Wednesday, 13 March 2013

Do people still send postcards?

By Jonny Blair


I used to love getting postcards through the letterbox as a child. It was one of my first childhood memories and I got excited seeing postcards. A shiny, colourful postcard will always be more exciting to a child than a brown or white envelope coming through the post.

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.

These postcards have been bought, written and posted from all seven continents - yes I even found a postbox at Port Lockroy in Antarctica! All the postcards detail where I was, what I did and showed a picture and a stamp. Arrival of my postcards to my family's home is the completion of a crazy journey.

In a cold hut in Port Lockroy in Antarctica I was able to buy, write and post a postcard from the world's coldest continent all the way to Northern Ireland in the UK. What an amazing travel journey and memory I thought in a world bereft of mobile phones.

I bet there are young travellers out there wondering why people still send postcards when you can do everything quicker and easier on e-mail. But it's the story of the postcard that does it for me.

Find the difference

1. An e-mail: E-mail v Postcard? I logged on and typed an email and sent it from a computer. I think we all know the answer to that one, at least I do!

2. Postcards: Postcards v. e-mails? A postcard is physical and real - it was bought in a shop on holiday, written by a beach and then posted in a town. You didn't even need internet.

what one would you prefer to get?

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.

Postcards are great - keep writing and posting them everywhere you go!




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