I partnered with MyPostcard App to bring you this post.
I started traveling full time in 2006, the word blog wasn’t in our vocabulary and the smart phone had yet to be invented! I carried my Lonely Planet, I had a flip phone with a world sim card, I went to internet cafes, and I used paper maps. I also sent postcards. And even though all of those other things have gone by the wayside due to technology, I still send postcards. I don’t just send a postcard; I have a postcard tradition.
Travel Traditions
When I left New York City in September of 2006, I told my mother and my friend Miles I would send them a postcard from every country I went to. I chose both of them because I knew they would appreciate and honor the tradition of it. After all, my mother keeps everything and she loves getting physical mail. And my friend Miles is a master at making art projects from meaningful memories. So they seemed like the perfect pair to hold my travel memories. That first year I went to 23 different countries, and they each received 23 postcards.
But it didn’t end there. I continued sending them postcards whenever I traveled to a new country; they have received over 65 postcards each in the past 11 years. My mother puts them in a little photo book to protect each travel memory. One of my favorite things to do when I visit her is to page through that book and read what I wrote so long ago.
Send a Postcard With Your Phone
Photo from MyPostcard
Sending postcards is sort of going by the way of paper maps, I find people would rather just post their digital messages on things like Instagram and let everyone know how their trip is going. While that is efficient, I think we lose the beauty of the message when digital; we miss out on the tactile memory of travel. Not to mention we miss out on a personal message to people we love.
However, sending postcards has become as easy as putting up an Instagram photo now. The MyPostcard app allows you to create your own postcard from your digital images on your phone, and mail it with the click of a button. No need to get a local postage stamp or find a way to mail it!
To send a card online, it is as simple as
1. Downloading the MyPostcard IOS App or Android version
2. Choosing a photo you love (or multiple photos) from your phone
3. Enter your personal message
4. Put in the address of who you are sending it to
5. Pay a small fee for printing the postcard and for postage
6. Hit send and your memory is on it’s way!
I love that you can customize and choose your own photos. I can’t tell you how many times I stare at the postcards for sale at a gift shop and am disappointed with my choices (except for this unusual custom postcard in Hawaii – this one was pretty awesome). I often have nicer photography than what the purchase choices are! I’ve always said I wanted to create my own postcards with my photos and now I can!
3 postcards I recently made from my photos – so easy!
I Want to Send A Postcard to You from Alaska
Do you want a postcard from Alaska? Since I think everyone should have the joy of receiving a postcard, I want to send you a postcard from my upcoming trip to Fairbanks – and if we are lucky it might be of the Northern Lights! Just follow these instructions in my Instagram post and you can get a personalized postcard from me!
Now I do only have a limited number of postcards to send – so I won’t be able to get to everyone – so that’s why the ‘telling me why you want one’ is important! If I don’t DM you back within a few days, then it’s likely I have run out of my supply.
Why not start sending postcards yourself as part of your next trip! It’s so easy and fun and maybe you can start a lasting travel tradition!
By Kristi February 20, 2018 - 9:54 am
I might try this on my next trip! I still love to send post cards and sometimes the post cards don’t really capture what I want to send. I sent two to my nieces, one to my friend who is quadriplegic and can’t get around for trips, and my best friend (she always sends me a post card). I will sometimes send to my parents and my husband’s brothers.
I commented on your IG post. If I won, I would have you send to my nieces. I normally send two (one to each niece) postcards and I have my friends do the same. But I’m okay with both of them getting one post card. I want them to see places from around the world so that maybe they have an idea of where they want to go when they choose their vacation destination for the Niece Project.
By Sherry March 4, 2018 - 11:20 am
Yay! I’m excited to send the postcard to your nieces – how fun!
By Periodistas March 6, 2018 - 11:09 am
My cousin in England sent me a postcard with the recipe for clotted cream on it, many years ago. It”s been one of the many things I want to make for years and I”ve still not done it! Maybe I will just give myself a deadline and do it very soon, as it looks fabulous!
By Sherry March 6, 2018 - 12:31 pm
Yes – give it a try this month!! Good luck!
By Paola February 20, 2019 - 3:34 am
I’m on the postcards tradition since many years! But I prefer to send those bought in shops because I like also stamps…they give a very special value to the postcard!
Surely, if there would be no postcards shop around I would give a try to this or other apps: no possibility that my friends at home don’t receive a postcard from me!
I’m a postcrosser too and it is wonderful exchange postcards all over the world! If you are curious about Postcrossing please visit http://www.postcrossing.com
Byyeee