105 Thoughts I Had While Watching People We Meet on Vacation

Netflix’s adaptation of Emily Henry’s beloved friends-to-lovers novel People We Meet on Vacation finally arrived, starring Emily Bader as chaotic travel writer Poppy and Tom Blyth as her buttoned-up best friend Alex. As a person who has read the book more times than I will admit in print, I watched with a notes app open. Here is every single thought, unfiltered, in order.

1. Another Emily Henry adaptation. My expectations are unfairly high and I refuse to lower them.
2. Friends-to-lovers is the slowest of slow burns and we are all here voluntarily.
3. Opening on a vacation montage — correct. This is a summer story and it knows it.
4. Emily Bader has big chaotic-best-friend energy within forty seconds. Casting understood the assignment.
5. Tom Blyth in sensible vacation khakis. So we ARE doing this properly.
6. Alex is the human equivalent of a perfectly packed suitcase and I would die for him.
7. Poppy packs like a tornado. Alex folds. That is the whole relationship in one shot.
8. The dual timeline is here. Past trips, present awkwardness. Buckle up.
9. College flashback! Baby Poppy and baby Alex hating each other on sight. Perfect.
10. Two kids from the same tiny Ohio town pretending they have nothing in common. Sure.
11. The shared car ride home. THE CAR RIDE. This is where it all begins, people.
12. One good conversation and suddenly they’re best friends for life. Honestly? Realistic.
13. “One trip every summer” is the kind of pact that should come with a warning label.
14. The trips montage begins and I am already emotionally compromised.
15. Budget-travel era: hostels, questionable street food, zero regrets.
16. Alex reading a paperback on a beach while Poppy causes problems on purpose. Cinema.
17. The costume department deserves a raise for the linen alone.
18. Every rom-com needs a needle drop this confident.
19. They are SO clearly in love and SO committed to not noticing.
20. Ten years of vacations with your platonic best friend. Platonic. Sure. Okay.
21. Present day: they haven’t spoken in two years and my stomach already hurts.
22. “Something happened in Croatia” is the Chekhov’s gun of this entire movie.
23. Poppy has the glossy travel job, the city apartment, and zero joy. Growth pending.
24. Watching her write a text, delete it, write it again. Too real. Unacceptably real.
25. She’s doing it. She’s texting him. GIRL.
26. “One more trip to fix everything.” Famous last words in every language.
27. Alex said yes way too fast for someone pretending to be over it.
28. The reunion hug lasts 0.4 seconds too long. NOTED.
29. Desert wedding trip. Heat wave. Forced proximity. The holy trinity.
30. The hotel situation is already going wrong and I could not be happier.
31. THE AIR CONDITIONING IS BROKEN. A classic of the genre. No notes.
32. One bed. ONE BED. The prophecy is fulfilled.
33. Both of them lying very still and very awake. I know that ceiling stare.
34. Alex sleeping on top of the covers out of politeness. I need a moment.
35. Flashback trip! Young, broke, sunburned, happy. My heart.
36. The way he watches her when she’s not looking should be illegal in several states.
37. She keeps a mental list of things to tell him later. That’s not friendship, Poppy.
38. Their inside jokes are so specific they could only come from a decade of trips. Good writing.
39. Every side character can see it. EVERYONE can see it.
40. The bit where they invent backstories for strangers — that’s intimacy, your honor.
41. Wedding festivities begin, and Alex in a suit has altered my brain chemistry.
42. Poppy watching him do groomsman duties like she’s not in love. Comedy.
43. An open bar and a decade of repressed feelings. What could go wrong.
44. Slow dance alert. Hands at respectful height, eyes at DISRESPECTFUL sincerity.
45. “We should get some air.” We all know what getting air leads to.
46. Pool scene! Every Emily Henry story is legally required to include water.
47. The hot tub. Oh no. Oh NO. This is the good part.
48. The steam. The proximity. The eye contact. I have forgotten how to breathe.
49. INTERRUPTED. Of course. This movie is trying to kill me specifically.
50. Halfway through, technically nothing has happened, and I am a wreck. Masterful.
51. Croatia flashback begins. My dread is fully loaded.
