Soak Your Way to Romance with a Hot Tub Spa Experience

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s something about a hot tub spa experience that makes a person feel warm. Add another person in the equation and you have the perfect Valentine outing. You can steam up some romance while basking in the steam-or if you haven’t had much time to talk lately. This is a terrific way to float stress away while muscles relax and you bask in uninterrupted time.

Here are three places I’ve been myself, and darn, I wish I lived closer to at least one of them. Our bathtub isn’t big enough for two.

Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe, New Mexico offers private hot tubs set out in the woods among the pinion trees. Everything is provided from plush robes to lotions to hair dryers after you soak for 55 minutes. Turn up the luxury factor by adding a massage or a spa treatment. You also can stay here. Not only are there Japanese style baths, but there are Japanese style accommodations.

At the Spring City Resort in Peitou near Taipei, you can rent a private spa room by the hour. The hotel website doesn’t list the hot tub only rooms, but I know they are available. I’ve been there. I’ve been in the hot tubs. Articles about spas in Peitou, a premier hot spring area of Taiwan, also list Spring City Resort as having hot tubs so I know this is something I didn’t imagine way back when. The mineral hot spring tub experience can be coupled with a feast afterwards. The buffet at the resort’s hotel is superb. I remember the eating part as much as I remember the soaking.

Glen Ivy Hot Springs’s Day Spa mineral baths aren’t exactly private. You sit in your private bath while your honey (or friend) sits in another and other people soak in theirs. Even so, the romance can build because this is a destination place where you can swim in the pool, get a massage or some other spa treatment, slather mud on each other, rinse off and then soak some more. Named oof the top “25 spas in North America” by the National Geographic Traveler Magazine, this place is located in Corona, California , a doable easy drive from Los Angeles. Glen Ivy has other locations as well.

Valentine’s Idea: Visit A Rose Garden

by Willy Volk on

Valentine’s Day is a special day, when we take the time to slow down, look around us, and appreciate the loved ones in our lives. Maybe, in addition, we also want to stop and smell the roses — literally. There are rose gardens — beautiful, vast, eye-popping rose gardens — the world over. And what could express your unending love more dramatically than a tour through one of these olfactory wonderlands? Here are five of the planet’s most beautiful rose gardens, just waiting for you to come a-calling. Warning: I don’t think they’ll let you snip a souvenir for yourself!

  1. Australia’s National Rose Garden is located on the banks of the Macquarie River at the historic Woolmers Estate in Longford, Tasmania. With varieties dating back to the 18th Century, the roses are available for viewing every day except Christmas.
  2. Hertfordshire, England’s Royal National Rose Society boasts more than 30,000 roses. A major program of bulb plantings has extended the garden season, so that visitors can enjoy the feast of color and beauty from Spring through late Summer. When its current renovation is complete, the Garden will feature an exhibit that demonstrates the History of the Rose.
  3. The Gardens of the American Rose Center, located just outside Shreveport, Louisiana, is the world’s largest rose garden. Five dollars gains you entry into this stunning, stunning, scented scene.
  4. Zakir Hussain Rose Garden is Asia’s largest rose garden. Located in Chandigarh, India, it is spread over 30 acres and features over 1600 different species of roses. If you can hold off your amorous tour until late February, you can participate in the Rose Festival, during which 20,000 people visit the garden.
  5. Though it may not be the biggest, Atlanta’s Carter Center features a beautiful rose garden overlooking the city. Grab a bottle of bubbly, and enjoy the best place in the city to watch the sunset.

Know of another beautiful rose garden? Share your knowledge with us!

Word for the Travel Wise (02/06/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Seeing this music video from the Sri Lankan Tamil born artist M.I.A. yesterday reminded me that it is time for a lesson in the language and also world music. Now based out of England, M.I.A. still turns her focus to her homeland, making music that makes you think as well as move your feet. If you’re just as unfamiliar with M.I.A. as you are with the Sinhala language, I suggest getting with the program – at least one of them. (See comments for both “yes” and “no” in Tamil.)

Today’s word is a Sinhala word used in Sri Lanka:

owu – yes

English is spoken by ten percent of the population and Sinhala is the official and national language of the country. I’ve actually never tried to learn this one much, but judging from the alphabet it looks like a challenge. Omniglot has a great starter page on learning all the characters and use of this English to Sinhala dictionary could slowly help in distinguishing common travel words. Let’s Speak Sinhala offers lessons at a very small and reasonable fee. They appear to be one of the better Sinhala language-learning websites.

Past Sinhala words: hari shook, a da, ga ma, ida netu, purusha, sthree, Senasuraa da

Word for the Travel Wise (02/05/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on

You must forgive me for being light on the writing these days. I have been doing some vacation planning – the type that makes you want to pull your hair out and scream. Luckily this planning hasn’t anything to do with Bangladesh or me heading over there for the time being; rather today’s word describes what I’ve been planning.

Today’s word is a Bangla (Bengali) word used in Bangladesh:

ch’uti – vacation

Web resources for Bangla are few, but you can pick up quite a few words reading (not skimming) through the Wiki and from this Bangalinet site which has a small tutorial on how to write in the script. Beyond those two I’m sure there are others, but as I mentioned before it is like pulling teeth to get these words at times. My personal resources to the Bengali lang are limited, so much like you out there reading it’s the web or some LP guide out there with the basics.

Past Bangla words: bhromon, shobbho, nir dohsh, ohnubad, naach

Word for the Travel Wise (02/02/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on

If you’re going to head out to Vietnam during monsoon season you’ll need one of these, if not more…

Today’s word is a Vietnamese word used in Vietnam:

cái du – (gai zoo) umbrella

To continue learning Vietnamese online start with phrase list found at the NY Public Library. This Wanna Learn / Geocities page has some free words and phrases listed. It was one of few I could find online for free though you won’t get far. Rosetta Stone offers audio and web courses for a fee and there’s always the opportunity to take a Vietnamese language class in Hanoi, Vietnam with CIEE. For those flying through the country for just a few short days pick up the phrasebook.

Past Vietnamese words: Xe Ðap, xinh xinh, cam hut thuoc, tam biêt, bàn dô, phong giat (fom zuht), hành ly