Travel Betty has traveled to 23 countries on 4 continents and is eager to visit all the rest and share her experiences with fellow Travel Betties like you.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Having always wanted to try that treatment where they dribble hot oil over your forehead, I do a search when I’m in Bali and see that Prana Spa is my best bet.
It’s a bit of a splurge, but Prana also owns Chill, my ultimate favorite reflexology place in Bali, so I know it’s going to be quality. Unlike Chill with its clean, sparse design, Prana Spa is quite elaborate. The décor has lots of Indian influence with rich colors and regal flourishes. And the spa is part of a bigger complex including villas, a delicious veggie restaurant I went to twice (a veggie restaurant that also happens to serve meat!), and a pretty kick ass and reasonably priced store.
After checking in at the front desk and being a dork by taking pics (so my Betties can get a feel for the place), I am led back into the spa complex to an ornate changing room. Another woman, who I will affectionately refer to as the Spa Nazi, instructs me on the finer points of dressing roomery. It’s not so much in a “let me be helpful to you” kind of way more than it is a “I’m the boss, jackass” type of helpful. I don’t dare ask to take pictures of the dressing room. I don’t even dare to look around too much. But before I get a detention for snapping my gum, I am fetched for my Ayuervedic Shiro Dara treatment.
In the treatment room, I spy what I assume is the oil drooling device and I start to feel giddy. But before we can get to the good stuff, the whole thing starts off with a scalp, neck and shoulder massage. It’s nice and all, but I’m anxious for the oil. And soon enough it comes.
Regarded as an anti-aging treatment, Shiro Dara is also said to awaken the third eye. At first mine says, “Hey, who the F$#@ is pouring hot oil all over me?” but after a minute or so it says, “Mmmm, this feels good if I just keep my lid closed.” The oil is warm and silky and oh so soothing as it glides over my skin and starts to drench my hair. Every once in a while, the technician moves the spigot around so that the oil isn’t just spilling onto the same spot on my head. I think about how this whole process sounds similar to Chinese water torture and I can’t help but think what a difference viscosity makes.
Unsure of how long it will last, I spend most of the time trying not to worry about when it will stop. Maybe defeating the purpose. But either way, I feel relaxed and calm and pampered. After about 20 minutes, the well is dry and I am again given a neck and shoulder massage. But now it’s just feeling kind of irritating because the technician keeps rubbing the same few places over and over again. Soon enough, I am offered tea and led back up to the Spa Nazi. I spend my time in the shower thinking up ways of getting myself my own oil dribble machine. With spa prices what they are in the States, I doubt I’ll ever know the pleasures of Shiro Dara again.
Travel Betty Basics
Prana Spa at the Villas
Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Ambiance: 5.0 out of 5 Passion Fruits
Treatment: 3.5 out of 5 Passion Fruits
Cost: $75 U.S. (the only place that charged me in dollars)
Note: I was able to make a reservation for my treatment online which was great because I didn’t have a phone. But I didn’t get a same-day appointment, so if you want to go, make sure that you reserve ahead of time. It’s the only place I’d needed to.
Just a reminder to all you No Reservation fans, Anthony Bourdain enjoys the delights of Mexico tonight on the Travel Channel.
I’m hoping he spends some time in one of my favorite vacation locations, The Yucatan, and visits my dear amigos at Tita Tulum. I mean, it’s about time Tony starts following Travel Betty around the world, instead of the other way around. We’ll see.
Speaking of, in November, Travel Boyfriend and I were lucky enough to spend some time bellied up to the same parilla counter Tony and his brother ate at during last season’s Uruguay episode.
Stay tuned for more details from our trip, which was mostly Argentina-based (aside from 3 days in Uruguay and a few exciting minutes spent in Brazil after a failed attempt to sneak over the border sans visa!)
As noted in my open letter to Benjamin Weisman, I suffer from panic attacks. They started back when I was in grad school, but they weren’t too bad then. Usually they occurred while I was driving and I’d just roll down the window or turn on the AC to feel something moving around me and within a minute or so, back to normal.
Over time, they got worse and worse until a couple of years ago when I was taking public transportation in the East Bay and had a full-scale meltdown. I thought I was having a heart attack. I was convinced of it. I felt alone and trapped and terrified. Somehow I was able to make it to my freelance gig where I asked a woman I hardly knew to take me to the hospital. Once there, I was miraculously healed. Every symptom disappeared the second I told the admitting nurse that I thought I was having a panic attack.
