Fish spas, steam baths and yoga: 7 relaxing ways to spend a layover

Gone are the days spent grumbling over an overpriced pint at the airport bar while delay after delay flashes across the monitor. Now, fliers can find relaxing ways to spend an afternoon between flights are popping up at airports across the globe. The Wall Street Journal's Lauren Lipton recently investigated several of the more curious airport offerings in the $439 Billion Wellness Tourism market, a sector growing at a faster rate than tourism overall.

Lipton's look at questionable airport spa treatments piqued our curiosity for other strange airport services. From feeding your dead foot skin to clearing up your backne, here's a peek at the new services, both relaxing and ridiculous, being foisted upon fliers before they board their plane.

Relaxing Back Facial | Terminal Gateway Spa, Chicago & Charlotte: Taking some time to unclog those oily upper back pores with a 30-minute, $75 skin-clearing treatment will have you saying ahhh even if you get stuck in the middle seat. If you're the type of person who generally runs warm, consider losing some fur with an additional $60 back waxing treatment as well. Appointments available, and walk-ins welcome.

Bikini & Underarm Waxing | Be Relax, airport locations worldwide: Celebrate the modern marvel of air travel by having someone pour hot wax upon you and rip the hair from your bikini area and underarms. This French spa collection has locations throughout North America, Asia and the Middle East offering chair massages, manicures, and yes, waxing. I can think of few things more stressful than slinking through an overcapacity airport security line, but waxing my body hair off at the end of the line is definitely one of them.

Yoga, airport locations worldwide: Who says you you need a helping hand or cold, hard cash to find your zen? Skip the pricey spa treatments in favor of a yoga session at various airports including Chicago O'Hare; Burlington, VT.; Dallas-Fort Worth; Helsinki and San Francisco. Hey, plenty of people are already wearing yoga pants when flying if my last hundred or so visits to an airport are any indication. You might as well live up to your Lululemon potential if you insist on dressing the part.

Brow Tweeze | Benefit Cosmetics, Kuala Lumpur & Auckland: Dropping a mere $12-$26 (That's less than some airport sandwiches, even!) will guarantee you the pleasure of walking around an airport with tomato-red skin where your bushy, overgrown eyebrows used to be. But, but, but...once the redness dies down, I'm sure you'll look great. This airport amenity sounds less like an alternative to the airport bar, and more like a reason to definitely have a cocktail after.

Steam bath, Jacuzzi & Solarium | Kempinski Hotel Fit & Fly Spa, Munich: Conveniently located within Munich Airport, Kempinski can turn an unending nightmare layover into a dream with the wave of a credit card. A day pass to the pool will set you back just $40 US, giving you access to a 17 meter pool filled with natural sunlight, along with the spa's jacuzzi, Finnish sauna, gym and steam bath. A bathroom and towel are included with your pass, but you may want to pack a pair of sandals just in case.

Fish Spa | Changi Airport Wellness Oasis, Singapore: A spa for overworked and underpaid fish, you say? (Hey you try teaching a whole school of fish...) Hardly. Singapore's enormous airport puts the tiny animals to work on the soles of passengers' feet, letting the fish feast on dead skin cells. Curiously, the spa services menu offers a head & neck combo as well, but we're going to go ahead and assume that means a massage plus the fishy foot treatment. Not up for interpretation however is the spa's buffet offerings. That comes free with any fish spa service.

Shower | XspresSpa, Minneapolis: Hey, don't knock it until you try it. Domestic travelers may have no frame of reference for the pure pleasure of a hot shower in between long flights, but international jetsetters know the temptation to rinse off all too well. I personally credit a shower in Tokyo's Narita United club lounge with preserving my sanity last year as I trekked to Singapore. Plenty of airport lounges also offer opportunities to shower — assuming you can get access. During a 60-minute layover after a 13-hour flight, staring down another 9 hours on a plane, I would choose a shower over a cocktail any day.