Anna Pasternak goes twice a year to Switzerland to see her famous acupuncturist and facialist, and once to Thailand to get her energy rebalanced. It’s easier than getting an appointment at home, she says

In my quest for health and holistic ageing (I jettisoned Botox and fillers two years ago, aged 57) I have developed a jaw-droppingly expensive addiction in which, like a migrating bird following the sun, I chase three men around the world. In spring and autumn, I race to Switzerland to the detox spa Chenot Palace Weggis. For the past three Decembers I have flown to the destination spa Chiva Som Hua Hin in Thailand. Why? Because it’s a golden opportunity to secure otherwise impossible-to-get appointments with visiting practitioners. 

I have been seeing the acupuncturist Ross J Barr for over a decade, yet his burgeoning celebrity status (clients include Meghan and Harry) means that it is tricky to get a regular appointment in London. His waiting list at Claridge’s spa is over three months. Twice a year he visits Chenot Palace Weggis for a week-long retreat, where his canny clients follow him.

I’ve been a fan of the Chenot Method detox — based on a fasting-mimicking diet of 850 calories a day — for over two decades. The body is coaxed into a state of autophagy, a natural process of cellular cleansing and renewal, aided with massage and hydrotherapy treatments that stimulate the digestive organs. 

It was a revelation to secure two sessions with Barr in one week at Chenot. His intuitive acupuncture not only aids the inevitable detox headache, but you can go much deeper in sessions if they are in succession — something unattainable in London. It always feels like I clear significant emotional sludge there with welcome space to process the treatment (and to sob in my room afterwards) rather than rushing from the Claridge’s massage table straight into Mayfair. 

The American “red carpet facialist” Ivan Pol, whose clients include Salma Hayek and Emma Stone, similarly visits sleepy Weggis on the banks of Lake Lucerne twice a year, timed to coincide with the Paris fashion shows. Pol is the creator of the Beauty Sandwich, a non-invasive facial-lifting technique that works on the three layers of the skin inside the dermis. I scoffed at claims that he creates instant yet long-lasting results with monopolar, bipolar and infrared radio frequencies, which he combines with his special proprietary “Secret Sauce” facial oils filled with fats and vitamins. I was also incredulous that any facial could cost CHF1,500 (£1,415) for 45 minutes.

Watching the clientele at Chenot morph from overweight oligarchs to ostrich-like models when Pol turned up, my curiosity was piqued. As Pol’s waiting list in America — where he works in LA, Miami and from May, New York — is over a year long, I decided to seize the day and splurge.

Pol slathers your face in gel then guides a hot probe to contour your features. Did I want a “lip flick?” Hell yes. Tiny pulses shot around my upper lip line. Afterwards I gasped. My cheeks were lifted 2mm higher onto the bone. I did not believe his claim that my face would improve over time. 

The following morning I expected to see the Cinderella Effect — my old saggy face with cheeks fallen off the bone. But I was as “snatched” as the night before. When I got home friends kept asking me if I had lip filler as my lips were properly pouty. Five months later my cheeks had barely dropped. 

My devotion to Pol means that I am now committed to going to Switzerland twice a year to see him, reasoning that I could never get an appointment in the US. I scan the Chenot website and, like half of Paris, book the minute his dates are announced. Pol is genuinely the rock star of sculpting. I have just returned from his spring stint, where I had two facials for a whopping CHF3,000 (£2,840), which I justify with the reasoning that this is cheaper than fillers. I love the result. Saggy jawline be gone — my skin feels stapled under my chin it is so taut. “Your body is in the optimum state to receive my treatment at Chenot,” Pol enthused, “because when you leave me, I have given you a stronger foundation for your skin to build from.”

Following visiting practitioners abroad is a savvy health hack. Their efficacy is enhanced by the wider spa experience. I time my visits to Chiva Som Ha Huin in Thailand to coincide with those of the energy healer Danchai Chernprateep, who is normally based in northern Thailand. Because there I would not get into his practice to see him, a 90-minute session with this Thai meditation master for £190 is gold dust. Chernprateep creates astonishing shift. He assesses your body’s energetic blueprint, lectures you about your boundaries, then through sound healing and chanting, strengthens your sense of self. The subsequent emotional transformation lasts me about five months and beats weekly therapy. 

My globe-trotting pilgrimages have become not just journeys, but to me the ultimate in luxurious self-care.