Flew from New York to London for the Professional Spa Conference late last evening on Air India. It was my first Air India experience. I have decided that flying business class is an investment in my health, so I am always searching for deals to avoid paying the crazy prices. This time it was Air India, which had some bargain business-class prices.

Well....let's just say you do get what you pay for, kind of. Thankfully, I arrived safely, and the lobster at dinner was a highlight. But there definitely were some trade-offs...such as trying to find the terminal for Air India at JFK, such as overhead bins so small that they can't fit a small suitcase, no socks or eye masks for sleeping, and chairs that, although they do recline, have the most awkward angle. I felt that I was on a gangplank ready to be heaved into the sea for most of the flight. It was all somewhat amusing. I don't want to complain, however, since I know it was still more comfortable than coach.

One other part of my flight turned out to be hysterical. There was a gentleman sitting next to me who must have flown Air India before because he brought his own slippers. But when he got his very large slippers out of his bag, I noticed that he also brought out a huge pack of AAA batteries. He then proceeded to put all of the batteries into the bottom of his slippers. Apparently these are his "massage slippers," which his doctor told him to wear on long flights. During the entire 6.5-hour flight, he was getting a foot massage.

And you thought my blog today wouldn't come around to spa......:)

Heading to the Monaco Spa Event. After a mad dash to the airport for my 7:15 p.m. flight and trying to catch up on emails on my Treo (right up until the time the door of the plane closed - OK, and a few minutes beyond), it's finally time to wind down. I love long flights for just that reason - and in a way the longer the better. I'm guessing we had tail winds because the flight was only 5.5 hours. Bummer… They woke us around one a.m. for the transfer from London to Nice.

I have added one more reason (to my growing list) of why spas should offer sleep health programs, one of my Top 10 Spa Trends for 2007. The guy in front of me on the airplane put his seat all the way back, strapped on a pair of sleeping blinders, and fell asleep. Just a few minutes later he began to snore - loudly. It was absolutely dreadful. The man sitting next to him got up and moved as the rest of us tried to muffle the sound with headsets/music/tv - anything. I couldn't help noticing that the snorer was overweight and appeared to be breathing irregularly. Clearly a potential sleep apnea case.

This situation reminded me of my friend Rick Aidekman (he and his wife Ellen own the beautiful Cornelia Day Resort in Manhattan). Rick was diagnosed with sleep apnea at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires about eight months ago. He is now using a small breathing apparatus and reports that his life has changed dramatically for the better. He has lost a lot of weight, the color in his face is restored, and he is no longer exhausted during the day. If more people would take the time to be tested and treated for sleep disorders, not only would they experience personal health benefits, but neighbors on airplanes would also not have to endure being terribly inconvenienced during a lengthy international flight.

Wow, was the La Guardia airport busy the day before the Christmas weekend! I have never seen such long lines for checking in bags. Oddly, the check-in line was long and the security line was short. Two flights (and no food) later, we arrived in Palm Springs. My husband had a surprise arranged: A massage just hours after arriving. What a great way to begin a vacation.

It reminds me of what Birgit Brin (the brains behind the Ligne St. Barth line of spa products) mentioned to me when I met her recently at a spa conference in the Caribbean. She said that she always recommends that people indulge in a treatment immediately after they initially arrive at the spa. Not only is this the quickest way to relax (something I have always said) but she added that the difference between your pre- and post-treatment mindsets is even greater than normal (something I have never really considered). But it is a good point. The "wow effect" of a spa treatment is clearly demonstrated when a client is taken from exhausted to refreshed over the course of a single service.

Just arrived in Palm Desert, California, where my husband and I will spend Christmas and New Year's. On the long flight I had a chance to get into the book my sister recommended recently, John Naisbitt's Mind Set!: Reset Your Thinking and See the Future. What a great way to start a vacation for someone who is thinking about future trends (at least in the spa world) for most of the year. I'm loving the book already.

Yesterday I flew from New York to Palm Springs for a few days of Thanksgiving vacation. I had some time en route to catch up on reading. Mostly I read spa press releases, industry magazines, and articles people brought to my attention. My favorite from yesterday's batch was this article from the LA Times titled, "Rest: It's required. Adequate sleep is as crucial to a healthy life as diet and exercise, researchers are finding." Written by Susan Brink and published last month, the article seemed appropriate for perusal on my way to a vacation. And it made me smile, since the sleep factor was one of our predicted trends for spas in 2007. Since you might be having a few days off this week (or especially if you aren't), take a moment and read about the value of a good night's sleep.

Well, my Korean massage ended up being terrific. Joe was my therapist's name. The massage given at the Seoul Airport Massage Center is really perfect for the period between long flights. They don't use oil (good idea, as that would be a mess between flights), and they give you long white cotton shorts and a t-shirt to wear. The massage itself is a combination of stretching and deep pressure-point massage. The showers are good enough, although I was looking everywhere for a towel and finally found a tiny white one, which I thought was for the floor. I realized that this was the towel massage clients are meant to use for drying off. Ok...it wasn't luxury, but after a 15-hour flight from New York, it felt great.

