Snail Mail
Jenny & Adam
KUTA BEACH, Indonesia // When I was a kid, I remember getting my first piece of mail, a postcard from my Uncle Rob while he was visiting Hawaii. It was actually addressed to the family I think, but my parents let me keep it and that was the beginning of my postcard collection.
Anytime we went somewhere I bought postcards as my souvenir. When my Dad flew somewhere I asked him to bring me back postcards. In fact, I still have my postcard collection in the basement of my parents house if anyone cares to look at my treasures.
So now as I travel the world I find great joy in writing postcards, especially to the children of family and friends. Though most of them don’t really know who I am, I think if I plant a little seed of curiosity about the larger world they live in its worth it. If one family brings out a globe and finds Bali on a map, or goes to the library to find a book on surfing or climbing, or even if they just get excited to receive mail addressed to them, then it's absolutely worth the time to write them.
We've sent over 100 postcards from around the world, and its an indulgence that has become part of our regular travel routine. Find the perfect postcards, write them in coffee shops, find the post office, talk with the locals, check out the stamps, and cross our fingers that they make it. Thank our lucky stars, all our postcards have made it so far even if they take 2-3 weeks to get there.
Almost all of the post offices we have been to are open from 6 AM to 8 PM all day everyday. This means every post office we have been to has always been open when we show up at random times, and there have been zero lines or waits.
It still amazes me that to send a postcard from around the world costs less than $1 most of the time and only requires local postage stamps. It even costs less to send a postcard from Thailand to the USA than to mail a postcard within the United States. Below are a few of the rates from each country we have visited thus far.
- Thailand 15 Baht // $0.42
- Laos 14,000 Kip // $1.73
- Cambodia 3,000 Reil // $0.74
- Vietnam 14,000 Dong // $0.64
- Indonesia 12,000 Rupiah // $0.92
If you want a postcard from us please send us your address and we will add you to the mailing list!