Virtual Vacation to a Tropical Island

We all need a beach getaway, and I am not going to let being stuck indoors stop me (or you).  It’s time for a virtual vacation to a tropical island.  This post has everything you need to trick your brain into believing that you are sun bathing in paradise.  So put on your beachiest pajamas and read on.  

Set the tropical beach video (hours of water lapping on fine sand)  to fullscreen, add a piece of fruit to your drink, and relax. Below are some great products that bring island living into your home. Think pineapple string lights, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and free octopus printables. You will also find a list of the very best (my favorite) beach movies. 

Straw umbrellas along a tropical beach

The Backdrop

Virtual Vacation to a Tropical Island - Video Backdrop

Set this video to fullscreen and be transported.  The rescue boat won’t get here for days, so wiggle your toes into the sparkling sand and relax.  Listen to the waves, breath in that ocean air. The palm trees are heavy with coconuts and tropical birds. Did you bring your uekele? I hope so. Thank you, TheSilentWatcher, for this video escape.

Suggested Attire

Let me recommend either a faded marooned look or an aggressively-tropical resort style.  Both are transformative (hyperbole?). Here are two model characters and a few excellent examples of beachy loungewear.

Women's blue and white ombre pajama set long sleeves short pants

Stranded Mandy

The warm sun has faded Mandy’s two-piece number into a soothing blue ombre. She’s been on the island for three weeks. She enjoys making seashell crowns and moulding sand into lounge chairs. She can catch a fish with her bare hands.  

Capsized Carl

Carl was the king of shuffle board until he was tossed off the boat. Now he is the king of the island. This is the guy who knows where to find all the best coconuts.  He’s a little sun burnt, but he’s tough.

Men's blue pajamas shorts with tropical fruit print
Pink shearling thong slipper

Sand is for sandals

The sand demands that you are free-footed or flip flopped.  But slippers need a little fluff. Slide these puppies on for your virtual vacation. 

Tropical Home

Bring home the beach with these island-inspired products.

Vintage illustration of an octopus

Free vintage octopus printables

Strand of metal pineapple lights
Pineapple strand lights
Homesick brand beach cottage scented candle

A candle that smells like driftwood and ocean air

Bottle of Tahitian gardenia scented coconut body oil

Coconut oil scented with tahitian gardenia

Treasure Island Mass Market Paperback book

The long-reigning king of pirate stories

Miniature sandbox for desk

Miniature Tabletop Sandbox Kit

Box of chocolate covered key lime coconut patties

Chocolate Covered Key Lime Coconut Patties

Box of Hawaiian Host dark chocolate macadamia nuts

Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nuts

 

Work with what you've got

I went to school in Seattle, Washington (Go Huskies!), where the skies are grey and your boots are wet. One mid-winter day, I came home to the smell of sunscreen. I found my roommates “laying out” on beach towels in their bathing suits right next to their bunkbeds. The heat was on high and it truly felt like a little get-away. Plus, they all survived the winter. With some imagination, you can evoke any environment. Bring that beach feeling home.  Take a virtual vacation.

accessorize

tropical flower combs

Be prepared

compass necklace with custom engraving

Blue couch in front of realistic tropical beach mural

Beach Mural

Throw paradise on your wall and wake up to an ocean view! This removable, self-adhesive wall mural will bring warm, sandy shores right to your living space. It’s so realistic, you’ll worry about your slippers getting carried away by the surf.  Thank you wall26! 

*Click on any of the above products and be wisked away to their sites of origin for purchasing options.  As always, I receive zero commission.

12 Movies That Take You to the Beach

Let your brain relax into the tropical scenery and enjoy the adventures of some memorable characters.  Shout out to Elvis and Gidget.  You are excluded only because your movies remain on my to-be-watched list (shameful, I know). 

1.  The Beach – Leonardo DiCaprio on a secret beach with sharks, drugs, and Moby

2.  Cast Away – Tom Hanks does his best to stay sane while stranded alone on a tropical island.

3.  Love Wrecked – Amanda Bynes tricks her celebrity crush into thinking they are shipwrecked on a deserted island.  The kind of terrible we love to love

3.  My Father the Hero – A compulsive liar with a new crush drags her father into playing along with her dramatic tall tales. This funny, bizarre, and often cringeworthy story is full of heart. Set at a resort in The Bahamas

4.  Weekend at Bernie’s – Two guys, who are unwittingly involved in a fraud coverup, escape the city to vacation with their boss in the Hamptons.  They don’t let their boss’s surprising demise stop the party.

5.  Muppet Treasure Island – The best movie version of the classic novel. Trust me.  True to the book with the addition of an underlying Kermit/Piggy love story and hit songs like “Cabin Fever.”

6.  Pirates of the Caribbean – Pirates, treasure, love, and a ghost ship.

7.  Blue Lagoon – Two young cousins are marooned on an island and must navigate puberty and survival with very little guidance.  The plot is awkward but interesting, and the film really makes you feel like you just caught a fish with a handmade spear.

8.  Forgetting Sarah Marshall – A man goes to a Hawaiian resort to get over his ex only to find out she is staying in the next room over.  This hilarious romantic comedy is filled with actors who are known to make us laugh.

9.  Mamma Mia – A young bride-to-be invites three men, each of whom might be her father, to her wedding on a sunny Greek island.  The players sing and dance their way through this romantic comedy set to the music of ABBA.

10.  Fool’s Gold – Will the search for treasure rekindle this divorcing couple’s love? Everything in this movie is beautiful- the people, the boats, the scenery.  It’s a great escape.

11.  Just Go With It– Adam Sandler tells a pretty young woman a complicated lie in order to maintain her affection. The lie evolves each time his story is questioned, and he ends up recruiting his co-worker and her children to act as his fake family on a Hawaiian vacation.

12.  Blue Crush – Kate Bosworth plays a dedicated surfer training for a competition. She meets a man and struggles as her attention is pulled away from her friends and her goals. This is a surf story about finding balance.

 

What do you think?

Leave a comment and let us know what you feel is the greatest beach movie.

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