0225D: Seeking Relief


Tobie introduced me to the joys of massages and spas and it remains to be one of our regular activities for stress relief. But with the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila, it has become a little counterproductive to go out to a spa since the drive back just stresses you out all over again. This is especially challenging for Tobie since he drives us around and thus feels the burden of traffic the most.

To be fair, the spa experience means you get everything. Most offer some soothing herbal tea while you wait. Spas can have facilities like a sauna or hot pools. And you get all those fun aromatics that put you in a nice state of mind. You just have to get yourself to the spa somehow and if you bring your own car you need to deal with parking and the drive back.

We've thus been venturing with getting massages at home. The home service experience is naturally barebones and half the time you rely on your own towels and you mess up you own bed with massage oil no matter what sheets you use to cover things up. But you get a masseur who is focused on you and that could be good as long as you have a reliable masseur to hire. In exchange for a no frills experience, you also don't have to leave your home or deal with traffic and you can sleep pretty soundly after the session is over.

But finding a good masseur who can work with our work hours means availability late at night. And lets face it, a lot of home service folks tend to want to focus on "extra" stuff and that's not what we want. If the massage is terrible or offers no actual relief, then we're very unlikely to hire the same masseur again. It's a lot of trial and error and even when you find someone you feel comfortable with, things shift and they move on to another spa or something given enough time. Alas.

Life in the city is pretty tricky for many reasons. This is a silly one, but one that we feel significantly.

Comments