Sending postcards home is such a charming and beautiful gesture, which we love doing on our travels. We have many older family members who do not use the internet, so the main way we communicate with them is via telephone or by sending them postcards – and they love it. Sending postcards is in fact on the rise in our internet age.
During our travels as a gay couple in Asia, we aimed to send one postcard to family from each country we visited. Since our big Asia trip, we have done this religiously in every place we visit. Sadly, the practicalities of doing this manually have always been a bit of a challenge, especially when most of the time it's a gamble as to when or if they will be received. Doing it online means there is no gamble, the postcards are delivered in a much quicker period, therefore allowing us to send them more frequently.
These are our 5 reasons why we think you should be sending your postcards online, based on our experience of sending postcards home manually via local post offices, and more recently via the MyPostcard app.
1. They are certain to be delivered!
On several occasions, we discovered that several of our postcards sent manually were simply never received back home. Countries in Latin America are notorious for this, especially Ecuador. In October 2016, we spent an entire day preparing and sending home a whole bunch of postcards, only to find they were never delivered. Years have gone by and our families have still not received our news from this segment of our trip. And international stamps in Ecuador are not cheap!
We have since learned that in Ecuador, the post is notoriously just thrown away by corrupt post office officials, or simply lost, and therefore rarely delivered! We were so disheartened to hear this that this was largely the reason we reluctantly just stopped sending postcards home manually and have been doing it online ever since. Every postcard we have sent online has always been delivered safe and sound, without any delays, problems, or fuss.
2. They will be delivered promptly
From our experience, we've found that sending postcards manually from abroad takes around 4-6 weeks to deliver. The longest delay we experienced was sending postcards home from China, which took around 4 months to be received!
The postcards we sent via the MyPostard app took no longer than 1 week. This truly has been revolutionary for us – whereas before we'd wait a few months for our families to enjoy our news, now it's more immediate, making it more exciting.
Sending postcards manually is also a bit of a gamble as to if and when they'll be received. Sending it online, it is tracked. You receive an email confirmation of the order, along with a time estimate for delivery, and a contact to complain to if there's ever any delay.
3. You will save a lot of time
Sending a postcard home online is quick and painless. It takes a few minutes and can be done anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection. Sending it manually, first, we had to find a souvenir shop and would spend ages picking the ideal postcards. Then we'd spend time writing it (you'll be so surprised how hard it is to find a pen when you're traveling!), and finally, we had to track down a post office, ensuring we go during working hours on a weekday, spend time queuing to buy the stamp before finally posting it. A good chunk of a day is spent sending postcards home manually.
Now that we send postcards online, it takes minutes. You log into the app on your phone, upload your photo(s) from your gallery, add your text/recipient's details, and then hit the send button. It's so efficient that we can now send them when we want, without the stress of having to find a post office and visit it during working hours.
4. You can personalize your postcards
Sending postcards online allows you to use your favorite photos from your travels. Whereas before we'd spend quite a bit of time in souvenir shops trying to pick the most appealing and appropriate image, now we can do this ourselves.
This also allows us to include photos of ourselves in each postcard. So instead of having a generic image of, say a llama with the backdrop of Machu Picchu, we can now send a gay couple photo of us posing with a llama with the backdrop of Machu Picchu. We love that we can personalize our postcards and know that our family appreciates this a lot more than a generic postcard image bought from a souvenir shop.
5. The cost is the same or cheaper
A one-off postcard in the MyPostcard app is around £2/$3, which includes postage and delivery. The more you purchase, the cheaper it gets in the long term. For example, when we buy $40 of credit, we get a $10 bonus price to use.
Doing it manually, we would spend roughly the same to buy the postcard and then the international stamp for it (not to mention the cost of transport to/from the post office!)
In addition, in some countries, the cost of international stamps is so high, that it makes sending postcards home manually quite expensive, especially if you're sending them in bulk. We found this to be the case in the Maldives and also in Laos. The worst was in Ecuador where a stamp costs several dollars and is unlikely to be delivered despite the time and money spent on it! Sending postcards online, the cost is always the same, regardless of where you're sending it from.
Order your first postcard today for free!
Don't take our word for it – try it out yourself for free. We're offering our fabulous readers the chance to order their first MyPostcard.com card for free by entering our code nomadicboys at checkout, either online or in the app, available in iTunes and Google Play.
We hope you love it as much as we have enjoyed using it. Oh – and here's one of our favorite postcards we sent back home online using MyPostcard, taken from an LGBTQ street art tour we did in one of our favorite gay friendly destinations in Latin America – Medellin in Colombia:
Happy travels are safe travels
We recommend you always take out a reputable travel insurance before your next vacation. What happens if you suffer from illness, injury, theft, or a cancellation? Many travelers forget about it and regret it when something happens. Better to pay a small price and have the peace of mind and not worry.
Read more travel adventures like this in our book!
We've published our very own gay travel book called, ‘Out in the World'. It has all our practical safety tips, first-hand advice, and travel stories from some of our favorite destinations.
We hope it inspires you to have a fun and safe trip!
Click on the book to order: