One of my first travel memories was seeing a postcard come through our letterbox when I was a child in Bangor, Northern Ireland. As a kid, you ignore those boring brown or white envelopes and you are intrigued by colour so the postcard that arrived in the post caught my eye.
It was either a postcard from the Netherlands or from London, but I told my Mum I wanted to keep it. For me a postcard is the ultimate travel souvenir. A postcard itself is a journey. It means little or nothing to get an e-mail with a photo on it when you compare it with the journey of a postcard. I fear it's becoming a forgotten art, hence why I still send my family a postcard from EVERY single new place I go.
Last time I was in my homeland with family I checked out the postcard collection that I had sent them. I was amazed that it has now reached well over 100 postcards from over 50 different countries.
All the postcards were bought, then written and finally posted from various towns, cities and postboxes from all seven continents. Can you believe I even posted a postcard in Antarctica? They are all a unique one time live story of my travels on a piece of card, arrival at my family's home ends their remarkable journey.
One of the most pleasing things for me was buying, writing and posting a postcard at Port Lockroy in Antarctica in a cold hut, where there was thankfully NO mobile phones, NO internet and certainly NO other way to send home my special travel memory!
Young and new travellers might not remember the era before the internet and mobile phones and they may even wonder why people still bother to send postcards when an e-mail is a lot faster. However it's the real life journey of the postcard and the physical element to it.
Find the difference
1. E-mail: E-mail v postcard. So I logged onto the internet and sent a quick e-mail.
2. Postcard: Postcard v. e-mail? A real life physical postcard is bought, written and posted. You don't even need internet access!
so postcards or e-mails - what would you rather have?
There you go then - next time you travel - send a postcard!! I still receive postcards from all over the world from my friends and family. It means much more to me than an e-mail.
Don't let postcards become a lost art - keep writing them and posting them from all over the world!
It was either a postcard from the Netherlands or from London, but I told my Mum I wanted to keep it. For me a postcard is the ultimate travel souvenir. A postcard itself is a journey. It means little or nothing to get an e-mail with a photo on it when you compare it with the journey of a postcard. I fear it's becoming a forgotten art, hence why I still send my family a postcard from EVERY single new place I go.
Last time I was in my homeland with family I checked out the postcard collection that I had sent them. I was amazed that it has now reached well over 100 postcards from over 50 different countries.
All the postcards were bought, then written and finally posted from various towns, cities and postboxes from all seven continents. Can you believe I even posted a postcard in Antarctica? They are all a unique one time live story of my travels on a piece of card, arrival at my family's home ends their remarkable journey.
One of the most pleasing things for me was buying, writing and posting a postcard at Port Lockroy in Antarctica in a cold hut, where there was thankfully NO mobile phones, NO internet and certainly NO other way to send home my special travel memory!
Young and new travellers might not remember the era before the internet and mobile phones and they may even wonder why people still bother to send postcards when an e-mail is a lot faster. However it's the real life journey of the postcard and the physical element to it.
Find the difference
1. E-mail: E-mail v postcard. So I logged onto the internet and sent a quick e-mail.
2. Postcard: Postcard v. e-mail? A real life physical postcard is bought, written and posted. You don't even need internet access!
so postcards or e-mails - what would you rather have?
There you go then - next time you travel - send a postcard!! I still receive postcards from all over the world from my friends and family. It means much more to me than an e-mail.
Don't let postcards become a lost art - keep writing them and posting them from all over the world!
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To find further stuff like Lost art of postcards visit Jonny Blair's immensely resourceful site Lifestyle of travel for further travel stories and advice.
