I handfly with as little automation as possible when I can - which is not that often when you're doing 6-14hr sectors, often into dodgy weather and terrain at strange times of the day or night.
For me, there's not much point taking out the autopilot if you're going to leave the FD on and AT in... Unfortunately, we're not supposed to take the AT out, so that's one thing gone. You can mimic manual thrust by putting it in LVL CHG (777), but that can leave you without AT wakeup, should you get distracted.
There are many areas where A/P use is mandatory or highly encouraged, like RVSM, some RNAV SIDs/STARs, RNAV(RNP) approaches, etc. You just get in the habit of flying it through the FMC/MCP, which, to be honest, sometimes requires more knowledge and skill than basic handflying.
Given ground-based navaids are continually being withdrawn, waypoints are becoming purely RNAV and curved approaches using WAAS/LAAS are on the menu, there won't be much real flying to do unless you happen to see the airport through a gap in the clouds and they let you go visual.
Just as well I have my own aircraft to do what I like in.
