You go, girls! Gal getaways are as hot as the hunky plumber on TV's Desperate Housewives. Whether it's bachelorette parties in Vegas, mom-daughter spa weekends or college pals holing up in a hotel room for Cosmos and catch-up conversations, women-only jaunts are a sizzling travel-industry trend.
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Two decades ago when Susan Eckert founded AdventureWomen, which organizes active vacations for the over-30 set, attached women did not usually leave the men at home.
"People used to ask my clients, 'What's wrong with your marriage?' " she says. "Now, it's like, if you don't (go away with girlfriends or female relatives), it's odd. It's a whole bonding thing."
In fact, a recent survey of 1,500 women by L.A.-based Impulse Research found that nearly 50% had taken an all-female trip in the past three years and that 88% had plans for another or would like to go on a no-men-allowed getaway.
Meanwhile, tour companies and hotels are wooing women with an ever-expanding array of trips and clever packages. Among new offerings:
• Just-launched Women & Wine will take lovers of the grape behind the scenes in wine-growing regions around the world, including some in California's Santa Ynez Valley — seen in last year's Oscar-nominated Sideways.
"Women make more than half of wine-buying decisions," says W&W founder Julie Brosterman. Her luxury wine-lovers' tours and custom itineraries have prompted an outpouring of interest.
• Sacred Journeys for Women will take female fans of the best-selling The Da Vinci Code to Paris, London and Edinburgh sites featured in the book. Tour participants also will be encouraged to plumb what tour operators call "the feminine divine in all of us."
• The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" package includes an in-room visit from "The Martini Man" and his cocktail cart, a Neiman Marcus makeover and desserts.
The Wyndham hotel chain even is launching "Women's Weeks" at some properties. Gals get discounts on lodging, spa treatments and activities. The first one starts Sunday at the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort & Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico.
And the smash hit Housewives— a Sunday night group viewing experience for female fans across the country — has become the gimmick-du-jour for hotels.
Manhattan's Muse hotel has come up with a "Don't Be Desperate" weekend, that includes lingerie shopping, an outing to ogle male strippers and martini-sipping.
Boston's Hotel Commonwealth dishes up an "Almost Desperate Housewives Package" that soothes stressed-out women with champagne and chocolate, an in-room massage, limo service and a sleep balm.
Canadian lodgings are mining the trend, too: Manicures and movie passes are part of the "Desperate Housewives Getaway" at the Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside in British Columbia.
The TV show itself is running an online sweepstakes that will net winners a free trip to Los Angeles, hotel stay and tickets to a DH party celebrating the release of the first-season DVD (details on abc.com).
No-guilt getaways
What's fueling this exploding travel niche?
For one thing, say travel marketers, more women are working and have disposable income. Baby boomers tend to be more physically active than their moms were, and hungrier for adventure.
Pop culture promotes girl-bonding, from the best-selling Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to TV's Housewives. And real-life desperate moms now don't feel guilty about taking a break from kids, husbands and responsibilities for pampering and R&R with pals.
"Husbands have always gone off with their buddies; now there's a recognition of the importance of 'girlfriend time,' " says Marian Marbury, founder of Adventures in Good Company, another organizer of active getaways for women.
Absolutely, says Town & Country travel editor Melissa Biggs Bradley. In the May issue, she details a blissful all-girl wining/ dining/shopping/spa-ing sojourn in the Napa Valley to celebrate a friend's birthday.
"Remove the Y chromosome and conversations change, certain defenses drop, and the laughs and confessions pile up," she writes.
The agenda at today's surprise 50th-birthday getaway to San Antonio that Meg Lowry helped organize includes frank talk about one of the party's breast cancer battle and reconstructive surgery.
"The intimacy and relaxation of being with these women that I love and trust is renewing and refreshing," says Lowry, who lives in Austin.
'Beats paying for a shrink'
Gal getaways also are a way to recharge in a stress-filled world.
