All posts tagged: soak

Masters rookies embrace nerves, soak in dream debut at Augusta

Masters rookies embrace nerves, soak in dream debut at Augusta

Published by Sam Flores

AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 7 : For Masters first-timers, the walk through Augusta National’s gates is equal parts dream fulfilled and test of composure as a new class of players tries to balance awe with the demands of one of golf’s most exacting stages. This year’s tournament includes a strong contingent of debutants who say they are trying not to be overwhelmed by the pressure that comes with playing in one of golf’s most anticipated events. “As a kid, it was a dream to just even be out here,” said Ben Griffin, who captured all three of his wins on the PGA Tour last year. “As a player, this is a dream come true.” Like many newcomers, Griffin said he was still absorbing the details of a course he had previously known mostly through television highlights and golfing lore. He pointed to Augusta National’s famed Amen Corner as a place where the atmosphere seems to shift. “Once you get to Amen Corner everything kind of gets a bit more peaceful,” he said, even as he noted …

‘Swim, soak, switch off’: an off-grid cabin stay in the Scottish Borders | Scotland holidays

‘Swim, soak, switch off’: an off-grid cabin stay in the Scottish Borders | Scotland holidays

Published by Sam Flores

The tiny, off-grid cabin looked almost unreal: made of repurposed oak it stood by a private lochan, with separate cedar sauna, cold outdoor shower, sunken hot tub, and a jetty with two hammocks and a pair of paddleboards. It screamed Finland or Sweden, not a sheep and deer farm in the Scottish Borders. It was the sort of isolated location that would set Ben Fogle’s heart racing in New Lives in the Wild. Two swans bugled my arrival. I felt a little embarrassed that all of it was mine. Sometimes, we need to escape to a place where the phone coverage is bad enough to make you believe you’re somewhere truly wild. Tiny Home Borders, hidden in rippling foothills 10 miles east of Hawick, is such a place. Last August, owners David and Claire Mactaggart opened a second two-person cabin on their farmland (the first opened in 2022) and I jumped at the chance to stay, swim, soak, and – crucially – switch-off. Red deer frequent the hills around the cabin. Photograph: Alba Images/Alamy That …

Need a soak? Try these spas beyond the known Koreatown spots

Need a soak? Try these spas beyond the known Koreatown spots

Published by Sam Flores

Our friendship blossomed in hot water. We met at a destination wedding, and while everybody else did shots, we nerded out about the art of public bathing. We discussed the sad reality of the spa experience in the U.S., which is more about isolated, expensive treatments than communal rest. We talked about the fact that spas were gate-kept for the rich, but that one of the best things in life was to get way too hot, then too cold, and then gossip as your circulation went wild. Instead of never seeing each other again, we both ended up in Los Angeles for work. The city was an exciting spread of food and culture, but the feast of hot water was the hidden delight of L.A. Over the 15 years since that wedding, we’ve spent hundreds of hours in SoCal spas. Sometimes we talk about job woes, sometimes the frustrations of parenting, and sometimes we don’t talk at all. L.A.’s expansive bathing culture has become the landscape not just of a necessary retreat but also, a …