Postcrossing Blog

Aaaaaaah… June is here at last! 😍 This is the start of the holiday season in the northern hemisphere, when school is out for the summer and many families are packing for their yearly vacations. So it’s time for our regularly scheduled post to remind everyone that the Inactive Status and the new Travel Mode are here to help!

If you know you’re going to be away from your address for a while or simply need a break from Postcrossing, we recommend that you switch your account to inactive a few weeks in advance. You can still send postcards if you’d like, but you won’t be sent any until you’re ready to receive them.

In addition to using the Inactive state, if you’re going on holidays somewhere and would like to send postcards from that location, then the Travel Mode is for you! Just set it on for your destination, connect to a local internet connection when you get there, grab some local postcards and stamps, and enjoy sending postcards with the right Postcard IDs, maps and statistics.

While you’re using either of these modes (which you can easily switch on and off on your Account Settings), Postcrossing does not to give your address to other members. Don’t worry though — we’ll still keep track of all your due postcards, and send them all to you when you’re home again and your account is back to active.

Got questions? Feel free to reach out on the comments or through the forum — as always, we’re here to help.

Enjoy your holidays!

The writing prompts are an ongoing experiment that invites postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

We’re big fans of the “Think global, act local” motto, and though we don’t usually read newspapers these days, we still keep an eye on our local news online or through the town’s radio station. While the local headlines are definitely small-scale in the national or global context, the issues covered are interesting and offer a glimpse into the life of the region.

June’s writing prompt comes from Jetske's suggestion on the forum, which resonated with us:

So let’s see… at the time I’m writing this post, the headlines are focused on the prevention of forest fires before summer starts, a controversial new offshore drill off the coast of Algarve, as well as the local soccer team being promoted to the second tier championship over the weekend. Not terribly exciting stuff, but a mix of environmental concerns and entertainment which seems characteristic of our region. I could easily write a bit more about these topics.

What is concerning the people in your area at the moment? Let’s make the world a little smaller by sharing some of the local stories on our postcards this month!

We know, we know… the blog has been a bit slow lately, as we’ve been busy with other tasks. In the meantime, here’s a brilliant giveaway to make up for it — enjoy!

Do these postcards look familiar? 😍

If so, you’ve probably heard about Papersisters! Although the company only started a couple of years ago, its eye-catching designs have swiftly conquered the hearts of many postcrossers around the world.

Sisters Wiebke (aka Namibia13) and Maike (aka jofemapa) are both enthusiastic postcrossers, and this passion turned into the creation of postcards and the opening of their own shop. Their range includes nicely illustrated postcards about different regions of Germany and their typical things, the country series featured above, stamp collages (my favorite!), and others for special occasions. They also do cute Postcard IDs or weather-themed rubberstamps to personalize your cards, as well as a few other goodies!

And now, for the best part! Papersisters is offering a pack of 12 postcards to 4 lucky postcrossers, plus one rubberstamp prize for an extra winner! Pretty cool, right? For a chance to receive one of these prizes, visit their website and leave a comment below, telling us which postcard (or series of postcards) is your absolute favorite!

But be warned, choosing from so much goodness will not be an easy task…

Good luck everyone! Don’t forget to check back here next Saturday for the winners (randomly picked by Paulo’s number generator, as always).

May is here, so it’s time to choose the best EUROPA stamp of the year!

This year’s theme is “Bridges”, a theme which we are particularly fond of, for what are postcards if not metaphorical bridges between two worlds? Sadly, most post offices took a less poetic approach to the theme, and featured almost exclusively physical constructions…

Nothing wrong with that, but personally, we would have liked to see a bit more imagination in the chosen approach. Still, there are some beautiful stamps in the selection, so please go check out all the entries and cast your vote to help PostEurop choose the best bridge stamp of 2018! 🌉

P.S. – We’re curious to know… which bridge did you vote for? And how many of them have you crossed yourself? Let us know in the comments!

The writing prompts are an ongoing experiment that invites postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

These days, music is everywhere in Europe as the continent gears up for the Eurovision song contest taking place soon. Millions of people throughout the world will be viewing the event and cheering for their favorite singers, and this got us thinking about a suggestion from Jetske on the forum:

So, what are your favorite singers or musicians from your country? What makes them special or dear to your heart? Writing about them is your mission for the month of May!

One national artist that we like here at the headquarters is called Rodrigo Leão. He’s an influential musician and songwriter in Portugal, whose best instrumental compositions can easily transport us to a different time and place.

Let’s share our musical heritage on the postcards we write this month… and hopefully finish the month with eclectic and multi-national playlists to write our postcards to!