Spa Junkie

Enjoying post spa treatments
with beverage of choice - wine
for me and juice box for Emma

I caught up over email with a colleague who is both a fellow dog lover and spa junkie.    Diane related to my blog on the ayurvedic spa treatment in Sri Lanka with a recent trip through Seoul and a massage at the airport spa.   We both left the experience with pain and wondering why we actually paid money for that level of torture.     Quietly I thought to myself - who goes to the spa at an airport.

Fast forward five days and I am coming back from Mumbai after a busy three days of meetings.   Feeling like my brain had turned to liquid and left me slightly numb, I misread my itinerary and ended up at the airport 2.5 hours early.    India domestic travel is not fancy and the quality of the airports vary greatly depending on the number of international flights they have.    Fortunately Mumbai is quite nice.    Security takes about 5 minutes, there is no removing of shoes or belts - just the requisite laptop in a separate container.   I often send full size toiletries and bottles of water through no problem.   The security will confiscate alcohol- how convenient for them to enforce the liquid rule on that product only.    I walked through the relatively empty airport as most people were in the local pubs or home watching the Cricket World Cup - Pakistan vs. India, which we (yes, I mean India) finally won.     Given Diane's recent comment on the Korean airport spa I felt inclined to check out the services and prices of the Mumbai O2 Spa.  

I was greeted by a lovely Chinese woman in a Sari, yes things in India are often not what you expect, and handed a menu.    Reflexology, massage, manicure, pedicure  -oh the choices for Rs900 ($19 USD) to Rs2000 ($44 USD).     I cranked my neck around the corner only to see several pairs of hairy calves propped up on terry cloth footstools.    A crew of Asian masseuses dressed in crisp white jackets slathered on jasmine oil and applied pressure the several sets of hairy toes.    I was surprised that all the clientele were men and they were all getting the 30 min foot reflexology.   I evaluated my choices.  The Luna Bar sat behind me in the center of the concourse and the male dominate spa in front.    A gin and tonic with a bag of chips cost about the same as the foot massage and since it was only 430 pm, I opted for the reflexology.   

The entire process was quite normal and relaxing, I nearly fell asleep in the reclining seat.    The only negative side effect is that my feet swelled up like balloons in flight and I was barely able to walk to my car once I was back in Bangalore.   I guess I had a lot of toxins.   Airport Spa - thumbs up from me.