Postcard Nuts -- Take Heed! You'll want to check this out...
I'm one of those people who have always loved to write letters. I enjoy stuffing them in colorful envelopes which I affix with fancy postage stamps.
As a teenager, writing letters to a group of international penpals I found through IPF was a great way to learn about the world, a hobby encouraged by my parents who were kind enough to foot the postage bill.
And until recently, it's been impossible for me to go on a trip without sending a slew of postcards home to my friends.
But things have changed. During a recent trip to Scotland, I bought dozens of postcards and airmail stamps, yet when the morning came to fly home I'd realized I hadn't sent them.
"Finlay," I told my boyfriend as we put my bags in the taxi. "I've got to write these when we get to the airport."
That didn't work out so well.
As the minutes ticked by I grew desperate. "Finlay," I said as I was about to the board the plane, "Could I write these at home and mail them to you so you can send them for me from Scotland?"
That was when I knew I'd lost something. Somehow, for me, in the midst of email, Twitter and Facebook, the art of letter (and postcard) writing had gone the way of the fountain pen.
Which is why Sean McLachlan's Gadling post, Postcards from Strangers, peaked my interest. It's all about Postcrossing, a project that allows anyone to receive postcards from random places throughout the globe.
The idea is that if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from a Postcrosser somewhere else in the world. Imagine opening your mailbox and finding a surprise postcard from someone far away in a country you've never heard of. Suddenly, you'll look forward to getting the mail again.
The project was started in 2005 by Paulo Magalhães, who was inspired by his love of receiving mail. Postcrossing reached it's first million exchanged postcards in April of 2008 and has reached the milestone of two million postcards received earlier this year.
How does it work? It's easy. You just sign up (it's free), fill out a short profile and then request an address. You send a postcard, and when it's received, the person on the other end will register the card. You can have up to five cards "traveling" at a time. And the bonus: you could make some great friends from around the world.
If you're time strapped, writing a postcard is a little bit quicker than writing a letter. And who doesn't love to receive "real" mail?
I've signed up. I'm hoping that writing a few postcards now and then will get me back in the letter-writing habit. If you love postcards and receiving mail I implore you to sign up as well.
Let's bring back a lost art!
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