Long flights are uncomfortable, no matter where you sit. Your feet swell, your back tenses up and your neck moves in positions your body has never before seen in order to get you even just 3 hours of sleep on a 15-hour flight.

Lucky for us, immediately after checking in at the Imm Fusion in Bangkok, Andrea and I were handed complimentary 60-minute Thai massage vouchers as a promotion for booking our accommodations through STA in New York before we left.

Back at home, I was never able to afford a massage. They remained reserved for joint Father’s Day gifts from my siblings and I to our dad after a stressful workweek or as something a married couple did for a romantic getaway at all-inclusive resorts on the beach. So needless to say, I was excited, but a bit nervous for my first massage. I’m not big on people touching me, and the idea of someone standing on me and using their feet and knees to kneed out any kinks didn’t exactly sound appealing…at first.

The Thai massage combines acupressure and yoga positions to stretch out and relax tense muscles throughout the body. Masseurs clamber up onto your back and use their knees, elbows, hands and toes to crack bones back into place and work out sore muscles — not unlike the symptoms I felt from flying for so long.

The second I felt the Thai woman’s knee on my back, I couldn’t help but laugh. And also flinch in some serious pain. This is a massage? People like this? Throughout the ordeal, I couldn’t decide if it was more comforting or painful. I had to hold myself back from laughter or some kind of verbal cue when something didn’t feel right. Some parts of my body took to the massage more than others — my hands, legs and head quite enjoyed the massage, but a sharp knee to the shoulder wasn’t exactly my idea of relaxing. It turns out I’m still quite flexible, and the yoga positions my body was contorted in felt quite good to stretch out. Looking over at Andrea, she looked a lot more calm and relaxed than I did.

After the massages were finished, Andrea and I were graciously handed cups of tea to decompress. Talking it over, we both agreed it’s definitely an experience to be had, and one we’ll probably do again. After all the pain and my obvious awkwardness/inability to relax during the massage, my body still felt wonderful afterward, like Jell-O.