Wellness vacations

Dear Friend,
Glad you came.
Wellness vacations are finally being enjoyed by enough travelers, often enough, that they are recognized as wellness vacations. By wellness vacations I mean vacations with wellness as a primary focus. People have gone on vacations built around a spa and stress relief, or skiing, biking, or hiking for years. But I don't remember anyone calling them by a category name like wellness vacations until recently. Of course, they were wellness vacations because they centered around physical activities which are such an important part of most wellness programs. It seems to me that more of us are consciously taking an active role in maintaining and improving our health, not just dealing with illnesses.

I am going to a spa for several days soon and am already getting health benefits. I don't want to be exhausted from taking long walks at the spa so am pushing myself here at home to be in good shape when I get there. Being prepared for the trip has already helped me stay the course with my exercise. Motivation to exercise takes some doing for me. The spa I'm going to isn't simply a place where you go to get "pampered" nor is it a 1980's fat farm. Those are probably good places to go too, but I am going to a spa that promotes wellness with exercise classes of many kinds, nutrition classes, acreage and trails for walks, life sports like golf and swimming, and some mind-body connection type classes like journaling and meditation, plus massages and other "pampering" activities. I have been to two spas before this. One in West Virginia is a family spa where the whole family can go. The other in Virginia is a ski resort that has spa services. Both are in beautiful locations and I went to both during summer time, when I could walk as well as take advantage of exercise classes and services - massages, facials etc. which were very good. But neither of those spas offered the wide variety of classes in the mind-body category nor the extensive services and opportunities to observe nature that this one does. Nor did I stay for long at either of the other two. I will be at this one 5 nights - and almost 5 full days. I'll let you know in a month or so how it was.

Websites about spas and active vacations are plentiful. Here are a few that look good to me. I haven't traveled with these groups, nor followed the advice on them, but the sites look good to me and I hope to use some of their information in the future. Let me know if you have used any of these sites. Some are about trail guides and other free services - some about wallking tour groups.

http://www.walkingconnection.com/
http://www.vbt.com/
http://www.adventureguidesvt.com/adventure_vacation_packages.htm
http://www.spafinder.com/spaguide/features/index.jsp
http://www.dot.state.ny.us/reg/r8/bikes/

The VBT site used to have walking trips also and many years ago I went on a 5 day walking trip with them. They offered beautiful sites for walking, personable and knowledgeable guides, and good places to stay. But it was many years ago. Now they have bicycling trips only.

I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with my friend Sue today. I am also grateful for people who volunteer their time to others. That is one thing that sets the United States apart from many other countries. What would we be like if people didn't take the time to volunteer at the hospitals and schools, with hospices and senior services, for Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity. There are so many other groups - can't begin to name them all. I am thankful.

Please come back,

Maggiegladyoucame