People journey to Greece for the ruins, Turkey for the Hagia Sophia, and Russia for St Peter's, but Alexia Brue has a different itinerary: she is off to visit the baths. What starts off as an innocent vacation quickly becomes an obsession, as the author ventures to Turkey, Greece, Russia, Finland and Japan to sample the range of bathing traditions the world has to offer.
Caught up in the tide of travel & exploration and crossing paths with fellow travellers along the way, Alexia drifts further and further from the life she left behind in New York City. Hoping to find a thriving local bath scene, she dips into hamams, banyas, saunas and onsen, finding both disappointment and bliss.
