We are friends with an absolutely wonderful couple. My husband and I normally spend several nights a week with them, and are very close. They recently asked us to go on a trip to Europe with them.
We declined many times, not because we didn't want to, but because it wasn't something we felt we could afford. They begged and begged, and finally as an incentive, offered to let us stay with them in their hotel rooms. This was a very generous offer, but still we declined because it was just more money that we thought we should be spending.
Finally, after one last impassioned plea from them, we decided to go with them and purchased our tickets. We had been on a few short weekend trips together, and though we knew it could be stressful to travel with other people, we thought that we were close of enough with this couple that we would be spared any drama. Unfortunately we were not.
Halfway through the trip, the husband became absolutely furious with us (to the point that it made me cry) for something that we had not done, and though he later admitted as much, it still made the rest of the trip somewhat uncomfortable. During his rant, he had in part been angry about us "mooching" off of them, even though we had only agreed to go after weeks of begging on their part and had made it clear that we couldn't afford to go any other way.
I tried not to take it personally though, as I know that it was just travel-related stress that caused the outburst, but I also couldn't help feeling like it was tainting our first trip to Europe that we still paid a lot of money for ourselves. We tried to be as good of guests as we could have been, and the rest of the trip was fun, but we were definitely walking on eggshells the rest of the time, afraid that he might get upset again.
Anyway, here's my conundrum. They have not wanted to get together since the trip and I'm afraid that the friendship may be on its last legs. I want to do something to thank them for their generosity in letting us stay in their rooms, and hopefully set us on a more positive course.
The other part of me though, doesn't want to say that it was okay to treat us the way that he did. Should we talk it out? Should we just move on? Or make a grand gesture? And as you are a shopping blog, and I think a thank you gift is in order, what would you recommend?
