Postcrossing Blog

Growing up in a small town in Mindanao with no postcards for sale, Leila (aka LeilaKewl) first discovered the wider world through QSL cards from faraway radio stations. These days, Postcrossing, a friendly campus post office, and an ever-growing pile of mail from surprising places make her happy and connected to the world beyond social media. We talked to her about all of this in the latest spotlight interview!

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

My earliest memory of holding a postcard in my hand was when my parents received one from a friend overseas. The random street scene of other cities or desert landscape of other countries looked so exotic to my eyes, which had only seen our tiny town in the hinterlands of Mindanao island!

In my high school days, and still living in that tiny town, I got into shortwave radio listening, and I would send SINPO reports to radio stations. In acknowledgement of my report, they would send me a QSL card – actually postcards from their location. So I got cards from Saigon, Moscow, Washington DC, Sydney, Guam, Tokyo, etc.

Later on, when I got the chance to go to other places, I would buy postcards to keep as my picture-souvenir of the scenes I had seen, because I knew that my small, rectangular 110 camera would not have enough flash power to capture the details of such bright, beautiful places.

Finally, I actually started sending postcards when I stayed overseas as an exchange student for a year, to send a quick “Hello! I’m still alive” note and to show family and friends where I had been or what I had seen.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

One day, I saw my friend Mysnia88 reading through a bunch of postcards she received. As I have always been interested in mail and postage stamps, I got curious and took a peek over her shoulder as she read them (with permission, of course). I was amazed by the variety of countries the cards came from and the beautiful postage stamps attached.

She told me about the Postcrossing website. I checked it out, signed up and, as they say, the rest is postcard-HERstory!

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your post office or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

Although there is a mailbox outside our home, I prefer to use my workplace’s address. Since I work in the University, it has its own post office inside the campus that makes it convenient for me to drop by regularly.

Since starting Postcrossing, I have developed good relations with the small postal staff of 2–3. They actually set aside my mail and prop it up on their table for the daily exchange — when I come around to send mail, they hand me over my incoming mail. One could say that I am my own mail-folk!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

It is difficult to pick the favorite part because I enjoy the whole process of Postcrossing. If really pressed to say the favorite part, maybe it would be seeing a slant at the end of the blue bar of travelling postcards… because it means that I can finally click the red “Send a postcard” button!

And then I can start the whole process of reading the recipient’s profile, adhering to their preferences of card theme and writing prompt, actually putting together a postcard, and mailing it.

But definitely, I look forward to reading and appreciating everyone’s notes written on my received cards, and the recipient’s thank-you note in the email.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

Yes. As I am a fan of tennis player Andre Agassi, I have known for a long time that he has a connection to Georgia (not the one in the USA). So, when I received my one and only card from that country, I was tickled pink by it… although of course that thread of connection between the postcard and Mr. Agassi is barely there. :-)

However, I have been most surprised to receive a card (RE-4563) from a territory I did not know existed – Réunion!

As with most, I looked at the image first and thought it might be an atoll in the Pacific. Then I saw the postage stamp, which was the familiar Marianne of France and was a bit puzzled at the idea of an atoll in France. Afterwards I read the message, written in an “European-looking writing”, found the Postcrossing ID “RE” and thought it must be a mistake. But there are only 4 digits, so maybe it is legit…? RE – where is that?!

The card made me research about Réunion, its location, history, etc. Now, I want to visit Réunion!

What’s one way that postcards have changed your life for the better?

Postcard exchange, or Postcrossing, has made me realize how connected we all are. Even if I don’t travel to see much of the world, and my social media feed is limited to my corner of the world, the postcards show me that there is so much more out there and yet, we all have the same aspirations, and we are so alike more than we are different. It has also made me more prayerful, surprisingly.

We found Màiri (aka mairigold) through a charming owl-themed postcard exhibition she prepared for a museum in Scotland — and couldn’t wait to learn more! A lifelong postcard enthusiast, she finds joy in sharing postcards, decorating them… and even building tiny snowpeople on her red postbox! 😍

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

This postcard was one of my most precious treasures as a child. I still like it now! Those 3D fairytale postcards seemed magical to me and I think that must have been what got me interested in postcards.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I heard about Postcrossing quite by chance in 2011 when it was mentioned in passing in an online interview. I signed up immediately! Until then I had never met anyone else that liked postcards as much as I did… suddenly a whole world of fellow postcard afficionados opened up to me!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

Impossible to choose!

