We only see three of their trips — Canada, New Orleans, and Tuscany — not including the present-day Barcelona wedding. Croatia is entirely lost, merged into the Tuscany storyline.

Of the locations, only New Orleans truly comes alive, complete with obligatory scenes of the couple strolling Bourbon Street, eating beignets, and dancing at a dive bar.

In the present day, Poppy and Alex reconnect in an upscale Airbnb in Barcelona, yet we barely get a sense of the city itself. No tapas, no sangria, just the Airbnb and a wedding set that feels like a soundstage.

Additionally, Nashville, San Francisco, Colorado and Croatia are entirely absent, robbing the story of the rich sense of place that made the novel so immersive.

Love doesn’t fix all

I know, I know — it’s a romance novel, and clearly I just haven’t found the right person, yada yada. But one thing I, and many others, have always adored about Henry’s novels is that love is never presented as a cure-all. In the book, Alex doesn’t want Poppy to use him to fill the gaps in her life, and she doesn’t expect him to drop everything for her.

She leaves her job, yes, but she also writes a column about meeting people in the city, realizing that her love of travel is really a love of connecting with others. They try living in each other’s worlds before making any life-altering decisions.

The film shows her leaving her job, but little else. Many assume Alex is reading her novel in the final minutes on the beach, but this hasn’t been confirmed. Their apartment is coded as “anywhere in New York,” suggesting he simply moved in with her, despite his strong ties to his hometown.

A limited series would have allowed the writers and actors to explore all the nuances of their relationship, rather than reducing it to a story about opposites attracting. It could even have included Poppy’s time in therapy, which was discussed in the book.

That said, let me be clear: this is still a fun, sweet movie. It’s the first Emily Henry adaptation, and I can’t wait for more. If it exists independently of the book, I’d happily watch it as a new romcom. But if we’re comparing it to the novel… People We Meet on Vacation absolutely needed to be a limited series. Sigh.