![](\"http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Sources/Art/Con-msnbc.standard.jpg\")
Deep breaths just aren't working anymore. You've sworn off CNBC and your local paper is now history, but there's no escaping the tsunami of bad economic news.
A beach vacation would only give you more time to obsess over how much your 401(k) is losing with each oncoming wave.
No, you can't take this crisis lying down. It's time to be proactive, to take up arms against a sea of trouble, to really and truly vent.
Go ahead, break something,shoot something, blow something up!, Hell, even set yourself on fire. We've assembled a list of the world's most aggressive vacations, our picks for the best places to blow off some steam.
Firing an AK-47 may not bring back your stock portfolio, but it's way more fun than egging the houses of AIG execs.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Firing ranges in Cambodia","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/______EDIT/___FUTURES/cambodia_thunderranch_001.hmedium.jpg","","Thunder Ranch, Cambodia", "", "", "", "", "right", "Anita Lambert, Flickr", "", "273", "364", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
Wouldn't it be great if you could lob a grenade at your troubles? Well, you can, and for the bargain basement price of $25.
The semilegal firing ranges outside Phnom Penh in Cambodia let you physically express your ire with live munitions.
So-called Thunder Ranch is the most renowned of these shoot-'em-up spots, and though it has no official address or Web site, any taxi driver can get you there.
Tourists like Illinois nurse Anita Lambert are presented with a menu that reads like something out of a John le Carré novel (or a Schwarzenegger film): Uzis, M16s, 12-gauge assault shotguns. It takes longer to read this sentence than it does to chatter through 30 rounds with a fully automatic AK-47 ($35), but it feels awfully good.
If you're really ready to blow off some steam, opt for the big guns: A shell for an M79 grenade launcher goes for $100, but is capable of destroying a pickup truck (though an empty field will have to do).
If Cambodia is too far afield (or if playing with guns so close to the actual Killing Fields turns you off), there's always Vegas, where a turn with a Tommy gun or Uzi at the Gun Range and Firearm Center will sate itchy trigger fingers—a good option when the tables have left you frustrated.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Demolition derbies in Tenn. and Ky.","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "99", "148", "", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
Bald tires spit mud. Smack! An ancient sedan with war paint on its doors crashes into the back of an orange car painted like the General Lee. Pow!
An old Cutlass bashes into two others and for a moment all are interlocked in a ball of grinding metal—a menage a wreck. It's Saturday night in Paris (Paris, Tennessee, that is), so it must be demolition derby night.
Call it a redneck riot: Dying motors scream over the sounds of tearing metal and Coors Light–clutching fans. Demolition Derby Madness takes place March through September across small towns in Kentucky and Tennessee, and it's worth a trip just for the release of endorphins.
While it's possible to buy your own junker and race—prepare it by removing all the windshields and shielding the gas tanks—we think watching is just as much fun.
This is, after all, a sport where even cars that catch on fire are extinguished and allowed back into the competition. Most people watch NASCAR just for the crashes, so why not skip all the boring bits?
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","A smashing shop in San Diego","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/______EDIT/___FUTURES/sandiego_smashshack_001.hmedium.jpg","","A smashing shop in San Diego", "", "", "", "", "right", "Courtesy of Sarah's Smash Shack", "", "247", "423", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
Talk about an inspired idea for a new business (and impeccable timing).
Not far from San Diego's Gaslamp district, you'll find Sarah's Smash Shack, which is single-mindedly and unilaterally devoted to one thing: breaking stuff.
Having a bad day? Opt for the $35 \"house special\"—ten delicately embossed glass plates—and then hurl them against a wall. The building is segregated into two checkered \"break rooms,\" each with a protective partition and steel-backed wall designed for the most effective destruction.
Clients are outfitted with goggles, coveralls, and a helmet, and can then unleash vitriol upon unsuspecting colored vases ($12), collections of shot glasses, $12 ashtrays, or crystal picture frames (insert your own photo—an ex-boyfriend, an ex-boss, an ex-president).
And of course somebody else cleans it all up. Zen, your name is Sarah.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Gladiator school in Rome","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/______EDIT/___FUTURES/rome_gladiatorschool_001.hmedium.jpg","","Gladiator school in Rome", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Courtesy Gruppo Storico Romano-Roma", "273", "411", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
There's nothing like a gladiator movie to rev up the aggression.
If your thoughts run to the history of ancient Rome, or to romantic notions of mano a mano combat in the Colosseum (or perhaps just Russell Crowe in a tunic), gladiator school might be for you.
The Scuola Gladiatori in Rome is staffed by Italians who are fanatical about the warriors' history and weapons. For $135, the two-hour course covers both protocol and head-lopping maneuvers before unleashing your inner Maximus complete with wooden sword and era-appropriate armor.
You'll also get to wield real metal weapons with blunted edges. Hard-core wannabes can sign up for the two-month course.
Classes are held twice a week, and participants \"graduate\" as a specific type of warrior.
