Souvenir Stash: Handwritten Postcards

Out of all the souvenirs I could bring back from my travels, like fridge magnets, keychains, or shirts, postcards are the one thing I always make sure to collect. There is something simple yet very meaningful about having a postcard with the picture of a city I visited for the first time. Each one feels like a small time capsule that holds the memory of where I have been and how I felt in that exact moment. I collect them for myself, but I also send them to my family and friends while I am travelling.

I always buy at least three postcards in every country I visit. One is for my personal collection, and the others are for the people I care about. On the one I keep, I write my thoughts, feelings, and experiences from that trip. It becomes a piece of memory I can revisit in the future. For the rest of them, I try to post to my loved ones who live far away across the sea. It is a small but thoughtful way of letting them know I was thinking of them while exploring new places.

My love for writing letters and sending mail started when I was twelve, long before I travelled abroad. I had to move to another state, far from my close friends. We promised to send each other letters, and we did. Not very often, since we were still kids and needed help from our parents, but those letters meant everything to us. I still keep them to this day and I think that's where my attachment to handwritten notes truly began to grow stronger. This might sound funny, but the very first postcard I ever sent was actually to myself, and it was from Italy during my summer vacation. I still remember the joy and surprise when it arrived at my doorstep. It remains one of the best things I have ever done while travelling, so since then, I have tried my best to send postcards to the people I care about while travelling.

Now that I can travel more freely, I try my best to continue this tradition. I write and send postcards to the people I love, and sometimes to myself. Even when I am not travelling, I write birthday letters, small notes, or long emails to my friends. But postcards are still my favourite. They come from somewhere far away, during a meaningful time, and carry a message I chose to write and remember. 

The walls in my room are now filled with postcards I have collected from many countries in Europe, along with some I received from friends and family during their own travels. There is a unique joy and nostalgia in reading the handwritten notes from both myself and the people I care about, especially those who live far away. While I might still remember the feeling of the place or the specific experience, the details in the moments that brought me to those feelings are just as important for me to remember. These postcards hold so much value to me, and I know I will keep looking back at this collection even ten years from now, remembering the places I’ve visited and the memories I’ve made along the way.