After that, I would have at least one major episode annually, more often than not in November. Another doozy was when Travel Boyfriend and I went to Southeast Asia. It was our first night and we were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Until then I’d only really traveled to Western countries and to say that Cambodia is quite different than your Germanys and Spains is the world’s biggest understatement. Triggered by water retention around my ankles from the long flight and my discomfort at realizing I was as far from home as I’d ever been, this panic attack had me curled up naked on the bathroom floor with Travel Boyfriend feeding me Xanax and talking me down. After that I resolved to cure myself. I never wanted to feel that way again.
At first I tried talk therapy as well as some tapes I bought from that anxiety infomercial lady, Lucinda Bassett. The talk therapy helped with some other issues, but not the attacks. And I was too lazy to get very far with the tapes. Eventually I just decided to live with the periodic attacks and fear the month of November.
But a little over a year ago, I found out about a hypnotherapist in San Francisco named Angie Choi. Travel Boyfriend and I were just starting to plan our dream trip to Egypt and due to a nightmare I’d had in college, I was convinced something bad was going to happen to me there. In fact, I actually believed I was going to die in Egypt. That thought, coupled with the fact that my panic disorder had also manifested itself into a fear of flying quite inconvenient for a Travel Betty, convinced me to give hypnotherapy a try. Surprisingly after only a couple of sessions with Angie, I was able to take my first flight without Xanax. I couldn’t believe that the fear was gone. It wasn’t just sort of gone, it was completely gone.
Encouraged by that short domestic flight, I started to look as forward to my trip to Egypt as I’d always imagined I would. Angie made me a CD that was specific to my fears about the trip and so armed with that and my comfort bag, I was ready to hit the airport with confidence. The flight over went great and I thought I was cured. But at that point, I’d had yet to fly on Egypt Air.
My first flight on Egypt’s national airline had me gripping the armrests from the moment I stepped onto the decrepit plane. As we were taxiing down the runway for takeoff, the overhead compartments were shaking so violently, I thought they were going to crash down on our heads. I was a wreck and disheartened that I wasn’t totally cured. I was also afraid that this flight scare had dislodged all hypnotic suggestion and that I was destined to a life fearful of flying once again.
Luckily, that turned out not to be the case. Now, I’m about 80/20 with flights, and I rarely have to resort to Xanax anymore. Certain things trigger my fears. Anything that makes my body feel not quite right, like a cold or some unexplained soreness. Also drinking caffeine and especially if I drink alcohol the night before. If I’m even slightly hung over, chances are I’m going to feel afraid on the plane. It’s a bummer that I’m not totally cured, but it’s also so much better than it was before. I can’t imagine having gone to Bali by myself without Angie’s help.
Panic attacks are definitely scary, but being able to recognize them for what they are is a huge leap towards being able to manage them. If any other Betties out there have had positive experiences curing or managing their panic attacks, please feel free to share them in the comments section. That way we can all help each other to be more fearless on the road.
Travel Betty Basics
Unfortunately, the fabulous Angie Choi recently closed her practice, but she recommends Marilyn Gordon for other Travel Betties in need of hypnotherapy in the Bay Area.
Last time our country had a presidential election, Travel Boyfriend and I were on our way to Southeast Asia. I remember getting ready to board our plane in South Korea for Cambodia when I saw that my home state of Ohio had officially made Bush president for a second term. Tears sprang to my eyes as I felt shame and sadness. I was embarrassed and angry and could not understand how the man behind Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib could get anyone’s vote, let alone the majority of the nation’s.
I remember the conversation we had with our cab driver when we arrived in Phnom Penh. He told us he was confused because he’d ever met anyone from the United States claiming to like George Bush, so how could the man get elected again? I informed him that sadly, and most likely, the people who would vote for Bush were not the same people who would ever travel to Cambodia.
Throughout the trip we were asked to defend the voting actions of our fellow countrymen, but we couldn’t come up with a single defense. We were told that the world had excused America after the first Bush win due to the inconsistencies in voting, but this time, we were on our own. The world had put the USA on the Colbert Report’s notice board and I couldn’t blame them.
So, it is with tremendous gratitude and joy that tomorrow Travel Boyfriend and I will board another plane on our way to our belated honeymoon in Argentina and Uruguay with our heads held high. America is a country capable of so much more than the past 8 years have demonstrated.
1. Flies out of SFO’s International terminal, so you get to feel like you’re a global jet-setter even if you’re just going to Seattle. The terminal is newer, more spacious, has better food and is a much more relaxed environment than the domestic terminals. This has nothing to do with Virgin America, but it sure adds to the mystic and overall experience.
2. The check-in area has fresh flowers and white Mac-like self check-in kiosks. There’s a red carpet leading up to the first-class counter. You feel more like you’re in a retail environment than standing in a human corral.
