The lost art of postcard writing

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By Jonny Blair


As a child I loved getting postcards and I used to love it. Something colour and from a different land arriving through the letterbox was always more appealing than a brown or white envelope.

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.

The last time I visited my family I sought out my travelling postcard collection that I had sent them - mostly to my youngest brother. The collection has now amassed postcards from over 50 countries - hundreds of postcards.

All bought in various shops across all seven continents (yes, I bought and posted a postcard when I was in Antarctica!), then written with details about what I did there at the time, then a stamp is put on them, then I find a post office or postbox and post them. Then the completion of the journey when my family receive the postcard. What an amazing 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.

Perhaps the younger travellers amongst us even wonder why anyone would bother sending a postcard, when you can just e-mail. Well it's the story of the postcard that does it for me!!

Spot 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!

Which one would you rather receive?

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.

I love postcards, don't stop buying them, don't stop writing them, don't stop posting them and Don't Stop Living!




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