I am back from Poland and want to share a few of my spa experiences with you. As many of you know, whenever I travel I make a point to get spa services whenever possible, preferably things I have never tried or have not seen before. It is all about the experience, right?

             

Felicia outside of Wawel Castle in Krakow            

The first spa I went to offered in addition to the usual offerings of spa and skin care services, usage of a beautiful pool, jacuzzi and water area. As I unexpectedly had some time on my hands due to an appointment time mix-up, I decided to use the pool for a bit. At the front desk I was given a towel and wristband and pointed in the general direction of the locker room/changing area. As the receptionist's English was about as good as my Polish, no specific instructions were given.

When I walked through the locker room door, I found myself in a small entryway with another door to pass through. It was locked and I couldn't seem to get my room key to affect the lock panel as it should. After numerous tries and failures, I went back out to the reception desk and asked for help.  A different male employee who apparently spoke no English followed me to the locker room and held my wrist band up to the key pad. A buzzer sounded and the locker room door opened. Aha! He smiled and walked back out to the reception area.



More of Wawel Castle

Now to get a locker. Again I was faced with an electronic key pad to gain access to a locker....this one somehow hooked into all of the lockers which were numbered 1 - 54. The sign beside the key pad illustrated that I was supposed to hold up my room key to the scanner panel to unlock my locker so I did. Rather than assigning me one of the lockers 1-54, the keypad showed my locker number as 000. And none of the doors opened on the first, second or tenth time I tried to use this great technology. After about the 15th try, I sat down on one of the benches and started to laugh while I pondered my options.

#1 - I could sit in the locker room for a while and pretend I was swimming, #2 - Go out and ask for help again, making myself feel like a totally technological neophyte or #3 - Exit the locker room as gracefully as possible and go for a walk in the countryside instead.

I chose #3, which clearly surprised the receptionist and male therapist. But it allowed me to explore the area around the hotel spa, get some fresh air, and keep my dignity somewhat in tact. (Later I found out that the hotel has had a lot of problems with their locker room lock systems and felt much better about my difficulties with them. I doubt the same could be said for other spa or hotel guests though).



The view of the Wistula River from the Castle

So the morals of the story for me were to 1) Be flexible 2) Be able to laugh at myself and 3) Use the experience to think about how and where clients can face difficulties, frustration and/or fear in the spa.  Even though it was not the best situation I could have encountered, it taught me a lot and prepared me for the afternoon's spa adventures.

Stay tuned for details about my first Scotch Shower ever and my other spa adventures in Poland!