People We Meet on Vacation — Ending Explained

The narrative alternates between the present trip to Barcelona and flashbacks detailing a decade of summer vacations:

• The Origins: Poppy and Alex meet during college and bond over a long, chaotic car ride back to Ohio. Despite their stark differences, they establish an annual summer tradition to travel together.
• The Croatia Rift: Two years before the present, during a trip to Croatia, years of suppressed feelings culminated in a kiss. Alex pulled back out of fear of losing Poppy’s friendship and disrupting their lives, causing an emotional freeze that ended their annual vacations and broke off communication.
• The Barcelona Reunion: Poppy invites herself to David’s wedding under the pretense of a work assignment for R+R. In Barcelona, the physical and emotional proximity forces them to address the rift.
• The Climax and Confession: Poppy confesses that traveling the world without Alex has felt hollow, admitting she is in love with him. Alex reciprocates, revealing he has loved her for years but feared that admitting it would confine her nomadic spirit.
• The Resolution: Poppy realizes that home is not a place, but a person. They commit to a partnership that balances her career and travel with their shared life together, moving forward as a romantic couple.

Interpretations of the film include:

• The Escapism vs. Reality Reading: Views the narrative not purely as a romance, but as a critique of modern millennial burnout and "wanderlust culture," suggesting that constant travel can serve as an avoidance mechanism rather than genuine self-discovery.
• The Codependency Critique: Analyzes whether Poppy and Alex’s dynamic represents true soulmate chemistry or a decade-long cycle of poor emotional boundaries that caused unfair collateral damage to external romantic partners, such as Sarah.