Postcrossing

I will start the New Year with a review of a hobby that we have been doing for nearly two years.  

Postcrossing!  

 We heard about Postcrossing from one of the blogs that I read, and it sounded like a fun little project.  All you have to do is sign up for an account at http://www.postcrossing.com/ with your mailing address and you are all set.  You request an address by clicking on Send a postcard, and you are assigned a random address from somewhere around the world.  Simply mail the postcard, wait for it to be received, and you are all set to mail another card.  You will start off being able to send five postcards at a time.  The more cards you send and are received, your limit gets increased.  Once you sign up, your address also gets added to the random address list, and you will begin receiving postcards.  When you receive a postcard, all you do is click on the link Register a postcard and enter in the Postcard ID.

Tips for sending postcards.

• Remember that the postcards are going international (or you may send some to your home country if you select that option under Account).  You will need to affix international postage, in the United States, the current rate for international is $1.05.  You can buy stamps in this denomination.  
• Make sure that you write the Postcard ID in an obvious place, and write it clearly!  
• I try to scan the images of the postcards I send and attach them when I send the cards.  That way, when the person receives the card, the image is already loaded, and the best part, is when I receive the email saying they received it with their message, I can see what card was sent!  (I keep a file on my computer of all the postcards I send.  This is handy because I usually buy more than one of each card and this way the image is ready to attach straight from my computer).  
• Buy multiple copies of postcards you like (and when traveling, buy LOTS of postcards!)  I have been known to buy 25 or more of each design, it is amazing how fast you go through them.  
• Places likely to have postcards, gift shops, National Parks, drug stores, grocery stores, and gas stations.  I have found that some Walmart stores have a good selection of postcards at a good price, and some don't have any at all.  When I was on vacation this past summer I bought 200+ postcards at various Walmart stores.  For about twenty cents a piece, this is one of most reasonable places I've found to buy.  

Each month you will get an email showing a summary of your activities from the previous month.  I always find this interesting.  It will tell you how many postcards were sent and received, which countries were sent to and received from, average travel time to get to destinations, and pictures of your cards that have been liked.    You can see one of my blog posts with this summary included at http://mommyandmegeography.blogspot.com/2012/11/september-2012.html

You can also view your statistics on the webpage, and it includes that data for all time.  You can also view a map showing each place you've sent to and received from.

We have sent 238 postcards and have received 232 postcards.  Sent over 1.9 million kilometers or 1.18 million miles.  This is such a fun way to learn more about other countries and cultures.  We have put our postcards into scrapbooks and enjoy looking through them.  They are sorted by continent and then by country.  Europe had to be separated into it's own book long ago, and is ready to be split again!

I hope you learned a bit about Postcrossing.  It is a fun hobby and you can learn so much about the world!

Be sure to send me any questions you may have.