Adapted from Emily Henry’s novel that goes by the same name, Brett Haley’s Netflix film, People We Meet On Vacation, starring Emily Bader and Tom Blyth, is a swoon-worthy rom-com that will make you root for these best friends in love! The film begins with Poppy Wright writing a detailed account of what it is to travel solo. As a travel writer, she had only one goal—to make her audience crave a vacation—and while Poppy tried her best to carve out an image of a joyous solo traveler, she couldn’t help but delve into the grim reality. The superficiality of finding life’s true meaning through travel had caught up to her, and she couldn’t help but imagine that one day she might as well slip and fall in a hotel washroom, and her decomposed corpse would be discovered days after her death. Her editor was disappointed with the direction Poppy’s imagination had taken her! Traveling the world and writing about it had always been Poppy’s dream, yet she felt there was something missing even after she got the job she’d always been eyeing. What was Poppy searching for? Let’s take a quick glance at the highlights!
Spoiler Alert
What happened in Tuscany?
Poppy and Alex’s decade-long friendship started off on a not-so-great note. They both lived in Linfield, Ohio, so their mutual friend suggested they carpool home from Boston. Alex was visibly irritated when Poppy showed up an hour late; they ended up losing time in traffic and had to spend the night at a motel, thanks to Poppy, who ended up locking the car door with the keys still inside. Although Alex was absolutely frustrated with the situation he was in, he soon started to appreciate the slight detours that often came with being friends with Poppy. Alex and Poppy were unlike each other; she dreamt of traveling, and he preferred reading a book at home. She hated Linfield, but he loved his small town. She could barely spend a minute in silence, he preferred keeping his interactions with people to a minimum; she wanted to experience the world, and he was happy in the small little world that he’d built around him. Perhaps the fact that they were completely the opposite made them find each other quite amusing.
Poppy realized that Alex was a good guy when she spoke about the bullying she’d faced in school, and he sympathized with her without insinuating there was a flaw in her character. Poppy and Alex ended up spending seven summers together. They made a pact on their second summer vacation that they would always make it a point to spend at least a week together during summer and explore new places. When Poppy was around, Alex was quite a different person. She helped him loosen up, and he even developed a ‘vacation Alex’ personality, who never shied away from doing things that ‘normal’ Alex wouldn’t have ever agreed to. From going skinny dipping with random strangers to pretending to be a CIA agent and performing at a bar, Alex had no inhibitions when he was on vacation with Poppy. Over the years, Alex focused on building an academic career, while Poppy dropped out from college to pursue her dream of writing for a magazine and building her own blog. She moved to New York, interned for magazines, and indulged in flings. She searched for love, but most of her relationships lacked the spark that would make her want to stay. Alex had been in an on-and-off relationship with Sarah. Poppy was convinced that they loved each other enough to always come back to one another, and she quietly sighed, stating that she would end up dying alone. Alex felt jealous when Poppy’s then-boyfriend, Julian, showed up in New Orleans during their vacation. That was probably the first time he saw Poppy as someone more than just a friend. For Poppy, the timeline was far more complicated.
Their friendship suffered a major blow when they went on a vacation to Tuscany. It was a double date vacation: Poppy and her surfer boyfriend, Trey, and Alex and Sarah. The four barely had anything in common, and their conversations were, well, limited. Trey bragged about their nomadic lifestyle and how they would always prefer having wanderlust than a letterbox to their name. Alex scoffed at the remark; he couldn’t imagine life without a home to come back to after every vacation. He dismissively stated that such a vagabond life wasn’t meant for him. It was obvious that Alex hoped that someday Poppy would realize that having someone permanent in life (a home) wasn’t bad after all, but his envy-laden remarks didn’t really help his case. That night, Poppy felt sick, and she feared that she might be pregnant. She chose not to discuss the possibility with Trey, likely because she wasn’t sure how he would’ve reacted, and he wasn’t really someone she trusted completely, at least not as much as she did Alex. She immediately texted Alex, and he showed up like he always did. Poppy was relieved when she found out that she wasn’t pregnant, and in that moment, out of fear, joy, and adrenaline, she proceeded to kiss Alex, and while he wanted the same too, he felt the need to clear the air before they took a step forward. He demanded to know what Poppy thought of him; when she apologized and stated that he will always be her best friend and she didn’t wish to ruin it, he figured that they didn’t really have a future together. So, the next morning, Alex proposed to Sarah; he craved stability in life, and he thought it was time he made a practical decision instead of an emotional one. He was ready to spend the rest of his life in Linsfield, because Sarah planned on taking over her family business and he’d settled on teaching at the local high school. Poppy couldn’t believe that Alex was ready to give up on his dream of pursuing higher education and teaching in Europe, but Alex made it clear that it was a compromise he was willing to make as long as he could make his relationship work. He added that this would be their last vacation together; he knew that his friendship with Poppy would affect his future with Sarah.
Why did Poppy decide to attend the wedding?
For two years, Poppy and Alex stayed out of touch. When Alex’s brother, David, contacted Poppy and insisted she attend his wedding, she at first thought she wouldn’t go. She even contacted Alex to let him know that she couldn’t make it, but as soon as she heard his voice, she felt the desperate need to see him, and she decided immediately to travel to Barcelona to attend David’s wedding. Alex and Sarah had broken up after trying to make their relationship work for two years. He thought they would automatically find compatibility once Poppy was out of the picture, but clearly that hadn’t been the case. Alex’s feelings for Poppy affected his relationship, and even though he tried to punish himself by staying away from her, it didn’t really work, and he had to accept the fact that he and Sarah weren’t meant to be together.
