For my birthday last year, J gave me a gift certificate for a day at Fiori. Since my birthday is coming up again in a few weeks, I finally booked an appointment before the certificate expired.
OMG, why have I not gone there sooner? I'm not really a spa person (i.e., I like them, but I don't go very often), but this was definitely the nicest spa to which I've been. I'm really picky about...uh...hygiene, and I usually find some fault. Usually something minor like the towels not being quite plush enough for the amount of money I was paying. OK, that's not really a hygiene thing, but one of my typical "Gawd, you're so picky" complaints. I never actually complain because I realize it's no big deal - only J knows me enough to perceive that split-second flash of my nose wrinkling.
The owner is a business acquaintance of J's, and he built the building from the ground up. Even though it's a new building, it manages to exude an "old-world" Mediterranean feel. It even has a grotto with hot tub/pool! This is impressive since basements are unheard of in Houston. I can't say enough of the experience - everyone was helpful and sweet without being fake/overbearing. In between sessions, you could lounge in the "quiet room" or use the pool, hot tubs, or steam rooms. I had a wonderful massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure. It was incredibly relaxing, although every once in a while I would start, panicking, "Where's Weez?!" before I'd remember she was with J for the day. Of course I've had days away from Weez before, but never just a day of just quiet tranquility.
Some friends and I are going to the Arizona Biltmore in November for a spa weekend. I was excited about going before, but I'm looking forward to it even more now that I've had such a wonderful spa experience. It figures that I'd now become a spa junkie once I became jobless, LOL.
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I had the opposite experience with a spa gift certificate once.
No chance of my in-laws reading your blog, so I can post this here. My father-in-law (who lives in England) gave me a spa certificate for a facial one year as a Christmas gift. Of course, he found the spa online - named something like A++ Spa so it would come up first on any queries. I figured, how bad could it be? So D and I troop off to this spa (he'd gotten a massage gift certificate from his dad). We arrive at this neon sign covered place that is attached to a motel. Not a hotel...a true, seedy motel - Motel 6 would have been the Ritz relative to this place. It looked like it would rent rooms by the hour. At first, I wanted to run away, but the cheapness in me wouldn't do it - that's like throwing away $75. I ended up sticking around for the facial despite wanting to run away and never look back. D's masseuse was a 60-year-old woman who didn't look like your traditional spa person. I think her usual job must be cleaning the motel rooms. My facial guy was obviously gay (which made me feel a bit better), but I truly thought he was going to gauge my eye out when doing extractions. In the end, D said his massage was quite good and the end result of the facial was good, but I cannot imagine anyone actually CHOOSING to go into that place without a gift certificate (and to be honest, I think *most* people would have just said to heck the gift certificate). It was one of those times I wish I was a better writer and could describe the situation.
gooo spa!
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