Mancations - Vacations for Men

I hadn't heard of mancations before a few days ago, but the idea is an old one: Guys doing some male bonding on a men-only vacation.

While women have been taking weekend vacations for spa tripping with their girlfriends for years, our male counterparts have long been left behind, wondering what to do with their down time. Now, most men that I know would rather not vacation at all, than spend their vacation days in a luxury day spa, getting their nails buffed. However, when given the opportunity, a lot of men are figuring out that time with their friends is time well spent, indeed. This is why mancations have become increasingly popular.

Mancations, or getaways for men only, can range from low rent (10 college buddies crammed in a Vegas hotel room) to ultra high end (father-son trip to Gleneagles Hotel Golf Resort in Scotland), with a lot of room in between. Personally, I like the idea of mancations. Dudes hanging our together, doing their dude thing (I don't want to know too much here), getting smelly, scratching...No women allowed? That's okay! No, really.

There are some great upscale mancation gift ideas out there. If you want to treat the guy in your life with a mancation travel gift, it helps if you can arrange time off work for his closest friends as well. Cabo San Lucas has some fishing vacation packages, and my fellow Suite writer Alan can't speak highly enough about the Waterfall Resort in Alaska. From what I've heard, these mancations sound like really fun outdoorsman trips.

Another special gift that a lot of men would really appreciate is a real NASCAR Stock Car riding experience. NASCAR fans can travel to one of fifteen major American cities and ride shotgun in a stock car - and some locations actually let the guy drive the NASCAR top series top car himself! Imagine that: Up to 140 miles per hour, no cops ticketing the dude, and a memory to last a lifetime. Talk about a mancation.