By Susie Ellis, the SpaFinder Insider

One fun element of spending time at a spa where you interact with other guests (especially at destination spas – my favorite kind of spa) is that you learn some interesting tidbits from others.

Between conversations on a hike or chatting with someone at a meal, I get a glimpse into other people’s lives which are often quite different from my own.

I recently spent the day at Rancho la Puerta and here is a sample of the nuggets I learned….

1. I met one lady on the last part of my three-mile hike who told me about her flower and plant business. She is a horticulturist and sells seeds to nurserys all around the world.

I asked her my favorite question…”What trends are you seeing in your business?” Of course, I have no idea if there even are trends in plants and flowers. Can flowers be “in” or “out”? Well, apparently yes!

She shared with me, for example, that when the economy is bad, flower and plant purchases go up. Seems that people are not traveling as much and not buying homes, so they are fixing up the place where they live. Also, in a down economy, the trend in flowers is color, color, color. Apparently when people are depressed, colors add vibrancy to life so fashion and plants follow that trend.

She also taught me that if you want your garden to be seen at night, you have to plant white flowers. They are the only color visible in the dark. Another strong trend she is seeing currently is toward planting things that do not take as much water and are more eco-friendly.

And finally before the hike was over she told me that Costco changed everything about poinsettias. They were always such a special and popular gift at holiday time, but when Costco started selling them for such low prices, “the gig was up.” Now people know they are inexpensive – in fact cheap, so bringing someone a poinsettia doesn’t count unless you brings lots of them!

The hike ended too soon…I was having a lot of fun learning about her world!

2. Another tidbit I learned (this was something I overheard two other people discussing) was a clever way to quickly cover gray hair regrowth in between trips to the salon. Mascara! The woman explained how she just uses her brown mascara brush and fills in around her hairline. Haven’t tried it yet…but sounds like a good idea for a quick fix.

3. And then at dinner, we had a lively conversation with a group of people about the new buzzword “staycation.” I’ve already blogged about it (basically it is taking a vacation while staying home or going on a vacation very close to home.) Anyway, one of the guests from the west coast said she is now hearing the term “daycations.” I guess that is taking a vacation for a day. Am I to assume now that one can take a daycation-staycation? Or a staycation-daycation? Oh dear.

I could go on and on, as could anyone who has been at a spa where there is interaction…but was just thinking about how it is really no small thing to connect with people at spas. It truly enriches the experience.

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