Vacation Massage Finders

Everybody else is going on vacation this weekend, so I took my vacation last week. This was a trip to the mountains, a friend’s cabin and a week spent looking at birdies and not doing massages.

          

But part of the fun of a vacation is trying to find a good massage, far off from home, without knowing much about the locals. I looked in the local tourist magazine, which listed a couple of day spas and a mobile service. I looked in the local phone book, this time a few more names and more private practice therapists.

           

Vacation massage for me is part fun-hunt/part market research. I want to see if I can find a good massage, in what venue, etc. Last vacation I had used the tourist magazine and lucked into a small place with a good therapist, although I felt bad for her as she was working in a tiny room that required leaning over the table.

Vacation before that, I had gone to the front desk of a hotel spa and asked for their best therapist. I got the newbie working in the worst room – and her touch was so good and her body mechanics so bad I ended up breaking the “fourth wall” and told her I do massage. We traded how-to tips on massage and had a great time.

            

This time I wasn’t feeling the vibe from the print ads. I looked on Yelp. These guys list reviews from customers, and they have tried to make the system harder to post fake reviews, so there is some expectation that you may get a more honest opinion about a service or place.

            

This time Yelp told me where not to go. Pretty much everything in this mountain community got horrible reviews: pricey, low-quality, inept. Except for one place, with half-decent comments, so there I went.

            

Well, it was a salon. I tend to avoid salon massage, having had a long trail of so-so massages at salons. But I reminded myself that I had a part-time job at a salon when a massage student. Everyone starts somewhere. Plus, in some communities, salons are the best option for massage.

            

I called and talked to the owner, and told her I wanted a firm, therapeutic massage from a knowledgeable therapist. Might as well cut to the chase.

            

I did enjoy a great massage - from a therapist who is just starting out. She definitely knew how to find and treat knots, and at some point in the massage I drifted off into zone-out land. I promised her a good yelp.

           

What did I learn? As a stranger in a strange place, the “electronic shingle” helped me more than asking around or trying to judge a place by the size of their print ad. Something to think about.