People We Meet on Vacation

Poppy, who moved to New York from Ohio, dropped out of college and built her social media influence until she landed her dream job as a travel writer at Rest + Relaxation magazine. While she achieved all of her career goals and got to travel the world, she confesses to her friend and fellow social-media influencer Rachel Krohn that she is not happy. Poppy feels ashamed for not being happy, given that she has the material boons of a great job and Lower Eastside apartment in New York, as well as perks like being able to hail cabs and eat in Michelin-starred restaurants. Still, she is disillusioned with writing about vacations that are too expensive for the majority of people who read about them.

Rachel asks Poppy to think about when she was last happy, stating that her best chance of finding happiness is to pick it up from where she last had it. Poppy instantly knows that she was last happy two years ago on holiday with Alex, and that there is no way of returning to that particular happiness as the pair have not spoken since.

Sitting on the balcony of the apartment she has not taken the time to personalize, Poppy deliberates a long time before texting Alex. She worries the resumption of their friendship is not even a possibility. She opens her laptop and looks at her old travel blog, Pop Around the World, on which she has barely written since the trip to Croatia with Alex two years ago.

Poppy and Alex’s Summer Trip was an annual event to which they once both looked forward. Poppy misses Alex so much that she eventually sends him a text that says “Hey” (27). Alex instantly replies and they converse. Alex is a high-school English teacher, although he would prefer a job in a university and has moved back to Ohio to be close to his family.

While the conversation is lighthearted, Alex comments that Poppy would never be the type to get a dog hurts her, as Alex loves animals, and she is certain that “he sees my inability to commit to one as a personal defect” (31). Then, when Alex shares the news that his cat Flannery O’Connor has died, he ends messaging; Poppy sits on her balcony feeling miserable.

Poppy and Alex meet at Orientation at the University of Chicago. While they are both from Southern Ohio—he’s from West Linfield and she’s from East Linfield—they are opposites: He is tall, quiet, and studious and she is short, loud, and in search of parties. Conversation is awkward and when they part they do not exchange numbers.

When Poppy confesses to Rachel that Alex is the one who makes her happy, Rachel thinks that Poppy and Alex should get back in touch, as it “seems silly to lose such an important friendship over one fight” (36).

Although Poppy is certain Alex will never want to go on vacation with her again, she receives a text message from him on a Sunday night when she is in bed. He is also in bed and sends her a picture from her high school yearbook he found in the library. She is delighted he is thinking of her and tests the water about going for a drink when he is next in Ohio. He expresses understated enthusiasm. She takes things a step further and suggests they go on vacation together.

While Poppy and Alex do not see each other at all during freshman year of college, they end up carpooling when Alex looks for someone with whom to travel back to Southern Ohio. At first the drive is arduous, as Alex prefers silence while Poppy prefers music and conversation. When they start talking, they establish that Poppy is spontaneous and likes most things, while fussy Alex has particular aversions to saxophones and cinemas that might fail hygiene standards.

Poppy discovers that behind his calm, controlled facade, Alex has a wild side and likes karaoke bars. They sing together in the car at the top of their lungs and Alex suggests they go to a karaoke bar in the summer. Poppy feels more comfortable with him than anyone else she has met in her freshman year. She asks him how he feels about traveling. He says he has read about a lot of places, but not gone to many of them; however, he guesses that like Poppy, he would love traveling.

After a two-hour text conversation, Alex agrees to go on vacation with Poppy. As Alex’s youngest brother David is getting married in Palm Springs, that will be the destination. Poppy has the idea of pitching Palm Springs to her Rest + Relaxation magazine editor Swapna as a destination for the magazine to cover. Were Swapna to have accepted, the magazine would have funded the trip. When Swapna refuses, Poppy asks to take a vacation and resolves to fund the Palm Springs trip herself.

When she lands at LAX airport, Poppy receives a text message from Alex’s younger brother, David, who is marrying his boyfriend Thad. Although Alex comes from a conservative Christian background, his father respects all of his sons’ choices and is proud of his gay son.

Poppy’s mother likes Alex and hopes he and Poppy will realize they have always been in love and get together. Poppy dated Guillermo, while Alex has had an on-off relationship with Sarah for the better half of the past decade. As Alex has not mentioned Sarah in his recent text exchange with Poppy, she fears they may be on the road to getting back together. Were this to be the case, Poppy worries she and Alex would grow apart as she has never gotten on with Sarah.

