Every time we receive one of your lovely friendship stories, we get a huge smile and can’t help but marvel at the power of simple postcards! On today’s post, Nathalie (aka TotosDawn) from the Netherlands tells us how postcards inspired her to travel – and meet her postcard-pals on the other side of the Atlantic!
When I started sending postcards via Postcrossing I never thought that actual friendships could grow and that the people behind the postcards could mean the world to me! But it happened!
On December 22nd 2010 I became a member of Postcrossing. I had heard a lot about the site, and got excited from the first minute I got my first address. I send out 5 postcards and waited behind my computer to see if they already arrived. Finally they started to arrive and I received my first card back!! The person sending this card is JulianChristopher. He sent me a beautiful card of the Sequoia National Park in California. I immediately fell in love with not only sending postcards, but also I wanted to go there because it looked amazing!
Besides sending the official postcards I started to send more and more private swaps and adding postcards to my favorites. Many cards from Blkbird were (and still are!) in my favorite gallery. She send me a message to ask if we could do a private swap! Of course!! It was difficult for me to choose which one of the beautiful cards of my favorites I wanted… One day, a big surprise was waiting for me when I found the private swap in my mailbox: it was an envelope filled with all the cards I added to my favorites send by her! I was amazed to see how sweet someone completely strange to me could be! We started talking and I fell in love again with the beautiful landscapes on the postcards: Colorado!
If before America had never crossed my mind as a holiday destination, now I was checking hotels, flight tickets, rental cars… My love for America only grew the more postcards I got, but it also became more specific. Sequoia National Park, the first card I got, was still in my head and I wanted to see more it. And who better to ask about it than the person who send me my first card? He was so sweet and sent me some more cards and then one thing led to another and we became 'postcard-pals’ and sometimes we spoke on Facebook. I didn’t forget about Colorado either, neither about Blkbird. We kept sending postcards and I fell in love more and more with America.
So when my husband proposed, we didn’t need to think about a honeymoon destination: AMERICA! We planned a roadtrip, crossing all the places I saw on the postcards I loved. But one thing I really wanted to do to was to meet the people who were so sweet to me all this time and had become my friends. I wasn’t sure if they would like to meet me too, I mean, I’m a stranger from another country, who they only knew via Facebook and postcards. But both were really enthusiastic about my plans and we planned the meetings.
First it was JulianChristopher's turn. We planned to see each other in the Sequoia National Park, where else! From the first moment we met I felt so happy and blessed that I had the chance to meet him and his sweet son. I just couldn’t believe that it was real, that it wasn’t a dream. We spend hours hiking and chatting. He could tell us so much about Sequoia, America and so much more. How special to spend time together in the park he showed me for the first time on a postcard as a total stranger!! Time flies and when the moment of saying goodbye came closer I didn’t wanted to say goodbye and felt sad. But no tears when we said goodbye, only a big smile of gratefulness that I could experience this and actually meet the 'stranger-friend from America’.
Meeting Blkbird was just as special as meeting JulianChristopher. Last minute we decided to have dinner the night before we had planned to spend together. We were waiting at the restaurant and she was a bit late, so I was nervous that she wouldn’t come or that she saw us waiting and thought: NO WAY! Nothing of that was true and when we met it was like meeting an old friend after years. No uncomfortable feelings, just chatting, eating, laughing. The restaurant was closing so we needed to go unfortunately but I was more then happy to know that we would meet again the next day.
We planned to go to the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver and the Dushanbe teahouse in Boulder. We enjoyed her 'guided tour’ and company. It was unbelievable how much we had in common. She could have been my mother or sister or twin. She is so alike me that it almost is scary!! No surprise that we didn’t want to say goodbye, so we sat for hours in the car when we got 'kicked out’ of the teahouse. Just talking and enjoying the company. No wonder that when it was REALLY time to say goodbye we both cried. When we drove away, I felt so sad.
JulianChristopher and Blkbird both have a special place in my heart. For them I would return to America without a doubt. When I’m writing this, tears are falling down my cheeks. Tears of sadness that I know that I won’t see them for a long time, tears of happiness, that I had the privilege to meet them.
Who could have thought that sending postcards could actually lead to lifelong friendships!
57 comments so far
Thank you for the heartwarming and beautiful story. It shows the ultimate being of Postcrossing!
What a wonderful story! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, Nathalie!
Thank you for sharing the nice story! :)
Beautiful! It's a wonderful connection through Postcrossing!
How wonderful, a lovely heartwarming story!
That was wonderful! Such unreservedness with such rewards!