3. The gate agents seem younger, hipper, friendlier and more eager to provide good customer service. They even smile!! Some of this may be perception, drafting off other Virgin brands and Richard Branson’s personality, but it is also illustrated through their advertising and even the uniforms worn by the gate agents themselves. Black t-shirts are not uncommon.
4. First-class is not astronomically out of reach. Yes, it’s more, but only by a hundred bucks or so each way. And if your flight still has open seats in first, they release them for only $50 more at the gate. So there’s always the possibility you’ll be movin’ on up like the Jefferson’s.
5. You don’t walk onto a plane, you walk into a club. Mood lighting makes all the difference. The crew is wearing uniforms, but they are far from stogy. The sleeves on the stewardess blouses had delicate ribbon details that made it look like it might be for sale at Macy’s.
6. The planes are brand new. You feel safer and they seem fresher and cleaner than the ratty-tatty planes of the Delta / United type airlines. No Cheerios crumbs all over the damn place.
7. I don’t know if it’s the mood lighting, but even the passengers seem more hip. Less mom hair, more gel-spiked bangs and tattoos. Perhaps Virgin attracts a more fashion conscious customer than Southwest. I felt cooler by association.
8. The entertainment options are good. No one is forced to watch “Air Bud: Golden Receiver.” TV, movies, games, there’s even a chat option if you want to pick up a fellow passenger.
9. The safety video is a great example of Virgin’s attention to detail. Yeah, they could have just got a couple of community-theater actors to mimic seat buckling skills in a rented studio space, but instead they made the video something you would actually watch. The video makes you like the brand. They treat safety in a way that acknowledges our collective intelligence without coming off as flip. Delicate balance handled astutely.
Somewhere in Mexico, a man pulls up to a beach in a camper, dog by his side. He unpacks supplies as the sun rises to warm his back. Rod and tackle in hand, a man sets out to befriend a stranger who will become the captain of the boat he takes out into the sea.
Somewhere in Mexico fish are caught and conversation drifts with the waves. Thick salt air cracks a man’s lips as he enjoys long deep contented breaths. A small boat bobs above the Pacific. The sun crests the sky, westward bound.
Somewhere in Mexico, a man is satisfied with his catch. The captain pilots him back to land to befriend fellow campers and swap tall tales over beers. There is talk of diving the cliffs of Acapulco.
Somewhere in Mexico a dog barks and the waves crash upon the shore and the sun slips back behind the horizon as a day’s efforts turn into dinner and a man is happy to have found paradise.
You may have noticed that during my Bali Spa Series endeavor, I became a little obsessed with the reflexology (as demonstrated here, here, here, here,here and here). Not wanting to chase away all of my loyal readers who prefer other types of spa treatments, I sign up for my first Boreh Scrub.
What the heck is that, you ask? Well, it’s a mixture of things like ginger, cloves, pepper, nutmeg, rice powder and cinnamon. Like the Balinese Lulur Scrub, this paste is rubbed all over your naked body before you’re wrapped like a spiced cadaver to stew in your own juices. It is said that Boreh improves blood circulation, relieves muscular pains and headaches, and is good for healing the flu. I can’t vouch for all that, but I did enjoy the treatment.
Having been to Putri Bali II for a Lulur Scrub my first week here, I choose to go to Putri Bali I to try the Boreh. I also decide to get a facial since I haven’t yet had one here. Typically I don’t like facials because they hurt, my nose runs and I enjoy popping my own zits, but for $5, I can afford to take a walk on the wild side.
The technician leads me through Putri Bali I’s lush garden to a private hut and starts me off with the facial. My hair is pulled back out of my face with a terry cloth band of questionable cleanliness. Then various lotions and tinctures are applied to my countenance. It’s relaxing, but is also totally something I could do at home and in less time. This isn’t like the pseudo-medical facials I’ve gotten at home from certified estheticians. There is no magnifying glass, no bright lights, no “expressing of facial congestion.” It’s just a down-home face cleanse and that’s alright by me.
After the facial, the real fun begins. I’m given a pair of tourist panties and then the woman rubs the dark brown Boreh paste all over my body. It’s messy as hell and when all is said and done, the term “scat play” comes to mind (sorry, Puritans). It smells nice though and I am wrapped up and left to my thoughts to let the paste really work its magic.
After maybe 10 minutes, I am led to the outdoor bathroom attached to my private hut. The woman tells me to shower before getting into the flower petal bath she has prepared. I heed her instructions, hoping my shower runoff will be turned into some sort of Balinese mulled wine. Then I dip myself into the bath and soak my cares away while sipping hot ginger tea and watching ants scurry around the tub.
