Floatarium Fan
So KP and I had been planning on going floating for a while and were really looking forward to chilling out and having a girly, stress-busting afternoon of floating, eating, chatting, eating, chatting and um more eating...... We like our food!
The Floatarium in Stockbridge made famous in Alexander McCall-Smith's wonderful Scotland Street series was our destination.
I didn't really have any preconceptions of what it would be like - I was just relishing the prospect of relaxing on my back and being weightless. Being 37 weeks pregnant one is not supposed to sleep flat on ones back and I have missed stretching out like that - plus feeling very large, heavy, slow and bloated - weightlessness well -woo hoo! Bring it on!
We each got our own room with shower and floating 'pod'. After showering and putting on a swim suit and covering any cuts in Vaseline (!) - that water is salty- the assistant returns and gives you ear plugs & a neck cushion and shows you how to lie in the 'pod'. There is a little light you can control yourself and the door is easy to push open - so no worries of being buried alive in the dark!
The water was lovely and warm and after the initial reluctance to completely relax and put ones head back you can float easily. They play some relaxing music for ten minutes then it goes quiet for the rest of the float session and then ten more minutes of music at the end to wake you up!
I felt like the quiet time in the middle went really quickly - baby B kicked quite a bit - I think they enjoyed it too! I dont think I dosed off but then I'm not totally convinced that I didn't.
Top tip if I do go back again would be to take a bigger towel and my own shampoo and conditioner etc. I wasn't expecting to be covered in a light salty crust afterwards which took some showering off. I could have cultivated some wonderful dreadlocks with the mattedness of my hair too!
Feeling very relaxed, sleepy and a bit dizzy you are given a wee room to sit down in with a glass of water, some mags and a hair dryer to chill out and get yourself together afterwards.
After all that hard work - Kirsten and I felt like we had indeed earned ourselves a long, large indulgent lunch and headed straight to Pizza Express! :-)