My wife and I will be celebrating our 10 years anniversary in May and we desperately need some ideas. Initially we wanted to go back to Turks and Caicos where we got married but now we want to go somewhere we never been before, somewhere more exotic than places we been to before. We are mid 30s and looking for adventure and once in a lifetime experience. We prefer warm weather over cold. We definitely want to go international and have a budget of 10 days and $10k for flight, accomodations, excursions. We will be flying from O'Hare in Chicago. I am strongly considering New Zealand but not sure if 10 days is enough given the days spent traveling there.

We been to:
Asia - Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Chiang Mai
Europe - Paris, Marseille, Nice, Vernazza, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik
South America: Cusco, Machu Picchu
Caribbeans: Riveria Maya, Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas
Africa: Cairo (2020 trip planned with friends)

How about one of the Greek islands?

I don't think you'll find "warm weather" in New Zealand in May??

We thought about Mykonos or Santorini, but we just got back from Dubrovnik and want something a little different.

You are right. I completely forgot their winter is our summer. Looks like New Zealand is out then. My coworker was there a few weeks ago, and his photos were amazing.


My wife is looking into tree top hotels in Costa Rica, somewhere relatively close and something unique.

Check out Bosque del Cabo in Costa Rica. And the Costa Rica forum.

Everyone's different and while Cusco, Machu Picchu is an amazing sounding trip it doesn't (to me) really sound like an anniversary celebration. I think you were more on the "right" track with the Caribbean island idea.

Patagonia. Fantastic and very different from anywhere. 10 days is a perfect fit.

I was just looking at that! Looks amazing and very remote.

What about an African Safari in Tanzania and Kenya? That would be a trip to remember!

Dubai? Or Israel?

second vote for safari. just returned from 9 days in Tanzania-Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, and Tarangire NP. trip of a lifetime and your budget was same as ours. i wouldn't try to do both Kenya and Tanzania together with your time/budget. stick with one if you decide to look into it. can provide more details if you desire.

May in Patagonia..I don't think so!

May is actually one of my favorite months in Peru (Machu Picchu) after all it's just a few degrees off of the equator and so there isn't a "winter" and a "summer" in terms of temperature (which has more to do with elevation than month) and "wet" vs "dry" seasons. But if you read the OP, they've already been there, so not sure why it was even mentioned.

If you can handle a long flight, what about Bali? May should be outside of the monsoon season and before the bulk of Australian tourists show up. You can do a side trip to Komodo from Bali. If Singapore has there stopover progam, I'd try to include it .

If not, maybe the Galapagos?

Ten days should work for either one. Bali in particular will be more interesting than just another Caribbean island or European City.

we actually have a trip almost planned for Bali in May. but we are waiting a bit to get better details on the effects of the recent earthquake/tsunami in the area and monitoring the ongoing volcano issue (which is 6 miles from our pre-paid resort) personally i think,with all the other options available, i would wait on Bali.

Thanks everyone for your ideas! After much debate, wife won (as always) and we will be heading to Costa Rica for adventure and relaxation at the same time. We will be renting an Airbnb by Uvita so we can do adventure sports and also just chill at the beaches. She wanted to shorten our trip to just 6 days since we booked another trip to San Francisco the following weekend to visit families.

Try to recreate your first married meal with your spouse. Work together to choose recipes, go shopping for the ingredients, and cook as a team. My wedding dinner included an elegant tomato salad and chicken piccata – not something I would normally take the time to make at home! Making it with my husband would certainly be a fun challenge. For those of you who are really ambitious, try recreating your wedding cake. If you are not married and celebrating a dating anniversary, try to cook what you ate on your first date. Cooking, in general, is an extremely fun and cheap dating idea that you should always consider. If you’re still not sure what to do, find a new special recipe or use an online service like E-mealz to plan out your meal. End the evening snuggling on the couch, watching the first movie you saw together.