Top Ten Reasons to Love Spas

Spas can be a great way to spend money and time on your resort vacation

1. No Dress Code

For most spas, the dress code can be summed up in one word: nothing. As in, they don't care what you show up wearing, and you can spend the majority of your time as clothed or clothe-less as you care to be. What other luxury experience encourages you to show up in sweatpants, with your hair in a clip, and no makeup on? Plus, the minute you get there, you're going to be given a fluffy soft robe and some sandals, and that's the most you'll be expected to dress up the whole time. Save the primping for dinner reservations later and come-as-you-are to the spa.

2. Free Food

I get teased a lot for this, but I've always felt that food tastes better when it is free. When I'm left alone in the spa lounge for even thirty seconds, I immediately raid the tea/snack bar like it's an all-you-can-eat buffet. I brew a cup of exotic tea designed to restore something vital that's been missing in my life, like balance or immunity. I grab a banana and a napkin full of trail mix. I even love the water with random fruit floating in it, that still tastes exactly like tap water. And when I am deposited back in the lounge after my treatment, I hit the buffet all over again.

3. You're Not Expected to Talk To Anyone

Everyone's into their own thing at the spa, and unless you're one of those people who go with a gaggle of girlfriends, you're there alone. Everyone's in the lounge ignoring each other, reading something that doesn't tax your brain, like Random Spas You've Never Been To Monthly, and gorging on free treats. There's no pressure to be social with anyone.

4. Swimming Naked

I long ago decided to get over any sense of modesty in the spa. At this point in my life, I've pretty much come to terms with what I've got to work with, and don't much care what in a women-only locker room can be seen. I dress and undress in front of my locker, slap a robe on and forget about it.

After that, the only hurdle is actually getting out from under the cover of the robe and into the relative cover of the whirlpool water without looking like a) you're a total exhibitionist, and b) you're trying to rush (because getting in or out of a whirlpool naked is not something you likely want other people to witness in any detail). Once in, there are few feelings more delightfully decadent than soaking naked in a hot tub.

5. Looking and Feeling Younger When You Leave

For the past few years (I won't say how many), I've turned 26 on every birthday. The truth is, I'm not actually getting younger every year. I can remember more than one facial where I walked out of the building with glowing skin and a much younger, less tired face. That's what a facial should be about, and that's a great way to start (or end) a stay in a spa resort.

6. Goodie Bags

I love taking a bit of the spa experience home. After one facial at the Cheeca Lodge & Spa, the therapist loaded me up with free samples she'd used on my skin. I know it's all part of upselling, but as long as there's no hard sell to accompany it, I can't resist free samples (see "Free Food," above)

7. Other People Make You Look Pretty

There's something about a small army of people hovering over me to transform my sweatpants-wearing, hair-in-a-clip scraggly self into a vision of glowing inner beauty that I enjoy. It's like the old fantasy of being fanned while someone peels grapes to feed you -- something only royalty could experience in the past. At a spa resort, I can get an hour of that kind of treatment for just a couple hundred bucks or so -- much less than an actual palace staff would cost. Plus, as much as I like the feeling of a head-to-toe aromatherapy lotion or body scrub treatment, there's no way I'm going to do all that work myself. Better to leave it to the pros.

8. Spa Food

I actually like spa food, and I'll tell you why. Going to a spa is all about focusing on yourself and your body. For most meals on the road (in fact, most restaurants in general), you have the choice between a bunch of yummy-sounding but hugely fattening food, served in oversized appetizers and entrees, and enormous heart-attack inducing desserts. Or, as the one healthy alternative, you can have a bland Caesar's salad with dry, tasteless chicken. A good spa menu has a variety of choices, with naturally flavorful food and spices, plus hopefully a small shot of dessert or fruit for something sweet.

9. People Rub Your Feet

I have to say, there are few things I love more in life than getting my feet and head rubbed. I once came upon a spa (no longer around, sadly) that offered a head-hands-feet massage. Heaven. More recently, I started off a day at the Red Door Spa (at the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure) with a foot soak and rub next to the pool. Whenever I'm asked in a full body massage what areas to concentrate on, I always say head, hands, feet. They could do that to me all day; it never gets old.

10. It's Relaxing

Sure, spa music is one step up from elevator music on the excitement factor, and if I hear a spa version of "Girl From Ipanema" one more time, I'm likely to toss my herbal tea. But, done correctly, spas can be a world apart from the real world, with its noise, hassles, and endless to-do lists. Walking into a spa, shedding your clothes and cares, breathing in some exotic fragrance, and having nothing on your to-do list but to relax and be pampered, is a great way to spend an hour or two -- and really get you into a vacation mindset quickly.

11. A Few Things Not To Love About Spas

I do love spas, but I have to admit to a few things that bug me. Avoiding them has helped me keep my love of spas intact:

• Therapists that talk through your treatment.
• Therapists that try to sell you things, even during your treatment (yes, I've had that happen).
• Spa lounges that are Grand Central Station.
• Long medical waivers. I recently spa'd with an acquaintance whose initials were M.M. She signed the forms "Mickey Mouse" in messy script. No one questioned it. I'm thinking of signing mine Charlie Chaplin.
• Oily massage oils that make you feel like a greased pig afterwards.
• Couples treatments.
• Hot Stone Massages. They put me to sleep.
• Manicures. I want to lay back with my eyes closed, not sit up and chat, during a spa treatment.