Alex and Poppy’s reunion at the airport is warm and they enjoy embracing each other. However, there is some awkwardness and neither mentions the fateful summer in Croatia.

Despite Poppy’s low expectations, she and Alex stay in touch after the carpooling trip and become great friends who explore Chicago together as students. They get jobs and take their first vacation together to Vancouver Island. When Alex, a first-time flyer, is terrified on the plane, Poppy holds his hand to ease the fear and finds “it gives me a surprising thrill” (73), even if she convinces herself they are entirely platonic friends. Five percent of the time she is with Alex she wonders what it would be like if they were romantically involved.

Alex and Poppy take a cab to collect the boxy white hatchback Poppy rented. They play a game from previous vacations, where they pretend that they are a honeymooning couple to the other couple with whom they share a cab and make up stories about how they met.

When they reach the hatchback, they comment on changes such as Poppy’s haircut—which Alex admires—and Alex’s improved use of technology. Conversation is relatively natural as they drive, and Poppy remembers that Alex is the one person with whom she can be fully herself. She remembers a night in junior year when they had a sleepover and traded secrets. He told her about the death of his mother from childbirth-related complications and his feelings of duty for the care of his younger brothers. She told him about the numerous times she was bullied at school for being different and coming from an eccentric family. She also told him about the painful incident when Jason Stanley spread the untrue rumor that she had given him a blow job in the janitor’s closet. While she told Alex that despite her love for her family she still felt “a little lonely” in their company (84), she did not tell him she thought he was the one with whom she belonged .

When they arrive at the Desert Rose Apartment Complex where Poppy has reserved a room, things become awkward. First, Poppy makes the mistake of joking about Ohio and Alex’s heavy drinking; then, they discover that the air-conditioning does not work and that there is only one proper bed in the room.

During their stay on Vancouver Island, Poppy and Alex have a great time despite having landed in a retirement village and being so cash-strapped that they can only afford the same three restaurants. They enjoy some rainy hikes in the woods and Poppy thinks she would be happy if she could spend the rest of her life traveling and trying new things. She proposes she and Alex should always be traveling, but as a serious literature student, he counters that he will give her his summer vacations.

On their last full day, they drive to Tofino and meet Buck—a water-taxi driver who invites them to a party at his house. While Poppy makes out with Buck at the party, she cannot help comparing him to Alex. She decides that Alex, who is reserved and conscientious, is more suited to his library crush Sarah Torval, who has a similar personality to him. She ends up back in a tent with Alex after Buck cheerfully throws her out of his bedroom when she does not want to have sex with him. Alex and Poppy joke about what happened.

At the pool, Poppy notes Alex’s ripped body and the sexual tension arising between them is difficult to manage. She imagines kissing him and then erases the image. She asks him if he talks to Sarah Torval, who is a teacher at his school and he is cagey about the subject, though he insists things are not awkward between him and Sarah. Poppy wonders again whether Alex and Sarah are on the road to getting back together.

Back in the room, the temperature is even hotter and the shower is impossibly intricate. Poppy regrets that she cannot use her Rest + Relaxation privileges to check them into a better hotel; however, as this is not a job, that would not be possible. Poppy knows that while her job has many perks, her salary is limited and does not allow her much scope for funding independent trips. She has also been slacking on her social media posts in the past two years, which means she does not have enough influence to score a better place without paying for it.

At the end of their junior year of college, Poppy and Alex decide to go to Nashville, Tennessee as he has been saving for his younger brother’s college tuition and cannot afford an expensive vacation. Poppy does not want to return to college for senior year, as her passion is traveling. She has been blogging for a few months and after amassing a few thousand followers on social media, intends to turn travel writing into her career.

As she is packing for the Nashville trip, Poppy’s mother surprises her with a box of condoms, claiming she wants Poppy and Alex to be safe. Poppy is mortified, as she has never had sex with Alex, or anyone else. She presents the box of condoms to Alex, who is waiting downstairs with her parents and makes some jokes which make everyone uncomfortable.

On the car ride, Alex and Poppy have their first conversation about sex. Alex has done it with Lydia, a girl from the library, and is surprised to learn that Poppy is still a virgin. At this stage, Poppy considers her attention-seeking youngest child personality and Alex’s caring older brother personality as a fraternal dynamic, but she still begins to think about kissing him.