I have found a new way of armchair travelling. A website called Postcrossing.com has revived
an old tradition, the postcard. I am
enjoying it.
Someone once gave me a travel-writing tip, “Send yourself a
postcard”. When I am abroad, I buy a
postcard. I write a message recording my immediate impressions of a place, address it to myself at home and
post it. I always sign off with “Wish
you were here”. It is a delight to
receive the postcard when I get home. It
reminds me of my first reactions to a place and the “Wish you were here” is
strangely pleasing.
But, back to my
discovery, Postcrossing.com. It is
simple and free to sign up. You upload
your address and a little information about yourself to the site. You have an initial allowance of five
postcards to send.
It’s best then to buy a small supply of postcards of your
home town and some stamps, £1.35 is standard airmail postage for cards in the United Kingdom
Send off a few postcards.
When they reach your correspondents, they register the number on the
site. You will be told it has arrived
and there is often a short message of thanks.
Most importantly, registration triggers the site to give
your address to someone else and soon you will receive a nice postcard from somewhere
random in the World.Here is a diagram from the site showing how it all works.
I have been on the site for a couple of months and already I
have a collection of colourful and interesting cards.
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