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How to survive in-laws, missed flights, heatstroke, lost luggage, broken refrigerators and, even, a hurricane to have the best family vacation ever. on Sanibel Island.

As editor of a travel newsletter and website, I travel a lot. And because my specialty is family travel, I try to include my son and husband as much as possible, given school-work and work-work. But as a recent weekend in Florida will attest, family travel can be a nightmare.

Wednesday's Travel Nightmare

Two hours later than scheduled, I arrive in Ft. Myers for a series of interviews about trends in family travel. I pick up a Budget rental car, a lovely chocolate brown convertible with tan leather seats, forgetting my credit card at the counter. After collecting keys from the PMR Realty office on Sanibel, I buy food supplies and drive to a three-story complex overlooking the broad sand beach. The bright, marine-inspired decor of my three-bedroom unit is utterly Floridian; the large fruit and cheese basket is courtesy of my host, the property management firm Resort Quest.

To maximize the weekend’s family potential, I had invited my Texas in-laws to use senior coupons and enjoy a few rounds of golf on Captiva Island. With several phone calls, I arrange for the very efficient Sanibel-Captiva Shuttle to pick them up, and explain both to Budget and to them how to retrieve my credit card at the airport.

Thursday's Travel Nightmare

At 6am, it is 96 degrees and cooking along southern Florida’s gulf coast. I complete my interviews by early afternoon and return to the condo to discover my in-laws, but no credit card. Because the refrigerator is broken, the perishables are perishing, so we hop into the convertible, buy some coolers and ice and await PMR Realty’s repair service.

My husband and son, who were due to arrive from New York after dinner, miss their connecting flight. USAirways gives them a room at the Embassy Suites Charlotte, with two Sony Playstations and a $20 food coupon. They were in heaven; we were in an overpriced touristy seafood restaurant. On the way home, we buy more ice for the coolers. While I call Budget, my in-laws, who had left their home at 5am, go to bed.