Advice for a big milestone

[PhoenixGeoff]

I am approximately one month away from turning 50.

I really didn't pay much mind to turning 20, 30, or 40.  They came and passed without me feeling much different.  Fifty feels different.

So I'd kind of like to ask your advice on two topics:

1) If you're 50 or over, did this seem like an important event to you? Has your life changed much since passing the half-century mark? Does the world, especially other gay men, treat you differently?  I've always striven to age gracefully instead of following the lead of many other gay men.  I've refused to dye my hair.  I do not lie about my age. I am what I am and I won't try to hide it.  So what advice can you offer me to continue in that same path?

2) For everybody, I'm trying to come up with a suitable way of marking and celebrating the experience.  I've already got plans in mind for family and close friends, so set them aside.  I feel I need to do something...bigger, and for me, if at all possible. And I want it to be about my sexuality, because that has been what I have built my life around.

The difficulty is that I will be on quite a limited budget.  There's not a lot of money for airfare or hotel rooms over several nights or anything like that.  I am used to finding inexpensive places to stay and ways to eat.  I don't mind a Spartan lifestyle as long as it's in service of other things, like admission to a sex party or whatever.  If there's a particular spot you think would be right for me to visit for this, I can probably find a way to get myself there somehow.  I essentially see myself doing this alone.  I'm single, and kind of long to be out exploring again and free to be a total pig, rather like many experiences in my twenties.

So give me your advice and suggestions.  How should I mark this momentous occasion?