The great girl escape is on, and everyone is doing it. The monthly get-together at the new restaurant with your childhood pals, sorority sisters, work colleagues, or bunko buddies just isn’t cutting it. So you’ve decided that your much-needed respite should involve friends lounging poolside, bonding over a mocha-seaweed-sea-salt spa wrap, shopping sprees, luxury accommodations, and fabulous food. Step one: Write up a schedule for your husband, double the nanny’s pay for a week, call in the grandparents for reinforcement. Step two: Pack your bags with new outfits from Neiman’s, and take part in the travel industry’s hippest new trend—the girl getaway. When it’s over, the only question you’ll have is, “What week next year?”
Here are some of the hottest female-bonding trips out there:
Hippest Spa in Vegas The brand-new Qua Baths & Spa just opened at Caesar’s Palace. Roman baths, tea lounges, and the only arctic ice room in Vegas where, after taking hot treatments, you can chill out—literally—as “snow” falls on you. Become a spa insider with their Girl’s Getaway Package: You’ll be greeted at the airport by your own limousine driver and breeze through priority check-in. Included are two nights’ accommodations, two spa passes, and a $300 spa credit. Be sure to get a table at Rao’s, have cocktails at Pure Nightclub, and pick up some designer duds at the Forum Shops, one of the few places in the country that can give the Mall at Short Hills a run for its money. Starting at $680 for two nights, based on double occupancy. Caesars Palace, 866-227-5938; caesarspalace.com.
Lady Luck, Caribbean-Style Play like the boys with a weekend of poker at the Westin St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Lady Luck Girls’ Getaway offers a three-bedroom villa with private pool, unlimited chocolate fondue, champagne upon arrival, half-day at the Westin Spa, and a snorkeling trip. $679 per night, per person. Westin St. John, 888-627-7206; westinresortstjohn.com.
Wine Country CordeValle, in San Martin, California, offers the Girls Night-In package. It combines wine tasting, hiking, and golf lessons with private dining, breakfast in bed, and a full spa day, featuring two Vinotherapy treatments, which makes it sound like you’re drinking wine all day (not that there’s anything wrong with that). You’ll stay in a four-bedroom home that features soaking tubs and secluded patios. Starts at $2,400 per person for two nights. CordeValle. 888-Rosewood; rosewoodhotels.com.
London Calling The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park’s Harvey Nichols Shopping Experience includes two nights in a suite overlooking Hyde Park, a £5,000 Harvey Nichols gift voucher, an after-hours spree through the store—with a personal shopper, two spa treatments, and a bottle of champagne on arrival. £10,000 per person. Mandarin Oriental;
011 44 0 20 7201 3773; mandarinoriental/london.com.
Santa Fe Cooking Inn on the Alameda in Santa Fe’s Muy Sabrosa Cooking School package includes two nights’ accommodations, a two-and-a-half-hour cooking class and lunch at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. This Southwestern bed-and-breakfast is just a short stroll to Santa Fe’s renowned museums and galleries. They can also arrange for fly-fishing, whitewater rafting, stargazing, yoga, and pottery classes. Packages start at $320 per person. Inn on the Alameda, 888-984-2121; inn-alameda.com.
Men are also becoming travel-savvy when it comes to trips with their buddies—they’re discovering there’s a whole world beyond the Hoboken pub crawl. Top resorts have identified this golf- and testosterone-starved traveler and, in the spirit of equal opportunity, are offering the “mancation.”
“It’s about trying something new and the experience it adds to your life. It’s also about laughing at yourself and your friends,” says Bill Holycross of Lake Mohawk in Sparta, one of the founders of www.mancation.com, a website devoted to sharing ideas and experiences of fellow mancationers. While golf is the cornerstone of most trips, Holycross also recommends “plenty of adult libations, music, poker, red meat, and belching. It’s about enjoying the moment and not taking life so seriously.”
Here are some mancations that are sure to put some hair on your chest, if only for a few days. And then it’s back to the real world.
Action Hero Scale a 12-million-year-old boulder pile, and then play some of the finest golf Arizona has to offer. Or kayak down a river between prehistoric cliffs, then soar over the desert like a bird. The Boulders Resort in Carefree has pretty much thought of every adrenaline-pumping activity for its Desert Secrets Extreme Adventure, which also includes hiking, race-car driving, four-wheeling in a Hummer, and cruising around on Harleys. When you finally need to relax those muscles, submit to a “man-friendly” spa treatment at the famous Golden Door Spa. From $1,285 per night for casita accommodations. The Boulders Resort, 866-397-6520; www.theboulders.com.
Play Like the Pros Tempted to try the Ocean Course, the Ryder Cup venue that brought PGA Tour star Mark Calcavecchia to tears? Kiawah Resort’s Championship Golf Package includes a round of golf on the Ocean Course—the site of this year’s Senior PGA Championship and the 2012 PGA Championship—along with two other rounds of golf, two nights at the AAA Five-Diamond oceanfront resort, buffet breakfast, and dinner daily. Golf lessons, personal training sessions, and sports massages are added luxuries. Or arrange for full use of a Lexus during your stay to explore the Low Country and historic Charleston, just 30 minutes away. Rates start at $450 per person, per night. The Sanctuary at Kiawah, 877-683-1234; www.thesanctuary.com.
Rock Star Okay, fellas, it’s time to “man up.” The JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa, which offers an exclusive fantasy package that lets men be men and experience the best Vegas has to offer. After arriving by private stretch limo, you’ll be given $1,000 in gaming chips with a personal hostess to deliver martinis. For four days and three nights, you’ll stay in a two-bedroom suite stocked with a super luxe bar and private butler, and cruise the Strip in a Ferrari 360 Spider. You’ll test-drive a race car for a day, play a round of golf with a brand-new set of clubs, relax with a sports massage or 19th Hole foot massage at the Aquae Sulis Spa, and receive breakfast and dinner daily;. $49,000 for four people. JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa; www.jwlasvegasresort.com; 702-869-7777, ext. 7241.
Mancation definition: Man-ká-shun: When normal males
engage in “guy” activities that involve sports, camping, gambling, chasing women, and most of all drinking amongst their all and only male friends. No wives, mistresses, or girlfriends allowed. Done in order to get in touch with their male-primal roots.
—The Urban Dictionary
Contact Info Send out an email with everyone’s flight information and cell phone numbers prior to your trip so you can coordinate arrivals and you don’t wind up with missing friends.
Map It Out If you’re driving from point A to point B, be sure to bring along directions or a map so you don’t waste time getting lost.
Who’s Paying To avoid sticky situations, decide whether you’ll split each bill equally or whether everyone will pay for their own specific items. Or assign your accounting major friend the task of figuring out the bills.
What to Bring Pack a book—but you’ll most likely only read it on the plane. There’s too much to do and talk about the rest of the time! And don’t forget your digital camera—these pictures will come in handy for future blackmail purposes. |