A Retiarius-class gladiator, for instance, is outfitted with a loincloth, a weapon-entangling net, and a trident, while the Amazon classification is for chicks with dirks. (Obviously, \"Star Wars\" geeks have nothing on these guys.)
Note to Mr. Crowe: Throwing phones is strictly prohibited.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Air combat school in California","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/______EDIT/___FUTURES/california_aircombat_001.hmedium.jpg","","Air combat school in California", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Courtesy of Air Combat USA", "273", "377", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
The bastard is on your tail. You yank the yoke back hard, and the G's slam you into the seat.
The jet fighter spirals upward, a corkscrewing rocket. A dramatic pause, then you swoop back down like a hawk on a sparrow, and you're on his tail.
Train your gun sights and pull the trigger. A chatter of the cannons and the plane in front of you bursts into smoke.
Guess who's buying drinks tonight? Air Combat USA puts clients into single-engine Italian warplanes with simulated cannons and laser sensors to give you the adrenaline rush of a full-on dogfight.
On the ground, guests get rudimentary lessons in air combat strategy and are then handed control of the stick.
(Participants need no flying experience whatsoever, as experienced pilots sit alongside to handle the takeoffs and landings.) The company is based in Fullerton, Calif., but takes its jets on the road, flying from Tampa to Santa Barbara to St. Louis and Vegas.
Suggest a nice civilized guys' weekend with your buddy, then take revenge on him for all his \"yo momma's so fat\" jokes.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Stunt school in London","","","","Stunt school in London", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "285", "198", "", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
Getting thrown through windows, falling off roofs, being engulfed in flames. Male archetypes don't get more alpha than the stunt man, omnipotent and totally fearless.
If you're looking to assume some of that bravura during these tough times (or if you're out of work and that skill set sounds helpful), better to test your mettle in the controlled environment of a stunt school.
Most have primer courses that will get you out of town for one or two weeks so you won't have to explain the \"Fight Club\"–worthy black eyes and bruises.
For a little Guy Ritchie atmosphere, London Stunt School in Wembley offers up courses ā la carte.
The $600 high explosives class, taught by a coordinator on \"Saving Private Ryan\", will introduce you to the world of fireballs (and escaping from them).
For a little less octane, there's always the stair-falling course ($320), where klutziness becomes a thing of beauty.
The Professional Stunt Training Centre in Vancouver is pretty smashing, too: One of its specialties is stunt driving.
In the two-day course, you'll tackle reverse 180's and how to slide into parking spaces; in the advanced course, the art of the full-on car chase. The ultimate, though, may be setting yourself aflame in the fire training course.
(Tip: You'll need to soak your underwear in fire retardant gel.) Master that, and you'll never worry about getting burned in the market again.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Street fights in New York, Greece, and Italy","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "273", "384", "", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
Street fights are usually something we try to avoid while on vacation, but they are a surefire way to get out a little aggression.
For the benign and bloodless version, check out flash mob events (set up through Facebook and elsewhere on the Net) like the Pillow Fight Club, where like-minded individuals meet up and whack at each other with weapons of fluffy destruction.
There's even an International Pillow Fight Day, which takes place in April in cities across the world—thousands have attended New York City's event, leaving behind only feathers.
Yet Europe seems to have dibs on the messiest events: During Clean Monday, a holiday each March in the coastal Greek village of Galaxidi, residents shower everybody and everything with thousands of pounds of sticky, colored flour.
And there's no equivalent to the red drama in Buņol, Spain, on the last Wednesday in August, when the entire town becomes the arena for a full-scale food fight. Tomatoes are the name of this messy game (and of the event itself, La Tomatina), and the specimens are big and overripe.
The splattering lasts about an hour, but in that time, truckloads of the squishy stuff are unleashed.
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i++] = new Array("","Covert Ops programs in Arizona","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/______EDIT/___FUTURES/arizona_covertops_001.vmedium.jpg","","Covert Ops programs in Arizona", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Courtesy Incredible Adventures", "269", "198", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
TRAVEL_Concierge_StressBustingVacations[i-1].body = "
Jack Bauer is a punk. Somebody should tell Kiefer you'd never clear a house like that or you'd get blasted by that bad guy waiting in the closet.
That's what you might find yourself thinking after the three-day Covert Ops program put on by Incredible Adventures.
It's a grab bag of commando skills that might come in handy if, say, the economy collapses altogether and anarchy reigns.
It's also a great excuse to get out of town and play rescue-the-hostages with your ex-Lehman buddies. The program is based at an old CIA training camp in the desert outside Tucson, and the staff are all former military badasses.
They'll tutor you in everything from \"close quarter disarming\" to firing a live 9mm Glock correctly to the art of evading an ambush while leading a convoy of cars. (Like we said, all the really relevant stuff.)
Cars are trashed, guns are shot, and manly stories are told at night. It usually ends with a mission to rescue hostages among the deserted buildings—and sometimes the hostages even survive (but not often).
Hey, Jack incurs his share of collateral damage, so why not you?
Related content from Concierge.com
15 ultimate adventures
Travel’s most endangered destinations
The Checklist: Hotels to stay in before you die";
// END editorial data