Software exec Michelle Steiner of Orefield, Pa., goes on regular "Girls-Only Weekends" with two friends from Mississippi. In fact, they're off on one next week — a road trip from San Diego to Los Angeles, then down to Tijuana, Mexico, to toss back a margarita or two.
"When we go to New Orleans, we drink and dance the night away, just like when we were in our 20s," Steiner, 43, says. "It's our fun time to let our hair down without men hanging around."
Nothing's better than "sitting around with a bunch of friends that you can share confidences with and get real, honest feedback. Sure beats paying for a shrink," says Nancy Sewell of Southington, Conn., who takes yearly vacations with a group of pals.
Lowry likens the trips to the pajama parties so beloved by teenage girls. And — echoing the sentiments of many other women — she says those bonding girlfriend trips have benefits that last long after the bags are unpacked. After sharing, caring and baring her soul, "I come home a better person."
From Napa Valley to Mount Kilimanjaro, getaways for women are booming. A sampling of tours and hotel packages:
• The "Girls Get Grounded Getaway" at Amara Creekside Resort in Sedona, Ariz., includes two-night stay, healing crystal, massage, jeep tour, yoga, wine tasting and psychic reading. From $629 a person. Information: 866-455-6610 or amararesort.com.
•Women & Wine offers group and custom itineraries in grape capitals including the Napa Valley and Tuscany. A two-day, behind-the-scenes ramble in the Santa Ynez Valley, including meals, lodging, wine tasting and spa treatment is $1,695. Information: 310-880-2442 or www.womenandwine.net.
• The 23-year-old AdventureWomen has active trips for over-30s. Among them: a cowgirl getaway at a Big Sky, Mont., guest ranch ($2,295, not including air); and a luxury barge trip through France's Alsace-Lorraine wine region ($2,995, not including air). Information: 800-804-8686 or adventurewomen.com.
•Adventures in Good Company has trips including a four-day, $495 biking, hiking, canoeing outing in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. (not including transportation there), to a $3,100 Mount Kilimanjaro expedition and safari (not including air). Information: 877-439-4042 or adventures ingoodcompany.com.
•The Da Vinci Code has spawned a tour just for women. Sacred Journeys for Women has Simon Cox, author of Cracking the Da Vinci Code, leading a luxury, 11-night tour of book locations in Paris, London and Edinburgh. Cost: $5,995 per person, double, in five-star hotels, not including air from the USA. Information: 888-779-6696 or sacredjourneys.com.
• The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" package shakes things up with a visit from "The Martini Man," makeover advice, shopping discounts and free desserts. From about $300 nightly for two. Information: 312-280-8400.
• The "Girlfriends Golf & Spa Package" at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes and JW Marriott OrlandoGrande Lakes includes two nights' lodging, golf rounds, lessons, massages, breakfast and $50 golf shop credit. Rates start at about $1,000 for two. Information: 800-576-5760 (Ritz-Carlton) or 800-576-5750 (Marriott).
• "Girls Will Be Girls" at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago offers makeover advice, gift certificates, Cosmos, popcorn and choice of movie. Rates start at $375 a night for two. Information: 800-806-9232.
•The Women's Travel Club organizes dozens of trips yearly. Upcoming getaways include a group visit to the famed Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Arizona (from $1,760, not including air) and a tour of English gardens, The Cotswolds and London from $1,426, not including air. Information: 800-480-4448 or womenstravelclub.com.
• The "Don't Be Desperate Package" at Manhattan's Muse hotel starts at $345 a person nightly, double, and includes breakfast, martinis, bathrobe, lingerie shopping trip and strip club admission. Information: 877-692-6873 or themusehotel.com.
• The "Almost Desperate Housewives Package" at Boston's Hotel Commonwealth is $769 nightly for two, with champagne, chocolates, massage and limo service. Information: 866-784-4000 or hotelcommonwealth.com.