52. They were SO happy at the start of that trip. That’s always how you know.
53. Sunset. Water. Two best friends and one unbearable amount of tension.
54. The almost-kiss has been upgraded to an actual kiss.
55. THEY KISSED. IN CROATIA. TWO YEARS AGO. And then RUINED IT.
56. The morning-after awkwardness is physically painful. Ten out of ten.
57. Neither of them said the true thing. Classic. Devastating. Human.
58. Two years of silence over one conversation they were too scared to have.
59. Back in the present, the unsaid thing is sitting between them at breakfast.
60. Poppy’s fake cheerfulness is cracking. Emily Bader is acting-acting here.
61. Alex’s jaw is doing the repressed-feelings thing. Tom Blyth read the book.
62. THE FIGHT. It’s happening. Say the real thing. SAY IT.
63. “You left.” “You let me.” I am unwell.
64. Both of them are right and both are wrong. Peak romance writing.
65. She’s at the door. He’s not stopping her. WHY IS NO ONE STOPPING ANYONE.
66. Sad montage: separate rooms, same misery. Beautifully shot idiocy.
67. Even the wedding guests look concerned. Same.
68. Poppy admitting the job and the constant motion never felt like home. THERE it is.
69. The realization that home was never a place. It’s him. It was always him.
70. RUN, POPPY. The genre demands running.
71. The speech. Messy, sincere, slightly out of breath. No notes.
72. “Ask me to stay.” I have left my body.
73. THE KISS. The real one. The no-taking-it-back one.
74. Twelve years, two idiots, one kiss that fixes almost everything.
75. The crowd of wedding guests pretending not to watch. Us. They’re us.
76. Epilogue trip, together-together this time. I’m fine. This is me being fine.
77. The thesis — love is the person who makes anywhere feel like home — landed intact.
78. Emily Bader and Tom Blyth have real chemistry. Not always guaranteed! Celebrate it!
79. The banter survived the adaptation, which is genuinely the hardest part.
80. Some book scenes didn’t make it and I’ll be filing a formal complaint (a tweet).
81. Still thinking about the linen. All of the linen.
82. The soundtrack is going straight into my summer playlist.
83. This movie will cause a spike in best-friend trips and ruined friendships. Worth it.
84. Checking flight prices to Croatia. For research.
85. Texting the group chat “we should do a trip.” Dangerous. Doing it anyway.
86. Wondering which of my friendships is secretly a romance novel. Concerning results.
87. Adding the book to my reread pile before the credits finish.
88. Realizing I’ve been rooting for fictional people harder than for myself. Growth?
89. Which Emily Henry book gets adapted next? I need dates, castings and a support group.
90. Beach Read hive and Book Lovers hive, assemble — the adaptation era is upon us.
91. Rewinding the hot tub scene. Purely for journalism.
92. The rewatch value here is dangerously high.
93. Netflix knew exactly what it was doing with this release date.
94. Rom-coms are back and I refuse to hear otherwise.
95. Petition for more movies where the central conflict is “two nice people who love each other.”
96. My cheeks hurt. From smiling. At a screen. Alone.
97. Calling my best friend. No reason. Definitely no reason.
98. Thinking about every trip I’ve taken and who I texted first after landing. Oh.
99. OH.
100. Anyway. I’m normal about this movie.
101. (I am not normal about this movie.)
102. Setting a reminder to rewatch with someone who hasn’t read the book, to study their face.
103. Final verdict: sun-drenched, cozy, emotionally ruinous in the best way.
104. Five stars. One existential crisis.
105. Booking the trip. Bye.

People Also Ask

Is People We Meet on Vacation based on a book?

Yes — the Netflix film adapts Emily Henry’s 2021 bestselling novel of the same name, a friends-to-lovers romance about best friends Poppy and Alex, who take a summer trip together every year until one trip goes wrong.

Who stars in People We Meet on Vacation?

Emily Bader plays Poppy Wright and Tom Blyth plays Alex Nilsen, with Brett Haley directing the Netflix adaptation.

Is People We Meet on Vacation worth watching?

If you love slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance with vacation scenery and banter, yes — it keeps the book’s warmth and chemistry intact. Book readers should expect some trimmed subplots, as with any adaptation.