Postcrossing Blog

Meet Serena, aka AllSerene from England! She’s both an avid postcrosser and a birdwatcher, an interest she shares with her cat Lucy :)

Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

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

Two online friends (Enitharmon and Niles) blogged about it, within a few days of one another. I thought it sounded interesting, visited the site and was hooked! This was about three and a half years ago, not long before Postcrossing reached the first million postcards sent.

I’m almost entirely housebound, due to serious health problems, and I loved the idea both of being able to make contact with people around the world and of seeing places I would never be able to visit in person. Postcrossing has added considerably to the variety and fun in my life!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Being fascinated by wildlife, I’ve taken part in the British Trust for Ornithology’s Garden Birdwatch for several years, recording the varieties of birds who visit my garden each week. This means that, as well as enjoying watching the birds outside my window, I’m able to contribute, in a small way, to environmentalists knowledge of the changing bird populations.

I also have a much loved cat, who shares my interest in bird watching (and who’s old enough not to be a danger to the birds).

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

My cards get put through the letterbox on my front door, to arrive on my doormat. My lovely posties collect any mail I leave out for them, on my windowsill.

This normally works extremely well. On one occasion though, a card, GB-37113, took the scenic route to the US, via Germany, having remained wrapped in a plastic bag (to protect them from the rain) with another card, GB-37117, destined for a German postcrosser. Luckily, maju30, having told me what had happened, very kindly forwarded it on to it’s proper destination. I must admit to being relieved that it was a postcard which took such a detour, rather than a letter to my bank or something of that kind!

I have a display of recent, and favourite cards on display in my kitchen and, when cards are taken down from there, they are stored in boxes, sorted by country. I also scan all my cards and have the screensaver on my computer set to show a slideshow of my pictures. These always provoke a lot of comment from visitors and often mesmerise them, so that discussions will be broken off when a friend’s attention has been grabbed by one of my cards!

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

I found it impossible to choose just one or two cards out of all the ones I’ve received. The pictures above show some of the cards currently on display, which are a mixture of cards I’ve recently received and favourites which refuse to be dislodged.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I love requesting addresses, wondering who, and where, I will be sending a card to this time. Having received an address, I love trying to work out which of my cards that person would particularly enjoy and trying to get a feel for the person I’ll be writing to, so that I can try to make the card as interesting as possible for that person. That said, later on, I’ll be keeping a close watch for the postman, wanting to see what cards he’s bringing me that day, as I always very much enjoy receiving a new group of cards, looking to see what the pictures are and reading the messages on the back.

Natan (aka nboliveira) is one of the top (and earliest) users in Brasil. He likes travelling (both in real life and through the postcards he receives) and marvelling at the collection of stamps on his local philately shop.
Here is what he had to say:

What is your name, age and location?

My name is Natanael but everybody calls me Natan. I’m 44 years old and I live in the capital of Brasil, the city of Brasília which has an unique modernist architecture designed by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. It’s a planned city inaugurated 60 years ago and an Unesco World Heritage Site for its architecture. I work at a telecom and recently started studying Law to be a lawyer in the future.

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

I’ve exchanged postcards since I was a child but when the internet was invented, I thought this hobby was over. In 2005 I read in the newspaper Estadão.com about the project of Paulo Magalhães from Portugal and his idea of sharing an old hobby using that new technology. I registered immediately but I didntt expect it to work out because I didn’t know that many people who would like to receive postcard this old fashioned way. Since then, six years have passed and I’m very proud to be one of veteran members of Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like listening to music especially lounge, bossa nova, and songs from the 80's, watching movies at home and going out with friends. Another passion is travelling, knowing different places and, of course, buy postcards from these places. Friends who travel with me already know – if I disappear, just ask where is the nearest store of postcards is! :)

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

The post office where i usually send postcards is also a philatelic store and I like go there because I can choose stamps from their huge collection and talk a little with Aurea, a friendly postal worker who is also passionate for postcards and stamps.

I keep my postcards in boxes like this. It’s not too organized but i like it bcause I can see postcards randomly and not for specific or preferred countries.

I also like to use some of my favourites to change the picture in my mobile phone.

And I put some on the table of my living room to show to my friends and family when they come home to visit me. You may notice that these postcards are in general of famous people and historical places… it’s a sure way to hook visitors and start a conversation about Postcrossing!

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

On my favourites, you can see that I really like sunsets and nature scenes, perhaps because I was born in a city of the Amazon region in Brazil. So guess I have a strong relation with nature. About my favourites, I should say that each postcard received is special on its singular message, images and stamps. But I’ll show three of them.

First, on the left, there is one that came from France (FR-65979) and I like it because for me represents the real spirit of Postcrossing: a world that share a hobby without frontiers of cultures, religion, language, social condition or politics. The second, came from Finland (FI-1130539) with an amazing sunset that I like so much. At last, one from China (CN-27229), I like this for its spiritual significance.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

The best part is the happiness I feel when I open my mailbox. I always smile of joy :) I specially love it when i see that someone saw my favorites and sent a postcard that I like. I always try to do the same because I know that in another part of world there will be another postcrosser with a smile on his/her face because of the postcard I sent.

