The year Disney World opened, my mother-in-law took me and our two daughters to Florida on the Auto Train. This was a combination passenger/auto carrier train that ran between some small town near Washington, D.C. and Sanford, Florida.

You brought your overnight necessities along with you, leaving your main luggage in your car trunk. Your car was loaded onto one of the auto carrier cars in the middle of the train. You would have no access to it during the trip. Coach passengers like us spent the night in our day coach seats, while sleeping-car passengers disappeared right after dinner and emerged the next morning.

The little girls took it all in stride, walking up and down the aisles and chatting with the other passengers. Somebody failed to completely shut off the faucet in the rest room, however, and the tank ran dry. What, did they think it was connected to a water main somewhere? (On the way back home, I posted a little note: "Please don't let the faucet drip, or the water tank won't last the trip!")

At any rate, Grandma appreciated having her own car during the time we were in Florida.

One couple I heard about hired a driver to drive them in their Mercedes down to Florida for the winter. They paid his airfare north and then back down to Florida in the spring to bring them home. They were both getting older, and the husband was partially disabled. They didn't think they could manage such a long drive themselves. I was acquainted with the driver he said the trip was nerve-wracking because the couple bickered the whole way.

Nowadays people fly down and rent a car.