La Butte Aux Bois. 

How I wish I was still sunbathing, on the patio of the Spa Retreat La Foret, drinking detox water, being able to go swimming inside, or relax in the hot tub outside. 

My first thought, upon arrival, was "This place is way too fancy for me." I arrived, the only one, in ripped jeans, my parka, converse and a stripey top. It was boiling. The parka was a big mistake.
One of the first things I said to anyone in the group was "Could you please flick this bug off of my shoulder." I hate bugs and it was massive.
I'm not the greatest conversationalist, I would say I'm kind of awkward, and shy. So this was a very weird experience for me, my first press trip with 14 complete strangers. Even though, I felt quite awkward at first, by the next day, I felt much better and much more comfortable with everyone. They all turned out to be lovely people, with some odd ones.

We arrived on the Friday afternoon, greeted with champagne glasses and oysters. I had never tried oysters before, and I didn't even know if I ate it right. I just did what I've seen my mom do before, so I ate the oyster, and I was gagging... It just felt like I was drowning in the ocean and have swallowed a major amount of sea water. |Now, this is just my personal opinion of oysters, nothing bad about the hotel, I'm sure they were amazing to those that do like oysters.

First course, lunch at La Butte Aux Bois. 

We were invited to lunch, out on the patio, and it was beautiful. A sudden rush of peace came over me. Birds were singing, sun was shining, and light wind was blowing.

It just felt so away from all the cities, it was so fresh to be out of a cold busy city, and the food, the food was absolutely amazing.




There was too much amazing food for me to talk about.
After lunch we had some time to relax, and I was so happy I had a bath in my room. Living in a house share, with one shower between 5 people, isn't the greatest, so having a nice bubble bath to myself, just made the trip so much better. I made myself a Nespresso coffee, and just relaxed.

The next day was all about Spa treatments, I chose one of the longest massages, because who wouldn't. The Mud Massage costs EUR 120, and lasts 85 minutes. I should've realised that it wouldn't be a massage for the whole 85 minutes, it was more like 20 minutes, but it was still nice. The second treatment was a Classic Body Wrap, cost of EUR 90 for 90 minutes. This was definitely a weird experience.
I had to be completely naked, except a paper underwear thing that looked like a thong, I was first measured and then bandages were put all over my body, from neck to toe. The bandages were soaked in mud and water with minerals, that tightens, exfoliates and cleanses your body.

 The hotel doesn't look that big from the outside, but it's very easy to get lost once you're inside. Which makes it difficult when you're trying to find the spa, and walking around the hotel in your bathrobe.

The hotel also offers different activities for guests. On the Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30 am and had yoga at 7 am. Yoga was a lot more difficult than I remembered it to be. I am not a flexible person, and in some parts I wasn't enjoying it, but I didn't want to be the only person to say so. My favourite part of the yoga was definitely at the end, when we were told to lie down by our Yoga instructor, and she put blankets on all of us. That was very relaxing.

The hotel's service was amazing, everyone attended to our every need, made sure we were always comfortable.

My bedroom.

It was an amazing experience and an amazing first press trip. I look forward to many more in the future.

For more information, look out for my review at:
thetravelmagazine.net