Alex and Poppy crossed paths at the airport, and Alex chose to drop her at her Airbnb. They started talking, and Poppy was reminded of how badly she missed having her best friend in her life. She was pleasantly surprised when he invited her to the rehearsal dinner, especially when he mentioned that she was ‘basically family.’ Alex was mesmerized when he noticed Poppy at the dinner (cue background music: Taylor Swift’s ‘August’), and evidently there was a spark between them. Alex saw a ray of hope when David mentioned that the company Poppy worked for, R+R, hadn’t sent her to Barcelona (Poppy had lied to Alex to make it sound casual) and that she’d actually cancelled the Greece assignment to be there at the wedding. Later that night, after walking her to her accommodation, Alex asked why she chose to attend the wedding, hoping that she would finally admit that she had feelings for him. But Poppy was petrified of losing her friend again, and she blurted out that she wished she could go back to the way they were before Tuscany. Alex didn’t want that; he loved her, and well, he didn’t wish to get friend-zoned again!
In People We Meet On Vacation’s ending, Alex confronted Poppy again. He walked into her rented apartment and stated with authority that he didn’t want things to go back to the way they were in Tuscany, but Poppy didn’t really pay heed to his statement. The apartment had a severe ventilation issue, and she complained about the place being too hot. This particular scene is monumental in the context of the film; Poppy wasn’t ready to talk about her feelings, and quite literally, they were suffocating her. The guilt of being the reason behind a failed relationship bothered her, and she hoped that maybe Alex would say that she wasn’t the reason behind his separation from Sarah, but of course, that was just wishful thinking. Alex admitted that she was why he couldn’t be with Sarah, and the admission resulted in an outburst. Poppy felt the urgency to just tear open the plastic cover to let some air into the apartment. The guilt, the shame, and just her sheer frustration finally found an expression. Poppy stepped outside, and as she stood in the pouring rain (so very ‘Notebook’), she admitted that she’d messed up. She blamed herself for asking too much of Alex, and she believed it ruined their friendship. Poppy finally confessed that the reason why she traveled to Barcelona was because she couldn’t pass on the opportunity to see him. Poppy added that she’d been in love with him ‘probably always.’ The lovers were finally together, but wait, there is still more twist to the tale.
Why did Poppy and Alex part ways again?
While Poppy wanted to focus on the present, Alex was keen on planning their future. She wasn’t ready to discuss the practical issues that could affect their relationship yet, but Alex didn’t see the point of celebrating a single night without discussing how they could make their relationship work. It soon became clear to Alex that there was no way they could be together. He was mostly a homebody who enjoyed occasional traveling, but for Poppy, living one flight ticket to another was her way of life. Poppy wasn’t sure about the life she wanted for herself. She had always envisioned herself as a globetrotter, discovering a whole new personality and never settling down. But here she was, in love with a man who had very different goals in life. Alex and Poppy parted ways again.
On her way home, Poppy ran into Sarah, who, to her surprise, had become a stewardess. She thanked Poppy, because she had come to realize that her and Alex’s relationship wasn’t meant to be, and the life she thought she wanted for herself didn’t actually excite her, which was why she chose to follow her true calling. After Poppy returned home, she had the time to sit with her feelings, and she realized that she was tired of her life as a full-time traveler. She needed a break and a home to come back to, and while she’d tried to gaslight herself into thinking that she enjoyed the lack of permanence that came with her lifestyle, in reality, every time she returned home, she felt a sense of bleakness, and that was reflected in her writing. She’d been running from her feelings for way too long, and she finally decided that she needed to build a life that would make her happy. She resigned from her job, and when her editor asked her where she intended to go now, she responded, ‘Linfield,’ with teary eyes and a smile on her face.
What lesson had Poppy learned about life and love?
The film ends with Poppy running after Alex! The girl who always proudly stated how deeply she resented running had no choice but to run behind the love of her life. By the time she made it to Alex’s house, he had stepped out for a run. She tried to call him, but thanks to the noise-canceling earphones, he couldn’t hear her screams. Ultimately, Poppy managed to catch up with Alex, and in the middle of Linfield’s busy street, Poppy confessed that she preferred not staying at the same place for long, because she feared that someday people would realize that she was a bit ‘too much,’ but she’d come to realize that with Alex that was never really the case. On her worst days, she wanted to be with him, because he was the only one who could make her feel better. She was ready to plan a future with him, because she couldn’t imagine her life without Alex in it. Alex wasn’t a vacation for her; he was her ‘home.’
People We Meet On Vacation’s ending confirms that Alex and Poppy had started to live together in New York. Poppy continued writing, probably on her own blog, or maybe a romantic novel about two friends who found love? Alex took up a teaching job at Sarah Lawrence College, and together they finally built a home. Poppy had come to realize that ‘home’ wasn’t really a place, or an apartment, but a person who allowed one to be their authentic self without any inhibition. She could spend hours talking to Alex or even spend time together in complete silence reading by the beach. She had always searched for a place to belong, and she finally realized that it had always been Alex. And no matter where they went and what they did, she was confident that as long as they would be together, she would always feel at home.