However, 18 August 2012 was a good Postcrossing day for me! These two beautiful postcards arrived together from China – one was drawn by Scarelt as a thank you for GB-339961 and the other (CN-627070) was sent by DogDadRory.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I am lucky to have this red postbox just outside my door. This is where I post my postcards. When it snows I build a wee snowperson on the top!

I keep some of my postcards in these mango boxes!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

What I love is choosing the postcards to send. It is great when I have one that appears in someone’s favourites wishlist! I like choosing the stamps to use and writing and decorating the postcard too. I have a LOT of stickers and washi tapes as well as postcards.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

I received a postcard from Fiji which has only 17 postcrossers – quite an unusual postcard entitled “evoking spirits with a shaman’s drum”. And I sent a postcard – a map of Scotland – to a “country” I had never heard of: Saint Pierre & Miquelon, which is a French archipelago located near Canada.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies or collections?

I have a small collection of knitted or crocheted toys, which includes a wee crochet tea set and a vase of flowers, a wee knitted doll, two owls and a stripy cat.

I also have growing collection of fancy matchboxes too.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

I work in an art gallery and recently had a wee exhibition of (some of) my owl postcard collection in its sister museum: The Auld Kirk Museum in Kirkintilloch, Scotland.

Several of my colleagues share an enthusiasm for postcards and have now become Postcrossers too!

Every so often, we do a little spotlight about a Postcrossing member, and this time we reached out to EvanescentHour, who lives in Illinois, USA. Without further ado, here are her answers to our questions!

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

I actually didn’t get into postcarding until 2021. So my earliest memory is still fairly recent. My first postcarding experience was driving around with my mother, trying to find a good place that sells postcards. For some reason, I remember that I was reading 'Small Favors' by Erin A Craig in the check out line.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

In 2020 I started getting super into travel and learning about countries outside of my own. I liked researching places that I wanted to travel too, like The Netherlands and Norway. While doing this research I remembered that when I was around six or seven years old I had a penpal from Ireland. I thought that I would get back into the penpaling hobby but, unfortunately, the phone number that my grandma had called to get me set up with a penpal is now defunct. So I started searching for other websites and services that help set people up with penpals. That’s how I came across Postcrossing. It wasn’t penpaling so I was a bit skeptical at first, but I love collecting things so I thought that I would give it a go.

What got me hooked was the community. I love seeing other people’s handwriting, how they use stickers and washi tape, and how they structure sentences. I enjoy going to the forums and talking to users there as well.

What’s one way that postcards have changed your life for the better?

Postcards have been super important to me. 2020–2022 had been very rough years for me and sending postcards helped brighten my day a little bit. They were something to make me smile when I felt like I didn’t have many other reasons to do so. They also helped me connect with my mother and grandmother.

Have you met any other members in real life?

I have! I went to a postcarding meetup with my mother and grandmother. It was an amazing experience, lots of friendly people and we had a nice lunch in this local cafe. The atmosphere was very relaxed and quaint and everyone seemed to connect right away. I also found out that I had met one of the people there BEFORE the actual meetup; we had talked to each other at an Eivør concert about two months prior to the Postcrossing meetup.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

My favorite Postcrossing coincidence is that I was browsing for users from the Bahamas to request a direct swap from and the profile that I clicked on, ended up being the user whose address I pulled!

I was also surprised to have gotten one from Guam.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

My favorite post card that I have received is the Blue Man Group postcard from this photo of my collection. I don’t have a close up picture of it but it has a special place in my heart because my mom surprised me with it one day. She knew that I was getting super into the hobby and when she visited Chicago she sent it back to me as a little memento. My mother has very recently passed away and so it’s nice to have this small piece of her with me.

As for postcards that I got from Postcrossing there are two that I really love and can’t choose between; there is this bat maxicard. I adore bats, they are my favorite animals and this is the first maxicard I’ve received. It’s also pretty new!

