Postcards from Moi

I love postcards.  I'm not sure when my love affair began with postcards.  But getting a little slice from some exotic (or not so exotic) place captivates me.  I am always so excited when I receive a postcard in the mail.  I generally bring them to work and hang them up on the wall as my window on to the outside world.  My wall used to be completely covered but then we moved a couple of times and the postcards came down.  So each time we moved I started a new postcard wall.  Because I love postcards so much, I generally send out lots of postcards when I travel.

Anyone who has travelled with me knows how seriously I take my postcards.  It is a labor of love.  First there is finding the postcards.  I'm fairly picky, not just any postcard will do.  And I don't like to send a postcard unless I've been to or seen what is on the postcard.  And it has to be pretty (to me at least).  Or say what is on / in the postcard.  Next is finding a post office to buy stamps.  You wouldn't think this would be so difficult.  But it can be.  (I'm remembering a time walking through "Sherwood Forest" in Prague to get to the post office.)  Then there is the addressing and writing of the postcards.  I try not to write the same thing on each postcard.  They may have a similar theme, but I try to personalize each one a little or add one or two different thoughts.  There is a particularly incriminating photo somewhere that shows me asleep on a train in the middle of writing a postcard.  I'll see if I can find it.  And finally there is the mailing of the postcards.  A few times I have had to rely on the kindness of strangers when I've left the mailing too long and there hasn't been a mailbox at the airport.  (Each time I have given postcards to someone at the airport they have all arrived!)  Oh, and on my very first overseas trip (way back when to my favorite place in the whole world - LONDON) I gave my postcards to some little old lady I met on the street in York.  And those arrived safely too!

It is always interesting to see how long it takes for the postcards to arrive (if they do - postcards from Budapest took months and when they arrived they were in pretty bad shape and some of the postcards from my trip to Austria earlier this year never arrived).  And every once in awhile one postcard will arrive at a house and one will not and when one arrives for one sister but not for the other, that can be a problem!

Which brings me to the point of this post.  I thought I would share my love of postcards.  If you'd like to get a postcard from my upcoming trip to Croatia and Brussels, send me an email at travelwithemily (at) gmail (dot) com with your address by November 5th and I will send a postcard to the first ten people to respond (and hopefully the postcards will make it!).  Your address will only used for this purpose.  If you think it's weird and/or stalker-ish, then don't send me your address! :)

Asleep on a train from Venice to Florence