<p>I would vote for trip that does NOT involve the bloated expenses of a cruise: make your own arrangements, stay in pensiones and/or hostels, PLUS remodel of kitchen.</p>
<p>If you go on a trip, do something special, go eat at places you normally wouldn’t and stay at a place with a nicer bathroom than you have at home. If you want to do a kitchen instead of a trip, get the nicest kitchen you could afford. Even if you couldn’t get the best of everything, splurge on one item you really want. It will make your smile every time you look at it.</p>
<p>To me, the point of a trip is to experience a place I would not normally get to visit, not to have a fancy bathroom. You could probably have that is a luxury hotel 20 miles away. Yawn. I agree with having s special meal…if that is the kind of place you are visiting. In France, have great food. In Yellowstone, food is not the point of the visit. :)</p>
<p>But to each his own. TOmorrow I am leaving for 2 wks in Europe. Staying in luxury hotels is not a priority for us. YMMV, as always.</p>
<p>One of the last places we stayed was a suite, with a jacuzzi & a regular tub/shower.It took up one end of the top floor w a great view & a fireplace! We don’t even have a fireplace in our * house*.
We don’t often splurge, but it was totally worth it.</p>
<p>I’m with Consolation; I just don’t get excited by fancy hotels when I’m footing the bill. You might consider renting a flat in Paris for a week and one in Rome for a week. That would be a great trip.</p>
<p>My vote would be for a self-planned trip to Italy!</p>
<p>For our 30th a couple of years ago, DH and I planned to FINALLY remodel the kitchen/first floor. And then he had an opportunity to go to Australia for work. As it has always been on our bucket list, we decided to figure out the finances and I tagged along. It was a fabulous trip, but our remodel was scheduled to begin two days after we arrived back home. Not a good idea. I was still jet-lagged, had difficulties transitioning to the temporary kitchen…and I work at home. We had the nicest contractor and workers, but remodeling is awful to live and work in. (See the introvert thread for more info on why having all those people and all that noise in my house/workspace might be a problem.)</p>
<p>rightfit,
Regarding age ranges, I would say that Celebrity/Princess/Holland America caters more towards couples in your age range in terms of activities/entertainment. Although what emilybee says is correct in that, due to these being longer/mor expensive cruises, you should find folks in your age range on all lines.</p>
<p>Are you able to get some do it yourself books and spruce up the kitchen on your own? I did a remodel the other year at BFs house for about a thousand bucks. We re-finished the existing cabinets, re-finished the counter tops (obviously if you wanted something like granite they would probably have to be replaced), repainted in completely different colors, put in a new sink and spickets and a new refrigerator and range hood. The stove was already in great condition and matched the new look of the kitchen and the floor was in a great condition as well. If you saw before and after pictures of the kitchen you would think it cost thousands and thousands of dollars for the reno.</p>
<p>I don’t know how old you are but I’m sure you’ll find plenty of people your age on any cruise line. I went on a cruise this winter/spring and was one of the younger ones on the boat. We were the youngest at our dining table by about 30 years. That being said, we get along great with “older” people and had a great time. It’s the time of the year were most people have to work and kids are in school. If you’re going on a longer trip, most people can’t take that much time off.</p>
<p>I’d love to go on a 2 or 3 week long cruise but most of my friends do not have nearly as much vacation time as myself. I’m already scratching my head about how I’m going to use the remaining 4 weeks of my time yet this year… and that’s after already taking about 3 weeks off during the first half of the year!</p>
<p>If you’re up to doing the arrangements, definitely the Italy trip! A cruise will never give you the same wonderful experience of traveling Italy. We did it (4 adults, 5 kids) and had an absolutely fab time. We stayed in Rome 3 days then rented a car and went north. SO much fun!</p>
<p>Gouf78- tell me more. Where did you stay, what I’d you do? What was it like driving and navigating? Did you spend the whole time in Italy? Was the language challenging? Right now we’re most interested in Italy and maybe Greece - the coastline in Greece looks amazing.</p>
