The stages of a summer vacation romance, as told by Disney gifs

By Sophie carter-kahn

July 10, 2015

By Sophie carter-kahn

July 10, 2015

Finding someone to have a glittery little ephemeral romance with when you’re on vacation is one of summer’s sweetest joys. It’s exciting because you’re somewhere new, where the rules of home seem like they don’t apply, and it’s worry-free because you have to go back to real life and stop being on vacation at some point. You might not even live near each other, so there’s no pressure. It’s the best of both worlds!

Here’s a light-hearted look at what happens when you go on vacation with your family and stumble into a summer romance.

You’re sick of the drama of dating during the school year, so you vow to just have a break from it all while you’re gone. But then you get to this exciting new place and everyone seems so cool and different from back home! You guess it wouldn’t hurt to just look around. And then it happens: You’re out with your family, at the beach, or a museum, or some touristy restaurant, and you see THE ONE. There’s no one with that smile, that hair, that come-hither glance back at home. Your school is full of mortals, and this is a god. A wonderful vacation god.

What should you do next? You smile attractively and wave in what you desperately hope is a cool way, or you go over and strike up a conversation if you’re extra bold. Maybe walk by and compliment their sandcastle.

You hit it off immediately, of course. You play it cool and exchange contact info, or promise to meet the next day at the pool. You’re flying high. The next morning, you get totally gussied up in the least wrinkled clothes you brought. You show up and….they do too! You spend hours talking and flirting and feeling that connection and electricity that only comes from an easy connection and a headlong rush into infatuation. They’re great. You’re great. It’s all great.

You hang out all week, and finally make real plans to do a date-like-thing, like movies or a meal or a walk alone on the beach at night. It’s going amazingly well — almost too well. Suddenly, you get a text from your parents that you have to come back RIGHT NOW because you have to go to that exhibit on ancient carpentry together. You run off, with little explanation, and feel like you’ve totally blown it.

You spend the whole time at the museum grumbling, but then you actually end up having a really good time. You never knew chair fossils could be so fascinating! You feel a little bit bad for ignoring your family a bunch this vacation, and promise yourself you’ll appreciate them more. Then you get a Snapchat from Them. “Dwn fr 1 last hang tmrw?” the caption reads, across the cutest selfie you’ve ever seen. You send back a response with liberal use of the thumbs up emoji. YES!!

You sneak out of your family’s hotel room the night before you leave to see them one last time. There’s anticipation dripping in the air and so much flirty eye contact you can’t stand it. Your hands keep brushing together. Your heart is beating so fast. Then, it happens: A KISS. A perfect kiss.

Afterwards, you try to sneak back in to your family’s hotel room without waking them up, but it’s actually impossible, since your sibling left their stuff all over the floor, and your parents wake up like…

All of a sudden, it’s the last day of your vacation and time to leave. You’re excited to go home, but really sad to leave your little romantic dream world. You probably will never see them again. They press a little keychain from the hotel gift store into your hand so you’ll always remember your special time together. You know it’s time to move on so you hold it together. You shed one tear while the plane is taking off, but tell yourself it’s only because it’s so beautiful to think about the miracle of human flight.

Finally, you get home and your BFF’s want to know all the details. You get to relive the whole exciting, terrifying, magical thing by telling them about it, and it’s so much fun. You’ll always remember your summer vacation romance..