Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Are Postcards A Lost Art?

By Jonny Blair


I used to love getting postcards through the letterbox as a child. It was one of my first childhood memories and I got excited seeing postcards. A shiny, colourful postcard will always be more exciting to a child than a brown or white envelope coming through the post.

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.

When I visited family last I found my travelling postcard collection - the collection now contains over 100 postcards from over 50 countries. Amazing journeys for these bits of card.

All the postcards were bought, then written and finally posted from various towns, cities and postboxes from all seven continents. Can you believe I even posted a postcard in Antarctica? They are all a unique one time live story of my travels on a piece of card, arrival at my family's home ends their remarkable journey.

In a cold hut in Port Lockroy in Antarctica I was able to buy, write and post a postcard from the world's coldest continent all the way to Northern Ireland in the UK. What an amazing travel journey and memory I thought in a world bereft of mobile phones.

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.

Find the difference

1. E-mails: E-mails v postcards. On my travels I logged onto the internet and sent an 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?

Just a bit of a thought for you next time you travel. Send a postcard!! My girlfriend has sent me a postcard from over 15 countries, that means more to me than any e-mail...I hope my postcards to her and to my family mean as much to them.

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




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