I'm at the computer terminals (free!) at the Incheon International Airport in Seoul, Korea. I have a three-hour layover before my flight to Cebu, Philippines boards. I am on my way to the Turning Point Spa Conference. After almost 15 hours of flying, I'm happy to discover that this very sleek and modern airport has massages and showers available. So up to the fourth floor I go and sign up for a 60-minute massage. My appointment is in about 45 minutes. The cost: $81. I guess I will find out about the tipping policy when I go back for the massage. There's just enough time to check out the array of designer shops, and it looks as though Chanel is right across the way.....

I'm sitting in the cyber cafe of Bumrungrad International here in Bangkok, Thailand. Bumrungrad is the hospital that 60 Minutes called, "The number-one international hospital in the world." NBC's Peter Greenberg recently featured it on the Today show. It is getting a lot of attention because the price (low), access (you can walk in and see a doctor within 20 minutes), and quality (tops) are what everyone wants.

I've been told it is the health care of the future - so naturally I wanted to see for myself.

There are 750 doctors on staff, and they see one million patients a year. The nurses and large support staff (many of whom are concierges) have smiles and serve refreshments. The children's area was filled with little ones having fun on the colorful tubes - the kind you see at some McDonald's playgrounds - playing with toys, and crawling over couches and chairs that look like soccer balls. The doctor's offices for the kids resemble little play houses. I bet parents have no problem taking their kids to the doctor around here!

This large, very clean facility looks like a cross between a mall (with a Starbuck's, shopping, restaurants), hospital, clinic, and high-end hotel. The only thing they are missing is a really forward thinking spa facility which could be integrated for patients, visitors and staff.

People fly in from all over the world for low-cost medical procedures here, such as executive health physicals, heart surgery, plastic surgery, or Lasik eye procedures, to name just a few. Although they don't currently have a spa, there are some spa elements available: A gym, hair salon, and massage therapists who can come to your hospital room. There is also a rooftop garden overlooking the city of Bangkok with beautiful landscaping. As lovely as this outdoor space was, no one was using it. And because it is always hot and humid in Bangkok, I don't imagine it gets much use at all. (Looks like great space for a spa to me!)

Ruben Toral, the hospital's group marketing director who is quite passionate about the work they do there, gave me a full tour, explained the business model, and shared with me that they are expanding this facility and also building a new Bumrungrad in Dubai.

I hope he is right about their model - low cost, high quality and quick accessibility - being the future of health care. And now if they could get the spa element right, it would be a real winner.

On Saturday, I flew from Los Angeles to Bangkok on a plane that had just arrived from Thailand with an infamous passenger: John Mark Karr. The media frenzy at LAX with helicopters circling was quite the drama. Interesting that when I asked people here in Thailand how they felt about the man who admitted killing JonBenet Ramsey having been a school teacher in Bangkok, the answer was generally…Who is he? A humble reminder that the world does not revolve around America.

After a very pleasant 12-hour trip on Emirates Airlines from New York to Dubai, I'm at the airport awaiting my luggage. With me is my identical twin sister, Katrine, and we are both giddy with excitement to see what this scene is all about. I have tours of spas planned, plus I will be attending the Middle East Spa and Wellness Expo, and my sister insists that we not only visit but participate in Ski Dubai. (Indoor snow skiing, that is.)

Katrine just reminded me that I should mention that our seats on the plane had massage options. With five body-area settings and choice of pulse, wave, steady, and zigzag, one could vibrate for the entire 12 hours. Alas, hours of mechanical massage can't match the effects of even a few minutes of a skilled human touch.

Well, I'm off to the hotel! It's 9:00 pm here, and more adventures await. We are staying at the famous Burj al Arab (pictured at right).

The plane from New York directly to Singapore is 18 1/2 hours long, a record for me. Actually, I didn’t know that planes could fly that far without stopping to refuel. Then another two-hour flight from Singapore to Bangkok and another one-hour flight from Bangkok to Hua Hin. I must say I was quite pleased when my colleague Sallie, COO of Spa Finder, Inc., and I arrived at Chiva-Som. It was a return trip for me to this award-winning destination spa in Thailand and a first for Sallie. Chiva-Som means “haven of life,” which was just what we needed after the lengthy trip to get there. I couldn't think of a better place to collapse.

Sticking with my personal policy of having a spa treatment as soon as possible after a plane trip, I booked a Thai massage, which was performed one hour later. This was followed by a visit to my favorite relaxation room in the world. I remembered it well from my last visit. It is a dark room with just a few flickering candles and two very large waterbeds separated by hanging white gauzy silk-like material. The beds are slightly heated and covered with comfy towels and sheets. Someone I couldn’t see was snoozing away on the bed in the back, so I surrendered my body to the bed in the front--and promptly conked out. Woke up an hour or so later when the therapist came in to retrieve the other person in the room. To my surprise, it turned out to be Sallie, who had apparently also found this cocoon the perfect place to sleep off some jet lag. We had a good laugh later.