By Business Traveller

"I don’t travel with cold-pressed juices in a cooler like my Angeleno pals. I am neither gluten-free nor down with dairy, but I have tried my share of colonics. Chia seeds on my salad? Absolutely! Self-help books bore me, but I do pick up Cosmo in the supermarket checkout line sometimes.

Yoga is not my forte. Besides, handstands give me vertigo.

But did I hear that a new blender is on the market? I am sort of Auntie Mame when it comes to fitness. You know, the high-flying bon vivant in the classic movie who dives deep into Japanese cooking at one moment and then sculpture and weaving—not to mention horseback riding—the next. I dabble.

Layer travel into the wellness equation, and I am all in. I have hiked far-flung mountains and survived on purloined produce. I have attempted Pilates and sampled exercise equipment that was surely the devil’s spawn. I have lapped up Swedish massages in South America and suffered through Thai treatments in SoHo. I have been sprayed with water jets in West Virginia and had my liver analyzed during a head massage in Monte Carlo. River rocks have marched up and down my back, and clay has been slathered vigorously into all sorts of crevices. I have taken the waters and been given Vichy showers and plumeria-scented baths.

With all this empirical knowledge under my belt—literally—why is it that my weight and stress levels yo-yo up and down and then up again? Self-control. And I am working on that.

“You need to get your head and heart in line,” my life coach tells me regularly. Moms can be so annoying.

Still, I am mad for a good health and wellness excursion, and while a weeklong dose of an alternate reality might not be an eternal panacea, why not? We all could use a break right about now.

Here are a few American escapes—some more resort-style and others full-on weight-loss and wellness retreats—to help you recalibrate, reorient and rejuvenate. So dive in and find your own bliss. For a weekend, for a week, forever."

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