You and Me on Vacation

Oh my god!! Someone please tell me why I’ve never read this book before!

An absolute 10/10 I’m gobsmacked.

Poppy and Alex meet at college (which to us UK people is uni) and the rest is history. Or so they thought. They both hate each other at first because they are so different and incompatible in every way. Poppy is loud, Alex is quiet. Poppy loves travelling, Alex is scared of planes. And so on and so forth.

Twelve summers ago they made a pact to go on vacation and explore as many new places and new people as possible. Poppy writes a blog about each destination, with Alex being the photographer. Their friendship is solely platonic, but over the twelve years their tension filled relationship evolves. This summer, after two years of what some would say ‘ghosting’ each other, Poppy reaches out to Alex one last time. One last trip which will define their relationship.

On a whole, I loved the friends to lovers trope but what really had me hooked was how real it felt. Both Poppy and Alex are in their thirties now, but the novel follows them throughout those pivotal years of their twenties. They both struggle accepting that life isn’t how they once pictured and how they are still unhappy yet they have the job they dreamed of, their own house, a decent income and the freedom they always wanted. However, achieving all of that still doesn’t fill the void of ‘what ifs’.

What if I traveled instead of working full time? What if I moved country and started a new life elsewhere? Am I on the right track? Should I be settling down and getting married like everyone else around me? Should I be running a marathon too? Why am I not happy when I have everything I want? These are questions I even ask myself, fuelled by persistent social media posts of everyone’s ’perfect life’. Yet how are we to know that they are happy through a few instagram or facebook posts. Each sunset or travel photo doesn’t mean that they are necessarily having a good time.

This book really resonated with me and helped me reflect on how much we grow throughout our late teens and twenties and how social media shaped our perception on daily life. Social media paints this idea of a ‘perfect life’ through the lenses of our phones, rather than just living in the moment instead. This constant consumption of everyone’s lives through rose tinted glasses distracts us from our own lives in front of us.

On a happier note, I recommend this book for anyone struggling to find their happiness in their twenties or are having a mid-twenties crisis like I’ve been! Stop comparing yourself to everyone around you because you’re your own happiness and you don’t fully know what their life is like until you step into their shoes. Stop thinking of the future and worrying about whether you’ll ’find yourself’ or find your soulmate. As cliche as it sounds, tomorrow isn’t promised so stop wasting time caring about unrealistic goals and a lives that aren’t real. Focus on being happy, instead of looking at everyone around you whether it’s genuine or not.

Just like me, you’ll find your spark again.

All the best,

Millie xx