a)plan everything and tell Husband the week before to pack his bags. Everything would be a surprise! I would get vacation time off for him and everything. He would have no idea other than to “pack warm” or what have you.
or
b) tell him ahead of time and let him help with the planning.
I know it’s hard to say what someone else would like so pretend its your SO doing this for you.
give me the pros and cons, o esteemed dopers.
In the case of my wife and myself, it’s always proven best to plan/discuss the options ahead of time. For one thing, discussing the upcoming vacation is lots of fun. For another, it tends to prevent some of my more lame-brained ideas from becoming anything more than ideas <g>.
I don’t think I’d like to be surprised. What would happen is I’d be in such a shock the vacation would be over before I was able to enjoy it. I’d spend the whole time wondering how it was all arranged. How much did you spend? Are you sure my boss knows? The stove, did we leave it on? What about the dogs? Who will feed them? What if what if what if!
Plan together. Unless you’ve been together for 100 years, or your doing the exact dream vacation he’s talked about for years, you run a big risk.
I once let a girlfriend plan a vacation. She booked lousy, overpriced hotels, had flight times I hated and missed several travel “tricks” I knew about (If you want to go to Disneyworld for one day - stay on property. DO NOT schedule a 3 hour time-share tour so that you can stay for free in a Super 8 that is a $45 cab ride from Disney).
I think you’ve got a consensus here and I agree with everyone else.
A romantic kidnapping can be fun, but you should start with an overnight trip, or even just an evening to see how your honey reacts to the idea before you do an all-week sort of thing. And I would only do it as a very romantic trip.