NPR Road Trips: Family Vacations

With generous splashes of popular culture and human interest, the NPR Road Trips series introduces you not only to far-off locations and unusual destinations, but to the people who inhabit them—and seek them out. Each story focuses on real locations, real people, and real history in the thought-provoking, imaginative and entertaining way you’ve come to expect from NPR.

We all have memories of family vacations—some successful, some less so, and some gone terribly awry. When it comes to reporting colorful, compelling tales of family vacations, no one does it better than National Public Radio.

Originally heard on All Things Considered and Morning Edition, the stories gathered here are entertaining, provocative and moving. Like Laura Lorson’s “Hard-Earned Lessons from the Family Road Trip,” in which she recalls endless hours in a hot car, eating junk food and listening to AM radio. And “Setting Sail with Family, Imperfections in Tow,” Marion Winik’s account of a not-so-perfect family reunion at sea. And “Family Camping,” in which commentator Joel Achenbach points out that camping is a serious sport.

NPR knows that everyone has a dream vacation, but many of us are settling for economic-reality vacations. So Tom Goldman asks, “Who Needs a Fancy Cruise If You’ve Got Inner Tubes?” And when Robert Smith learns the price of Broadway tickets to The Little Mermaid ($121 each!), he takes a more frugal route, piling the family into his Honda Civic and heading to the drive-in. Warmly remembered, richly detailed, these stories invite you to share in the journey of others—and may inspire you to plan your own.

Contents:Introduction by Noah AdamsHard-Learned Lessons from the Family Road TripFamily CampingEducational VacationsThe History of the VacationThe Low-Cost Glories of the Drive-In TheaterPink Jeep ChroniclesTaking the Great American Road Trip, Google-StyleA Summer Outing to Chincoteague IslandWho Needs a Fancy Cruise If You’ve Got Inner Tubes?Pirates of the CaribbeanThe Discomfort ZoneSetting Sail with Family, Imperfections in TowMemories of Going on StaycationLost and Found Sound: A Partridge Family Vacation