Mom, Dad, and me at the Amber Fort in Jaipur, India.

by Brook Wilkinson

What's the best trip that your family ever took together? Stephen J. Dubner over at the Freakonomics blog just asked the opposite question, "What's your family vacation nightmare?" and while many of the answers are quite humorous in retrospect, I thought we all might learn something from our collective family-trip triumphs.

(If you're not already familiar with Freakonomics, it was first a book written by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Dubner back in 2005. In it, they aimed to explain everything from baby names to crack gangs via economic models. They're now "continuing the conversation" on their blog. Check it out. Who knew that in 19th-century Europe, people kept growing well into their 20s?)

I'll go first: My parents might well remember it differently, but the trip we took to India together three years ago comes in at the top of my list. Yes, I got violently ill on my very first night, my father caught a vicious cold from our guide, and I spent several hours in the back of an SUV that was careening around dark mountain roads, clinging to my mother's hand for what I was sure would be the last time in my life.

But despite all the foibles, India was the first time that I traveled with my parents as a full-fledged adult, no longer consummately embarrassed to be seen in public with them. I was actually in charge of much of the trip, and when things went wrong I knew how to fix them. Plus, since we were no longer all living under one roof, spending every day together was once again a treat. So don't let the family trips stop once the kids leave the nest. The best years of traveling together, in my opinion, are yet to come.

What's your favorite family travel memory?