The airline I work for encourages our pilots to fly without the automatics, and I try to fly manually as much as I can.
Certain guys you fly with are more comfortable with it than others. You must appreciate that there is also a time and a place for it. Going into an busy airport, you are both not familiar with, in bad weather it is probably not a great idea, as it increases the work load for both pilots, and as the capacity reduces for both pilots, mistakes creep in. However, going into your base airport, with reasonable weather, where both of you are familiar and know what to expect, it wouldn't be a bad idea.
Enjoy it when you get there!