As a child, I got caught up in the fad of chain letters. The concept was pretty straight forward: You wrote a letter to X amount of people, and then, theoretically, you would get responses from all over the world. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not so much. I forgot all about the fun and excitement of getting a letter from a stranger, with a unique and interesting stamp, and a note from across the oceans. Then, I found
Postcrossing! This is a great website that matches up people all around the world who are interested in postcards and friendly conversation.
Here's how it works:
1. You request an address from Postcrossing.
2. They send you a unique code to put on the postcard with your message.
3. You mail it, and your recipient enters the code.
4. Once the postcard is registered, Postcrossing's system will automatically send your address to someone around the world, and they will send you a postcard!
Here are a few of the postcards that I have received under the username ArtfulGeographic:
You can write a message in your profile telling senders what kind of postcards you like best. I find I often send postacrds with lighthouses from the Oregon Coast, and receive cool reproductions of old cards like these. Hopefully everyone gets something they want.
I lost track of my Postcrossing account when we moved, but now that we are in our new house, I can start back up. Look for some new Postcrossings from time to time, and check it out for yourself!
You can find me here:
http://www.postcrossing.com/user/ArtfulGeographic
