Do People Still Send Postcards?

by Jonny Blair

One of my first travel memories was seeing a postcard come through our letterbox when I was a child in Bangor, Northern Ireland. As a kid, you ignore those boring brown or white envelopes and you are intrigued by colour so the postcard that arrived in the post caught my eye.

The first postcard I got came from London, or Holland and I kept it as a souvenir. The journey of a postcard is the classic travellers souvenir. Postcards have been on a journey, however an e-mail has not. Let's hope the art of postcard writing and sending continues as we have now entered a very digital age.

Last time I was in my homeland with family I checked out the postcard collection that I had sent them. I was amazed that it has now reached well over 100 postcards from over 50 different countries.

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.

One of the most pleasing things for me was buying, writing and posting a postcard at Port Lockroy in Antarctica in a cold hut, where there was thankfully NO mobile phones, NO internet and certainly NO other way to send home my special travel memory!

Young and new travellers might not remember the era before the internet and mobile phones and they may even wonder why people still bother to send postcards when an e-mail is a lot faster. However it's the real life journey of the postcard and the physical element to it.

Spot the difference:

1. E-mail: E-mail v postcard. So I logged onto the internet and sent a quick e-mail.

2. A postcard: Postcard v e-mail? I bought, wrote and posted this one in Port Lockroy in Antarctica. Thankfully there was no internet around.

Which one would you rather receive?

There you go then - next time you travel - send a postcard!! I still receive postcards from all over the world from my friends and family. It means much more to me than an e-mail.

Postcards are great - keep writing and posting them everywhere you go!