As holidays season approaches, some people may be planning that all important break.

A recent study, however, reveals when families go away on holiday, they enjoy themselves most when they participate in separate activities.

But what about the rise in separate holidays entirely?

Whilst the term ‘Lad’s Trip’ is loaded with cliché, it is becoming increasingly common to hear of men embarking on their own exclusive trips.

None more so than in the Asian community. The lad’s trip for Asian men sees them heading off to some of Europe’s favourite hotspots or to Muslim nations.

The irony is many Muslim men want to choose Muslim countries as above all the food is halal.

Names have been changed to protect identities.

Forty-four year-old Haider explained the allure of the lad’s holiday.

“I married my first cousin when I was 22. I only married her because my parents wanted me to. We have a perfectly civil relationship. But there is no intimacy, no real relationship. My marriage is just functional.

“I don’t say this with a ‘woe be to me’ attitude. Plenty of my mates are in the same boat.

“I don’t feel guilty at all about the amount times I have slept with other women. I provide a secure home for my wife, she is never wanting for anything.

“I would never leave her though. She is a great mother. But I can’t live my life in a loveless marriage.”

He says his breaks away give him the chance to live his life his way, even if it is just for a few days a year.

“My lad’s holidays entail money, a pack of condoms, high class prostitutes and booze.

“I don’t do girlfriends. I don’t need the emotional hassle of being with another woman. I pay for sex, I get my fix for 4 days and I’m ready to return back and carry on with my life.”

Aamir, a 42-year-old business owner reiterated the cultural conflict he feels as he spoke to us candidly about his escapades.

“I feel it sounds trivial when I explain it. But I spend my days portraying a certain image to my family, to society, to colleagues.

“For example, I have to ensure I attend Friday prayers. I admit I don’t pray outside of jumma prayers.

“I spend my life playing a role that I am expected to play.

“I do the family holiday thing. I know it sounds like it’s an obligation or a chore.

“Going away with the guy’s allows me to be myself, just for a brief period of my life.

“My wife doesn’t know I drink. I could never admit that to her.

“I only ever drink when I am away. If I get sex while I am away, it’s an added bonus.

“I don’t consider that cheating. It a business transaction, there is no emotion involved at all.”

He says some of his friends do the same thing.

“None of us would have chosen to get married that young. Nor would we have chosen to marry the women we are with.

“I know it sounds like a mid-life crisis, that a bunch middle-aged 30 something’s leave the country in order to drink and have some no strings attached sex.

“We all have vices don’t we? No-one lives their life being completely selfless.

“And as long as my family obligations are fulfilled first, why can’t I have a good time?”

Alim, a 47-year old accountant said it didn’t matter if they visited Muslim countries as many of those places were filled with people from other Middle-Eastern states doing the same thing.

“We have a system that works in our house.

“My wife goes to Pakistan every 2 years for a couple of months to visit her family. I go on short trips about 4 times a year. She doesn’t ask what I get up to on my holidays and vice versa.

“At the same time, my wife has no limit to spending my credit card when she is away. Or when she is here for that matter.

“As long as she is comfortable financially, she has no reason to complain.

“As long as I am discreet about my flings and no news of that comes home, what’s the problem?

“Does any man admit they go to strip clubs on holidays or that they have drunken sex with women they don’t even remember?

“I am sure why wife has an inkling about what I get up to.

“But she is comfortable with the lifestyle that I have provided for her and she wouldn’t want to jeopardise that.

“It’s a win-win situation.”