Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The lost art of postcard writing

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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.

That postcard was from possibly Holland or maybe London, I can't remember exactly but I kept it. Postacrds are the best and ultimate travel souvenir! Postcards tell a journey for themselves. These days getting an e-mail or a photo from a friend travelling will never mean as much as getting a postcard, which has been on a travel journey of its own. Hopefully postcard writing and sending is not becoming a forgotten art.

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.

From a very cold chilly hut in the British Antarctic Base of Port Lockroy I bought, wrote and posted postcards. From the world's coldest continent all the way to Northern Ireland in the northern hemisphere, this is a great journey for a bit of card, miles from the world of internet and mobile phones.

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. 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.

so postcards or e-mails - what would you rather have?

Don't forget on your next trip you should send a postcard! A physical present. Sending postcards to friends and family really puts a smile on their faces and means a lot more to people 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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