(CNN) -- There's the fantasy of family vacations: happy children playing games, contented parents, doting grandparents, smooth roads, short lines, easy-to-schedule bathroom breaks -- and all reasonably priced, sturdily educational and wonderfully fulfilling.
And then, there's the reality.
Those adorable kids? Fighting in the back seat. Mom is weary, dad upset. The car, loaded down with luggage, electronics, junk food, cheap paperbacks and undisposed trash, feels smaller than an '64 Beetle and smells like a rest-stop bathroom. The airport is an endless hassle. And vacations, to be enjoyed by the whole family, turn into maddeningly hellish experiences.
It was perhaps best captured in the 1983 movie "National Lampoon's Vacation," which follows the all-American Griswolds as they drive the family station wagon on a cross-country trip to visit the Walley World theme park.
more Coping with the heaven, hell and humor of family travel - CNN.com
And then, there's the reality.
Those adorable kids? Fighting in the back seat. Mom is weary, dad upset. The car, loaded down with luggage, electronics, junk food, cheap paperbacks and undisposed trash, feels smaller than an '64 Beetle and smells like a rest-stop bathroom. The airport is an endless hassle. And vacations, to be enjoyed by the whole family, turn into maddeningly hellish experiences.
It was perhaps best captured in the 1983 movie "National Lampoon's Vacation," which follows the all-American Griswolds as they drive the family station wagon on a cross-country trip to visit the Walley World theme park.
more Coping with the heaven, hell and humor of family travel - CNN.com