We are trying to find the perfect place to celebrate our 25th anniversary. So far, we have not been able to come up with anything less than $10,000+. We have looked at the French Polynesia, Mediterranean, Sandy Lane in Barbados, Caneel Bay in St. John. We really wanted something more special than what we would ordinarily do. Ordinarily, we would go to someplace in the Caribbean like Aruba or St. Thomas and stay at a Marriott since we have a ton of points. I am starting to realize in order to do anything more special, we will have to spend a lot of money. How do people afford these types of vacations??!!! Does anyone have any ideas that we haven't thought of? HELP!!!

I guess it depends on what you mean by "very special." Are you thinking of going to just one location and staying there, or traveling to several countries? Are you thinking of going for a week vacation or staying for a longer period of time.

I think Paris is very romantic and you can certainly do a week or more there for less than $10,000. My dream for a romantic 25 th. anniversary would be a week in a balcony apartment in Positano, Italy with short day trips over to Capri and up and down the Amalfi coast. I only have to wait three short years for 25. Best wishes and Good Luck with your planning.

Oops! Forgot to ask you what time of year you'll be celebrating. That has a lot to do with the cost of the trip. If you and your hubby are flexible, go off season and save a bundle. It might be worth it and even more romantic to be somewhere without the crowds.

Our anniversary is April 7 and we have been trying to decide where to go for many months now. At this late date, it doesn't look like we are going anywhere in April....maybe June at this rate. We don't care if it is one place or several, but not too tiring. We just want it to be something special and out of the ordinary....something different that stands out from other vacations we have taken. It just seems that so far all those places cost $10,000 and that just blows my mind.

Oooops forgot to say....we are looking to go for about 10 days.

Maybe I'm not seeing exactly what you're after but there is simply no need to spend $10K to have special anniversary trip.
You can enjoy Australia and NZ for far less than that, the Amalfi Coast of Italy, the Greek Islands, Paris/Cote d'Azur, lots of places.
You may be looking at resorts which cost $600+ per night, which can be fun, but if that's too burdensome financially, why not stay more than one place and balance a very expensive place with more mainstream hotel/resort for a few nights.
There are loads of good options.

We have been to Anguilla, Cat Island, Anegada, St. John, Exuma and others for up to 10 days at a time and have never spent near $10K. The only time we ever spent that amount was for our 21-day trip to East Africa in 2002!