tecate beer… with hair blowing in the breeze and a bright shaw, I will not disappoint, as I am usually that guest who drinks too much and sings!! Oh I love I Rancho la Puerta!

Susan Gwaltney, www.essentialspaconsulting.com with travel spa blog