How Much Time a Float Actually Takes

The session is an hour. The visit is not. That gap is the most common scheduling mistake we see, and it is an easy one to avoid once somebody tells you about it.

The hour is a real hour

A float session is one hour, and the clock does not start when you walk through the door. The suite is booked as a set block, and everything else sits either side of it rather than inside it.

Before: a shower, and a few minutes of admin

Everyone showers before getting in. That is a requirement rather than a courtesy — it keeps lotions, oils and hair products out of 900 pounds of dissolved Epsom salt. On a first visit there is also an intake form and a short walkthrough of the suite, so that you know which switch does what before the door closes. Complete the waiver online beforehand — the link comes with your confirmation email — and most of that disappears.

After: a shower not to rush

Salt at that concentration does not simply towel off. Shampoo and conditioner are in your suite, and the few extra minutes spent rinsing properly are the difference between leaving clean and discovering salt in your hair at dinner.

And then the part nobody budgets for

The relaxation room has complimentary herbal tea, sketch books and colored pencils, and nobody will move you along. Most people find they want it once they are sitting in it. If your diary has you out of the building ninety seconds after you climb out of the pod, you will skip it — and skipping it is the thing people mention afterwards.

So what should you block out?

More than an hour. We do not publish a tidy number for it, because it depends on whether this is your first visit, how long you take in a shower, and whether you mean to sit down with the tea. Think of the hour as the middle of the visit rather than the whole of it and you will not spend any of it watching a clock.

You can also book more than one

Consecutive hours are bookable if one does not feel like enough. Almost nobody starts there, and there is no reason to. But it exists, and a few people use it.

If you are running late

Call as soon as you know. Depending on the day we may be able to shorten the session or move it, but the suite is booked for a set hour and there is often somebody booked into it after you. In the other direction, we ask for 24 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule.

The version of this that goes well

Arrive with time in hand. Shower without hurrying. Float for an hour. Shower again, properly. Sit down with the tea for as long as you feel like sitting. Leave when you are ready rather than when the next thing starts. It costs nothing except space in a diary, and it is the whole difference between keeping an appointment and taking an hour off.