<p>On an earlier anniversary note: for our 15th we were deciding between Hawaii or 4th child. Thought we can go to Hawaii any time, best to have 4th child because time was running out. Dentkid 4 turns 15 this fall and we will celebrate 31st this summer. We haven’t been to Hawaii yet…</p>
<p>Back to the regular program. I would suggest Italy. Work with a travel agent to help you set it up within the parameters you have. No one EVER says I’m sorry I took a trip there.</p>
<p>My vote: go to Italy and splurge. You can get a kitchen anytime and you’ve lived with the kitchen you’ve got for this long.</p>
<p>For me, I prefer travel over many other options. H and I are boy much into remodeling, which is a personal preference. We have loved our home and were never interested in any remodels. One other thing to consider is that its nice to travel when all travelers are pretty healthy as sightseeing can be tiring and its also nice to travel without any or many dietary restrictions.</p>
<p>We did the Celebrity cruise that left out of Rome and had stops in Sicily, Mykonos, Athens, Ephesus, Rhodes, Santorini, and Naples. We spent 3 extra days in Rome. The whole trip was amazing. It is a busy trip with lots of ports. It was a 10 day cruise with 2 sea days. If you pick this one, feel free to pm me and I’ll give you excursion informattion. We are going on another Mediterranean cruise this summer leaving out of Barcelona. The only stop we have in common with the last trip is Rome, and I am happy to visit Rome again.</p>
<p>Forget the tour guide and read Let’s Go Italy! and the Rough Guide to Italy, and Rick Steves, buy yourself a railpass and take public transportation. Lots of info on the internet about good reasonably priced places to stay and things to see. We have always traveled on our own using guide books and trying to stay off the beaten path. Lots of fun and you get to focus on things you like and at your tempo!!!</p>
<p>Take the trip. Spend time together, celebrating your love. Without being overly melodramatic, one never knows how many more anniversaries one has to celebrate. If you have the means, go for the trip. The cool thing about travel: You will always have the memories.</p>
<p>Take out a home equity loan to remodel the kitchen. It’ll be an investment in your home, but it won’t be a celebration of your love.</p>
<p>For our 30th anniversary, we went to Capetown SA, Rwanda where our daughter was a Peace Corps volunteer, and Brussels (one trip). While in Rwanda, we did spend 3 days at,the Hotel Serena in Gisenyi…and it was fabulous…a real luxury hotel and totally worth it. For us, it was a special trip involving visiting a close friend in South Africa, visiting our daughter in Rwanda, and relaxing in Belgium (we stayed in Brussels but went to Brugge for a day trip).</p>
<p>The memories of that trip are something I enjoy more than my new counters and appliances in our kitchen. Oh…we did get granite counters right after we returned from the trip!</p>
<p>We actually went 3 weeks. 3 days Rome (amazing), 1 week in Tuscany–we stayed at a farmhouse we rented off the internet (simply amazing), one week at Lake Como (another rented place–amazing also), and then 3 days in Venice.<br>
Toured around Rome and then rented a car. The only scary part was getting out of Rome (we had one hairy u-turn moment). Fairly easy travel–good roads but very fast.
At each of our week stays we did day trips. Pisa, Florence, Bellagio, Seneca, Vatican City.
Most people spoke English and my bit of high school French worked fairly well since the languages are close. There were nine of us which created it’s own logistical problems so with only two you shouldn’t have any problem except for what to enjoy next.
I did a fair amount of research with Rick Steve’s site and books which were great. No big surprises except that it was better than I ever expected. There are local tours in Rome and at the Vatican which are easy to find once you get there. Some famous museums may need ticket reservations before you leave the states to make sure you get in (like the US Capitol tours).
We took a tour to Greece also a couple years ago. Greece is actually fairly easy to navigate without a tour guide we found out. I think you’d miss much by cruise boat. Island hopping is by way of hydro-planes which are pretty easy to get schedule. If you go add Turkey. I’d probably head to AAA and see what your options are.</p>
<p>Just to add–if you want to travel Europe you need to do it now while you are able. It’s a lot of walking, uneven surfaces, etc. It’s not what I call handicap accessible! The kitchen will wait but you never know when your health won’t allow you to make such a trip.</p>