Where Have All The Bathtubs Gone?

I was born in the sign of water, and it’s there that I feel my best.  That is a song lyric from the hit song Cool Change, by the 1970’s group The Little River Band. 

Yes, I am a Pisces (water sign) and I do LOVE to take baths.  I like the water HOT.  I like to soak, to POACH myself and water logged toes do not bother me a bit.   Occasionally, I will light a candle and take a cocktail in there, but usually it is just me and reading material.

I love bathtubs and have literally bought a house because there was a giant bathtub and wood burning fireplace there, two essential things for me! 

Every place I visit, you can bet I have checked out the tub or at least set my bottom down in there and tried it out for size imagining what it might be like to have a bath.   If I am visiting you, I probably have brought or picked up some nice smelling salts to add to the bath  or rooted around for some in your bathroom.  Bathing is a relaxation ritual for me and getting clean is just a byproduct of the whole bath experience. 

I like to read in the tub.  Every magazine and book that I have read is wrinkled and bent up from being water logged and that is fine.  If I have loaned you a book or magazine, chances are it has received water at some point. 

I use Magnesium rich salts in EVERY bath that I take.  Magnesium is a mineral you can bet you are depleted of in your body.   I have to take 3 Magnesium supplements a day (400mg) each time or I get muscle spasms all over and endure brain fog and other odd things. So many systems in the body need magnesium to function properly.    I take lots of calcium and other supplements too. 

The magnesium baths are so good for your muscles.  I buy coarse salt 25 pounds at a time and sometimes make gifts of bath salts with oils that I infuse and drop other essential oils too which add a whole other sensory experience to THE BATH!!!!!   THE BATH is a sacred thing for me and I think everyone would benefit from a nice, long hot bath once in a while.  Leaning back in the tub, swallowed up by mineral rich, great smelling water is just HEAVEN!  I don’t even need music.  The drip drip droplets of water is enough sound. Four senses are super stimulated during THE BATH!!!!

Maybe someday I will get to float in The Dead Sea which is located in the Jordan Rift Valley, bordered by Israel to the East and Jordan to the West. Its hyper-salty waters and mineral-rich mud are known for many health benefits, and many tourists and locals alike visit the hotels and spas on its beaches for mud treatments and salt baths.  You can learn more about this magical water here. 

Why is the Dead Sea called the Dead Sea?

One of the joys of travelling for me has always been to check out the depth and size of the bathtub in my room but alarmingly, hardly any hotels have bathtubs anymore.  Heck, even houses are doing away with bathtubs in favor of showers with multi heads, benches to sit on and room for an entire village in there.  Where have all the bathtubs gone?  I guess they are being broken up and sent to landfills in great numbers and this makes me so sad.  I have actually had to PAY MORE for a room in a hotel that actually has a bathtub.  REALLY?  What a bummer.

Perhaps the bathtub is going the way of other “obsolete” items like typewriters and rotary telephones though I can tell you, recently I NEEDED a rotary telephone.  Neighbors had a tree fall on their garage and took their phone out.  These little sisters have ONLY their land line as means for communication.  They neither have cell phones nor internet and don’t drive so if they have no phone service, they are kind of STUCK.  I was trying to help them get their phone service restored and needed to test the phone line that had been “repaired”.  They had two electric charged cordless phones which you can NOT plug into the outside phone jack to test but as little ladies can do, they pulled an old 70s Princess phone from a closet and we were able to be certain the phone service had indeed NOT been fixed. 

Seeing that old Slimline Princess phone brought back A LOT of memories.  It made me want to be 15 again, and take that super long cord all the way into the bathtub and chat away!  Those were the days!!

Does anyone know of any retro hotels with both of things for me?  😊  Now THAT would be THE BATH to write home about!