Travel Betty Basics
Putri Bali I, Legian, Bali Indonesia
Ambiance: 3.0 out of 5 Passion Fruits
Treatment: 3.5 out of 5 Passion Fruits
Cost: Boreh Scrub 100,000 rupiah (including tax) / Facial 50,000 rupiah (including tax)
What that means in U.S. Dollars: $16.21
Another week, another gazing over at Travel Boyfriend through blurry tears to see a similar reflection staring back. Yes, yes, I know, get over Anthony Bourdain, Travel Betty.
Well, it’s hard.
He started his television career off so irascibly, but has mellowed through the past three seasons like a fine cheese. There’s depth to him. Yes, he’s still cantankerous and that’s one reason to love him, but he’s also sentimental in a very manly and appropriate way.
For those of you who just watched the past two weeks’ episodes with him in Japan and Spain respectively, you know what I’m talking about. And for those of you who didn’t, please set your TiVos now. There will certainly be repeated airings.
Next week he explores Egypt. Having spent a good deal of time there last year, I’m curious what gastronomic successes he finds. Besides the koshary, my only memory of Egyptian food involves buffet pap and bread shaped like crocodiles. Not that I didn’t find the latter amusing. It’s just that my gag reflex still engages when I think back to the grit-marinated kebab meal we had on the outskirts of the Khan el-Khalili market.
But yes, okay, I hear you. You get the point. Tony’s show is phenomenal. It’s transcendent. It’s to be seen. And you are going to watch it so I don’t have to keep beating a dead horse into a tender succulent meal prepared by a village-dwelling culinary master like the ones Tony invariably meets weekly in his travels.
Don’t worry, next week is the Season Finale, so you won’t have to hear from me on the subject for a few more months. Until then, tune in. And maybe read Tony’s blog while you’re at it.
I expect you have seen what Yaro Starak released
during the previous week. The videos and interview
with a million dollar blogger he published to help
us all become better bloggers really impressed a
lot of people - including me.
Today is your chance to become the next blogging
success story and Yaro is willing to help you get
there. He certainly helped me.
His private coaching program has just opened to
take on new students. You can join here -
The program, called Blog Mastermind, is
comprehensive and includes -
- A step-by-step coaching course delivered in
weekly lessons in text and audio format
- Private members-only forum community and access
to regular live training calls with Yaro (you can
ask him anything you want about your blog)
- Video case studies of blogs and a ten-part
series of audios from Yaro covering the core
aspects about what it takes to earn big dollars
from a blog
- Access to the social traffic club, a special
community of members who help each other drive
traffic to their blogs from social media sites
- 5 unique interviews with professional bloggers
like Darren Rowse, Brian Clark and Andy Wibbels
- Plus loads more.
You can take a behind the scenes tour and hear
Yaro talk about his coaching program if you watch
the short video at the start of the sign-up page
here -
This is definitely the only course I know of that
teaches you how to make a full time living
blogging only part time, and how to build a real
business from a blog, taught by someone who has
actually done it.
Yaro’s teaching style is unique, he’s easy to
learn from and has an ability to make complex
subjects simple to understand.
He’s also one of the only bloggers I know of who
really understands Internet marketing and how to
build a business that doesn’t suck all your time.
Plus he makes over six-figures a year from his
blog!
No matter what level of blogger you are, whether
you are brand new and still don’t even have a
blog, or you are an experienced blogger who wants
to take their income to the next level and stop
working so hard, Blog Mastermind is for you.
Yaro is offering 3 fast-action bonuses for the
first 100 new members who join his program today.
They include three interviews and videos on
important subjects to any blogger -
- How to effectively implement Yaro’s
“Conversion Blogging” system on your blog
- How to use video to market online, just like
Yaro did with his recent videos, with advice from
video expert Gideon Shalwick
- Advanced tactics to improve your conversion
rates to sell more from your blog posts and email
newsletters, coming from Will Swayne, the
conversion specialist Yaro hires to improve his
blogging business
These bonuses are only for the first 100 new
members today, so you better hurry if you want
these extra goodies. Here is the link to join the
coaching program -
Even if you don’t join Yaro’s program today,
make sure you study his videos and the Blog
Profits Blueprint report he gives away.
Yaro offers so much great advice that won’t cost
you a cent and I’m sure if you follow his
instructions you will begin earning rewards from
your blog.
- Travel Betty
PS. Remember, if you want the fast-action bonuses
you have to join Blog Mastermind within the first
100 people. As I write this, 60 people have
already joined up.
The talk therapy helped with some other issues, but not the attacks. And I was too lazy to get very far with the tapes. Eventually I just decided to live with the periodic attacks and fear the month of November.