I also really love this one. Bellatrix is one of my all time favorite characters so it was super cool to get a postcard with her on it!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I think that my favorite part of the process is actually walking to the mailbox! Both to send postcards and to check to see if I received any. I especially love doing so in the springtime when I can get a whiff of the lilacs and wet grass.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies or collections?

I like to say that I collect collections because I have so many from rocks to fandom merch. But my favorite collection is my CD and Vinyl collection. I have over 500 CD’s (my goal is to get 1000 of them). I have CD’s across almost all genres, my favorites are Symphonic Metal and Folk Metal.

My favorite hobbies aside from postcarding are creative writing and scrapbooking. Writing in particular; I have been making up fantasy stories since I could pick up a pencil. I love writing horror and fantasy the most and hope to be a published author one day. For now I share my stories with the world through fanfiction and have made a lot of friends that way.

Is there anything else that you are passionate about?

Music and nature are my passions. I also have an interest in bats, the goth subculture, storms, Dutch culture, and Swedish culture. I have autism so I get super super invested in all of these topics.

Music and the goth subculture are probably the two things that I am most invested in. I have a goal to discover and listen to one band from every country in every continent. So far I have listened to one band in every country in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America and one band in every US state. I am working on discovering one band from each Oceanic country.

The goth subculture has also been very important to me. For the longest time I had trouble making friends because I never really tried to 'mask’ my autism. The goth scene in itself is a subversion to societal norms and so I, already more of an outcast so to speak, found a home in that scene. I love the fashion and the music. I love the aesthetics. And I found that after putting on the corset and the choker, my confidence skyrocketed. I started making more friends both fellow goths and outsiders who were curious about why I dress the way I do.

Núria (aka NuriaLP) lives in Breda, a small town surrounded by nature in the north-east of Spain. She and her friend Dolors are the only postcrossers in town, but they do a good job of telling the world about this picturesque corner of Catalonia!

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

When I was four years old my grandpa sent me a postcard from his holiday destination. Since then this action of sending postcards while traveling has became a tradition and I also discover my passion for this incredible hobby.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

My friend, Dolors, who is a postcrosser from my town told me about it and I couldn’t resist joining in. We are the only postcrossers in Breda. From time to time we meet and send postcards. Connecting with people from all over the world using postcards is what got me hooked. Nowadays messages are instantaneous and when a postcard reaches its destination after several days of journey, it’s so satisfying.

Another thing that I like about Postcrossing is that I’ve been able to improve my English skills. I’m not using English in my daily life, so this way I can practice it.

Show us your mailbox, your mail carrier, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

In my town, there are two mailboxes. In my case, I’m so lucky because our postwoman, Rosa, comes every day to my shop to give me my postcards, and collects the ones that I’m sending. She’s the best postwoman we could have. When she is on holiday she also sends me postcards.

When I receive new postcards I register them as soon as possible and then, I hang them on a wall I’ve got in my small fruit and vegetable shop. Customers love looking at them. After some days I add the new ones and the others go to my postcard box, where I organize them by country.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

It’s difficult just to choose a part. I enjoy the whole process including the surprise of getting an address, finding the right postcard for that person, combining different stamps, decorating the postcard and writing a nice message. Receiving postcards is also a fantastic part. It’s just incredible when you think of the journey that the little piece of paper called `postcard´ made until it reached my house.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

US-9344837 has everything that I like: Autumn and love.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

YES! And this makes me so happy. My niece, Paula, who is 5 years and her friend, Jana, love sending and receiving postcards we send each other a postcard a month.

Also, the children who come to my shop love guessing where the postcards I’ve got on the wall come from. First, they try to guess it by looking at the picture, then at the stamp and finally, at the text.

One of them, Max, brought me a box full of postcards from his mum when she was young. He is so interested in this topic that he has started his own collection. I’m so proud of him!

What’s one way that postcards have changed your life for the better?

The most important one is that I’ve known incredible people, most of them have become friends without even knowning them in person.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies or collections?

Yes! I collect fruit labels. In fact, in my Postcrossing profile, I’ve got a special request, I ask if the person who is sending me a postcard can paste a fruit label on the postcard. I have already received many labels from different parts of the world.

I also love gardening, I always compare the process of growing a plant to sending a postcard. You choose the right one, you prepare it and then it flies until it gets its destination, like the plant when it grows.

