People we meet on vacation

                                                           
                                                              2.5 out of 4 stars

Full disclosure, I read the book first before seeing the movie, and often this doesn't end well. I think you can just build worlds, tensions, and inner lives in a book in ways you just can't translate in two hours on the screen.

The movie sticks to the story though. When the movie opens, Poppy is young, bursting with energy and full of life. Alex is 18 going on 40. They are driving back to their hometown together from Boston where they attend school, to Ohio, which Poppy hates and Alex loves. Through a series of misadventures, they go from enemies to frenemies, to friends on this trip. It's not exactly opposites attract, but they both see a goodness in each other and they make a pact. Every summer they will drop what they are doing and take an adventure together, regardless of their life circumstances.

This movie is hardly a mystery as to where it's going. We know they are destined to be together but that it's also going to take them a while to see it. 

Their trips together are always interesting. On the very first trip to Alex's dream destination of "Canada" (he's not particularly imaginative), more misadventures ensue. Although they are both about to hook up with attractive strangers, destiny takes a hand instead. Perhaps the universe is trying to tell them something. The only other trip really highlighted is yet another crazy time in New Orleans. That one DID look like a lot of fun. 

The movie jumps around between the past and the present. In the present, the once vivacious Poppy has lost her mojo as a travel writer in New York, and her boss has started to notice. Alex works as a teacher in their hometown, and for reasons we don't yet know, the two aren't speaking. Something must have gone wrong somewhere on one of these trips.

Again, the plot is no great mystery here. For those who have ever seen a romantic comedy, you know that at some point the sexual tension is going to bubble over, and that's exactly what happens in Tuscany. They are both in serious relationships, (Alex is still with his High School sweetheart) and yet Poppy kisses Alex anyway. He is confused. Is this real or just some reaction to you being unhappy in your current relationship? It leads to their official friendship breakup, which breaks Poppy's heart and robs the joy out of her work as a travel writer.

The couple are given one more chance to make things right at Alex's brother's wedding in Barcelona, and you can probably fill in the blanks yourself from here. Of course they wind up together, and Poppy returns to her hometown to be with him.

The whole movie got me thinking about the most interesting question I have ever been asked on a date. I was on a wild adventure with a woman not dissimilar to the ones in this movie when the woman posed the question. So there are two prominent main characters from Jack London books. The catch? They are both dogs. Buck from The Call of the Wild and White Fang (same title.) Buck has lived the good life with owners who have pampered him and given him everything. But he has a longing to get back to his more primal roots. To get back to the wild and explore the world and have adventures like his wiring has trained him to do. White Fang, on the other hand, has had to fight for survival his entire life. To scrap and struggle just to survive. At the end of his story, he longs for the safety and security of a home, and gets his wish.

So her question was, Are you a Buck or are you a White Fang? Do you crave adventure or safety and security (summarized).

It was an easy one for me at that point of my life. I had never for one second of my existence not been a Buck. The call of the wild had driven nearly every choice I made, from travel, to relationships, to seeing new places. 

I thought it was a heck of a good question. You can tell a lot about someone from their answer. 

In this movie, Poppy is pure Buck and Alex is pure White Fang. And these two types CAN work together in a relationship. She teases out a much more adventurous and fun person lying dormant inside of him. It was fun to see, particularly in the New Orleans's scenes.

By the end of the movie, Poppy, who has been traveling constantly for probably a decade, is ready to settle down a little. People use the term, "You can't go home again." to describe some kind of nostalgic longing for a home that doesn't exist anymore. For Poppy, this isn't it at all. She didn't like that version of home. But she finally comes to realize that "home" is wherever she can be with the person she loves.

An interesting little addendum to the story is, we see Alex's former girlfriend in now a flight attendant traveling all over the world. She has heard HER call of the wild and heeded the call. I liked that little touch. 

I would guess most people have had both urges at some point in their lives.