Our luxurious vacation cost 1 million credit-card points and $12,000. We spent 14 days in Europe and never flew less than business class.

A year before my wife’s 52nd birthday, I knew I wanted to do something special to celebrate the milestone. She loves to travel as much as I do, so I started planning a surprise trip.

In our eight years together, we’ve traveled to 26 countries. We’ve kissed at the top of the Eiffel Tower, almost lost our stomachs riding camels at the Giza Pyramids, and shared so many other found travel memories.

I felt pressure trying to plan the perfect birthday trip, but the cost was still a consideration.

Luckily, after a year of strategically saving up credit-card points and miles, I was able to afford a two-week trip across five European countries.

Here’s how I made it so we never flew economy or stayed in budget hotels.