Celiac and the Beast recently visited Columbus Ohio for the Gluten Free Food Allergy Fest (GFFAFest). Follow along her travel adventures on her Instagram.
Part of me is a natural deodorant wearing hippie that buys organic, votes democrat, and wants to save the whales (and all the kittens). I want to believe that essential oils can change your mood (or at least make you not want to vomit, in the case of peppermint), and that my paraben-free lotion will save me. Part of me is all about business, no-nonsense, and is a hardcore science nut that doesn’t believe in that bullcrap about Himalayan salt lamps. And that’s my introduction in this post. Epic, right?
My friend Cindy at Vegetarian Mamma from Columbus is practically a professional soccer mamma. She literally spends most of her day in the car, taking her kids to soccer (because they’re mini soccer stars). Thankfully we get to facetime while she’s in pick-up lines, and over the years, I’ve realized how similar we are in our personal habits that lean more towards clean living and personal care products (aka we both have essential oil diffusers and we both wear natural deodorant).
While she doesn’t smell like patchouli oil, she definitely believes in a little more holistic approach to her life. Example, she loves essential oils. She probably burns sage (I haven’t asked though), and she loves her salt room. What’s a salt room? It’s a room that they diffuse salt into the vents and the walls are covered in salt lamps. It’s like if you walked into a dusty antique store but all the dust was salt. Basically, everything is covered in it, even in the waiting room because it’s in the air and blowing everywhere. The whole premise is that the salt helps your seasonal allergies, migraines and headaches, sinus issues, etc. Now, I use a neti pot with a saline mixture on the regular to blow snot out of my sinus cavity. But, that treatment was also recommended by my ear, nose, and throat doctor. What would an ENT think about salt rooms? Who knows, but I was headed in there regardless.
The Salt Spa
Vegetarian Mamma and I headed to the Dublin/Plain City area of Ohio to visit the salt room. Of course, we took our OWYN shakes with us, because we’re both ambassadors for the brand. These protein shakes go with me everywhere when I travel, because you never know when hunger will strike and who knows if they have something to eat at the salt room – besides licking salt (I’m no goat). Thankfully, the 20 grams of allergy-friendly plant-based protein is enough to hold me through any weird experience while I travel – even salt spas. Bonus: They test for the top 8 allergens and they’re available on Amazon (affiliate).
So, we sat in a room for about 40 minutes and just chatted while the salt was ground and pumped into our air vent. Did I notice a difference? Not for me. Cindy, however, started blowing her nose right away. It drastically affected her sinuses (in a good way), and I was jealous my salt experience wasn’t like that. That’s right, I was jealous of her sinuses.
Maybe I just needed more salt? Did I have too much built-up boogers that it needed more than one trip to the salt spa? Or is my neti pot at home just too effective? I was even starting to ask myself if there was really salt being pumped into the room, until I licked my lips after speaking and realized that I tasted like an Outback baked potato. I wondered if this is on my lips, what’s happening to my eyeballs? My contacts were fine for the rest of the day, so perhaps I had nothing to worry about. I hope. I’ll let you know if you go blind.
Adventures with TSA and the GFFAFest
After our fun day at the salt spa, and catching up over lunch in Columbus, it was time to load into the GFFAFest expo at the Ohio Expo Center. It was non-stop craziness from that time on (until now, waiting to head back to Phoenix for three whole days before jetting off to Pasadena this week). Also, between the TSA in Phoenix and Columbus, I lost my drivers license. I contacted TSA asap and it turns out they’ve had it (gee, thanks for like letting me know) so I’m in another state, praying that my other state ID will get me home tonight.
It’s times like this that I’m thankful for friends who travel just as much as I do and that understand my high stress level. It’s times like this I’m thankful for 40 minutes in a dimly lit room with salt streaming through the vents. I’m thankful for a ready-to-drink shake at these shows because the only other thing I’ve eaten today was a cupcake. NO JUDGEMENT.
This post is sponsored by OWYN, but not by salt spas. However, if any salt spa in Arizona or wherever I travel this year wants me to visit their spa and see if it my sinuses eventually feel something – feel free to shoot me a note! My sinuses could use any help they can get.