I'm 30M, my wife is 27F. We've been together 5 years, married for 1 and this is probably the first serious fight we've had.
I own a small business and for the last 2 years it has basically eaten my life. No real vacations, no full week off and even weekends away usually involved me taking calls time to time.
My wife has traveled 4 times during our relationship, usually for 10 days to 14. I paid for those trips and I'm not saying that like she owes me. I'm saying it because she has had chances to fully disconnect and I have not.
Now I finally have some weeks where the business can run without me. I was excited like an idiot. I put together 3 options: Tenerife for beaches and hiking, UK trip or Champagne for wine tastings and food. I thought she could pick which one sounded best.
Instead, she said we should go to Torrevieja, Spain, and stay with her brother and his wife because I still haven’t met them.
Her brother has lived there for 5 or 6 years. He missed our wedding because of work and travel issues. I’ve never avoided meeting him, it just never lined up. My wife saw him this winter, so this is not some reunion after years apart.
I told her I’m happy to meet him, but staying in someone else’s home, planning around their schedule, making small talk, and being a guest for 2 weeks is not restful to me. That is a family visit with a beach nearby.
I offered to visit them for 2 or 3 days at the end, book a hotel near them, take them to dinner, and spend real time together. I also said they could join us for part of the trip.
She said I was treating her family like an errand. I got frustrated and said whoever pays gets to choose. I regret saying it like that because it sounded ugly.
She agreed the next day, but she's been cold all week.
AITAH?