I distinctly remember learning how to address an envelope in school. At the time, I thought, “When would I ever need to do this?” Well, turns out all the time! Whenever I visit a new city, one of the things on my to-do list is to buy and mail out some postcards.
If I’m on vacation and visiting several touristy destinations, I’ll be on the lookout for interesting cards. Ideally, I’ll find one that makes me think of someone in my address book. If not, then cards from local artists are great. My favourites are drawings of local tourist spots. If I can’t find anything like that, then I’ll settle for the outdated photo with word art of the city name. If you’ve never tried to find good postcards, you’d be surprised how hard it can be to find even the latter in some major cities.
By far the best country for postcards is Vietnam. I suspect it’s because of the stunning Saigon Central Post Office. I always send out postcards from the central post office, but this is the only one I’ve ever seen packed with tourists sending out cards. The popularity of this attraction makes postcards, and really good ones at that, a breeze to come by throughout the country. By far my favourite shop for postcards anywhere was Humanity Hanoi.
Much like this blog, I write what’s on my mind at the time. It makes the cards a snapshot of a time and place. Sometimes the recipients will mention something I wrote to them, and at first I’ll have no recollection of it. But upon a bit of thought, I get the jolt of a memory I had all but forgotten.
The lossy nature of the postal service adds to the romance of the medium. Sometimes I’ll write a card to someone I haven’t spoken to in years. I send it out, and it’s for the universe to decide if they receive it or not. Perhaps it gets lost, perhaps they moved, or maybe they get it and have no desire to say anything back.
In other aspects of my life, I want to maximize certainty. I plan and think of the worst possible scenario. I make sure I have backups for everything. But with postcards, I love the uncertainty. The imperfections of my handwritten notes. The damage that accumulates as the card gets closer to the recipient. The unreliability of the postal service. The chance that whoever I’m sending this card to won’t receive it. It makes the cards that are delivered all the more special.