Chris (aka chrisbonham11)'s profile caught our attention because of his quest to find a set of postcards featuring the Qing court version of “Up the River During Qingming”, a beautiful painting which can be seen at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Normally, when you buy a postcard at a museum, the postcard will feature a whole painting… but this 11 meter scroll has so much going on that numerous postcards were created to feature its different scenes! Chris took the time to tell us about his quest and his other passions, on this spotlight interview!

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

When I was a child, my family and I would send postcards to relatives from our holidays. We also received postcards from our relatives from their holidays. I especially remember postcards from my Nan, which she sent from her trips to other parts of the UK.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

How exactly I came across Postcrossing back in 2014 is now lost in the mists of time, alas! I believe that I found out about it thanks to an online news article though. As somebody who studied abroad on exchange for a year during their degree, and at the time was just starting out on a career in international education, any opportunity to connect with folks abroad really appealed. I was also looking for opportunities to practice my German and Dutch, and quickly found out that there are a lot of speakers of both languages who are postcrossers. I had a little stash of postcards from museums and galleries already to hand and ready to share, so I was good to go.

Show us your mailbox, your mail carrier, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I use any one of a number of local postboxes for my outgoing postcards, depending on where I’m heading when I head out and about. I think I saw somewhere that the UK has among the densest distribution of postboxes of any country in the world, which if true is why I have so much choice! The postbox I use most frequently though is this one, located on the university campus where I work. This photo was taken in August 2023, when it had just had a fresh coat of paint.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

For me, it is picking out the best postcard I can for the recipient. I read every profile in full, and then have a look at their received and favourite postcard galleries. I’ve developed a greater interest in (and stash of) postage stamps over the past couple of years, hence where I can I also try to use one or more which match the recipient’s interests to pay the postcard’s way.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

If I have to pick favourite postcards, they’re those I’ve been sent from the artwork Up The River During Qingming!

I’ve received parts #3 from gene1128 (TW-3307201), #6 from ipyngtsai (TW-2990803), #9 from Pe-June (TW-2524342), #23 from EmilieLin (TW-3336740) and #24 from chuanH (TW-3077188).

I bought a set of postcards of this artwork from the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, when I visited nine years ago. After I shared the set with other postcrossers, I wondered if I could rebuild the set from postcards sent to me by others. Folks may have had to go to extra trouble to obtain and send me one of these postcards (and the postcrosser who sent me four cards from the set and let me know that the Museum shop was no longer selling it certainly did go to extra trouble), hence the extra appreciation. Thank you again!

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

For received postcards, it has to be Bahrain, Belize, Brunei, and Guam, four of the less common places postcrossers are from / visit in travel mode. I don’t think that any other sent postcard can match the one which took 284 days to reach its recipient in Vietnam! Never give up hope on those travelling postcards, folks, even post-60 day expiry!

Have you met any other members in real life?

For over six of the nearly ten years I’ve been a postcrosser, I beavered away at it alone. I wasn’t a user of the old forum, being a bit intimidated by the formatting. I joined the new, friendlier formatted (to me) forum in early 2021, and since then have got to know a grand bunch of people in the British Isles section. It’s a lovely corner of the Internet. I attended my first meet-up in December 2022, meeting a few of these folks and others, and haven’t looked back. I managed to attend five meet-ups in 2023, including one I hosted around Halloween in Reading. JennyAssis helped with designing the meet-up postcard for that one (thank you again, Jenny!).

What’s one way that postcards have changed your life for the better?

The whole process of Postcrossing, from drawing an address, picking out postcard and stamps, and writing a message, is an escape for me. If I’ve had a particularly large postal delivery in one day, I can spend an hour or more reading and registering postcards and writing thank you messages to their senders. During the days of Covid lockdowns, Postcrossing kept me occupied and connected to others. While others completed Netflix, I sent and received a lot of postcards!

Is there anything else that you are passionate about?

Real ale! I’ll be wandering around Reading and east Berkshire come the Spring taking in pubs on the local CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) ale trail. Postcrossing friends can attest to this: I left a meet-up last summer early so that I could return to Reading to collect the t-shirt which was the reward for visiting all the pubs on last year’s trail!

International education is also a passion; I’m still working in the field, and haven’t tired of helping students realise an exchange like I did.