Great story! Great people! Way to go, Postcrossers!!!
...& thank you, Nathalie, for coming to America. Both our dreams came true!
Still saving you a spot in Colorado & forever in my heart.
Dikke knuffel over de mijlen ♥♥♥
What a nice heartwarming story, Nathalie!!!
May your friendship never end!!!
A nice story. I hope, the friendship will never end....
beautifull nice story and more because we have seen the sequoia park
What a sweet story! Hopefully I will get to meet some of my penpals someday. :)
Ah, Sweet story.
Always fun to read stories like this.
very heart warming...what a wonderful experience you had!
I loved this story. It reminds me of how I found a best friend, my kindred spirit, in Moscow via email. We have been best friends since then and talk every day via email. I loved reading how Postcrossing can do the same thing for people.
What a lovely story! Also, these places look so beautiful in the photos that now I want to visit them, too. :-)
Thanks, Nathalie. This is a really beautiful story! I hope you can come and explore Canada one day. We have lots of beautiful nature, too. You would love Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise in the Rockies.
Very nice and interesting story! I did several private swaps with Linda ("blkbird") and was excited to see the face of this very kind woman, who sent me wonderful postcards from Colorado!
A nice Penpal Conection via Postcrossing!!
What a wonderful Story!
what a wonderful world!
awesome !!!
I love it! I'm so happy for you all!!
A great story, and it just proves that because of Postcrossing the world just got smaller.
How sweet and what beautiful cards! :-)
Beautiful story. you're not the only one with teary eyes!
This is why I love postcrossing so much,for the cards and most of all the friendships!!
what a wonderful story :) may postcrossing and all its members live and flourish forever! ;)
I'm so happy that I found this story and read it. Reading it, I imagined everything, as if I was there with the author! I am glad for you and wish you have more wonderful meetings in the future! Thank you for sharing this awesome story!:)
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story!
Thank-you for sharing that Post-crossing is so much more than just the card.
Wonderful! You have me misty eyed reading about it!
Amazing story! Good luck to you and your friends!
What a fabulous story! There is so much negativity in the news all the time about the U.S. & the impression that foreigners have of us that it's so nice to see the other side of the story & that it's not "all bad."
Thank you very very much for sharing this wonderful and warm story!!!! :) :) :)
Such a nice story...Thank you very much for sharing!
A very nice story, thank you for sharing :-).
I don't know you still remember me or not? But surprise reading your story here. What's wonderful!
What a wonderful Story, the friendship will never end!
Now I know what to do :D I'm going to Taiwan! Thank you so much :3
I love reading these kind of stories. Postcrossing is so much more than sending postcards.
Thank you for sharing your story. I am happy for all of you.
Beautiful story! Best wishes to all of you!
What an amazing story. I have now got a pen-pal in Belgium through Postcrossing. It's wonderful.
Dear Nathalie,
thanks for inviting us to read about your great experience,it's an adorable story.Fortune smiles on you!
Just wonderful: wonderful story, wonderful photos and wonderful postcards, too, of course :-) What an unforgettable honeymoon! Thank you so much for sharing it all with us, Nathalie!
This is truly beautiful. Stories like this are so touching! Happy tears
I enjoyed your story of your trip to America and the opportunity to meet your far away friends. I have had the good fortune of meeting some of my pen pals - the friendships forged with people far away are some of the most rewarding things in this world. Wishing you happy travels and hope you get to meet more far away friends.
It is such a joy to make meaningful connections with "strangers" from across the globe! I look forward to meeting the wonderful people who, one postcard at a time, have become my friends :)
Thank you for sharing your story!
I have not done private swaps yet. After reading this story, I may give it a try. I have felt a strong affinity for many of the wonderful people with whom I have exchanged cards. I am ready to take Postcrossing to the next level.
Thanks for sharing your lovely experience!
Reading this story made me cry. What a wonderful story and actually getting to visit the places. I've been to Colorado several times, always beautiful. Congratulations on your marriage.
Wow....it's really amazing what a postcard can do...so nice.Inspiration also!,
Thanx
Whoo!! What an amazing comments on the blog!! Thank you so much all!! It is so sweet!! It's written from the heart and I'm happy that it touches also yours!! :)
Linda en Julian, you are awesome!
Such a beautiful story of friendship. Reading it brought a smile to my face!
Thank you for sharing. What a beautiful warm story!
That's great.It's a really beautiful story.And it's true that we can find cordial friendship in postcrossing world.
So glad you enjoyed your trip to the US and were able to meet your Postcrossing friends in person!
Lovely story! Glad I took the time to get caught up on the blog.
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