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

Receive postcards from countries like Iran, Pakistan and Brunei with isolated regimes has surprised me. On the other hand that’s good because I noticed that Postcrossing is an universal way of communication.

Meet Nuch, aka iamnuchy! She’s the #1 postcrosser in Thailand, and loves exploring new countries and their mailboxes. Above is a photo of her, taken in Sikkim, India. Here is what she had to say to our spotlight interview:

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

I found out about Postcrossing from Thailand postcard lovers club’s webboard. I think it’s a great idea to write and to receive postcards to/from people all over the world. I love travelling and photography but can’t do much of it, so travelling with postcards fulfills my passion.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes. I’ve been collecting stamps since I was a primary school student. At that time I just collected by cutting all stamps from my parents letters. ^_^ But today I collect only mint stamps because I can’t find any letters in my mailbox anymore. I also do some knitting (just starting to learn how to knit), drawing and cooking.

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

Here is my mailbox, and one of the boxes where I keep my postcards:

And here is my local post office:

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

Difficult to answer…I have too many favorite cards. I enjoy beautiful landscapes and architecture and Panorama views. I always smile when I receive a cute Hello Kitty or Moomin postcard. And I like to learn more about other countries and their mailboxes/postboxes.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I think everybody likes the act of opening their mailbox and finding some postcards there. I also like the moment of searching a postcard in my stock to match the request.

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

Yes. Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Oman, Ivory Coast, etc. Actually, every first postcard from a country which I have never been to!

Today on the spotlight we feature ddonkey (aka Agata), from Croatia. She’s passionate about travelling, postcards and… donkeys! Check out her interview below:

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

I’ve been in love with postcards ever since I was a kid – who doesn’t love pretty portable pictures? But my first collection were stamps (equally pretty, with even greater portability!)

I first heard of Postcrossing on a Croatian PC magazine, on a section titled 'Try these websites’… which I did! Up until then I had collected blank postcards; but now I am crazy about written & stamped cards – a beautiful union of pictures, stamps, cancellations and personal messages :)

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I guess that would depend on what is considered interesting! As many people here on Postcrossing I love travelling and photography, my dream is to make that combination my job one day! I also like watching movies, reading, solving crosswords… nowadays I’m learning to play the guitar, fingers crossed!

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

I work on the bottom-left corner of this picture:

I go home every third week for a few days on average (more now in post-holiday season). This is why I send mail once a week when the company boat does its rounds. I get mail from people who come back from their days off – my mum and many here have been employed as mailmen :)

And this is me, mailing some postcards in Peru:

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

Here is a collage of donkey postcards:

They are randomly chosen, or rather they represent the latest additions to my collection. I love donkeys because they are cute, sullen and under appreciated. I’d love to own a whole farm of donkeys! There are great farms in England and although Dalmatia is supposed to be their homeland, you rarely see them here these days… only in donkey races for the tourists in the summer!

What is your favourite part of the Postcrossing process?

Every true postcrosser enjoys sending as much as receiving. Apart from that, it is very gratifying when you receive a thank-you note – if the person loves your card, it can make you happy for the rest of the day! :)

Today on the spotlight we feature bodrumlu (aka İbrahim), from Turkey. He’s an avid gamer and loves his first place on Turkey’s ranking of postcrossers!

Here is what he had to say:

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

In 2008, when I was a very active member of CouchSurfing, I had been looking for some websites to exchange postcards and stamps. I had seen a topic about postcards on that website and one of users mentioned Postcrossing. I clicked the link given on that topic and that’s how I met your mother… oops! I meant how I met Postcrossing! :)
Since then, I’ve been sending postcards through Postcrossing no matter where I am, or what I am doing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Apart from collecting postcards, stamps and coins from all over the world (which are very rare hobbies here), I like solving puzzles and playing strategy games. I am an avid player of Age of Empires and the Red Alert series! I also like swimming and playing chess.
“Self-improvement” is the key point of my life, therefore I like to read related books and watching documentaries about the lives of successful men. As part of my self-improvement program, I also love to go to gym even though I am a one-handed disabled man. I have even designed a special glove to let me use the lat pulldown machine. There is an old saying: “as long as you breath, there is a solution for every problem, just keep looking for it”.

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

This is me, going to send my postcards:

And this is where I keep my postcards. Looks very tidy, doesn’t it?

Here you can see my post office, the last stop for my cards :)

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

Here are some of my recent favourite postcards:

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

Yes, there have been some places I was surprised when I’ve seen the address on the card. For example, Papua New Guinea, Montenegro, Mauritius, Macau, Iraq, Ecuador and Bermuda (I didn’t even know there was such country!)

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes, I have organised a meeting in the most beautiful city Eskişehir (my hometown). We were a small group but we had a great time altogether. You can have a look at the meeting pics on the forum. I have also personally met countess_ofdark.

What is it your favuorite part of the Postcrossing process?

Going up and up in the top rank list! Well, not that exciting anymore as I’m the first on the list (just kidding!)
Well… the moment when you wait to show up a “random” address that you send a card. I have even been praying for “please God, not China this time” because of their very long addresses, but now I print addresses, so not a problem anymore! :)
To be honest I really enjoy every moment of the process, from writing the postcard ID to receiving a “thank you for your beautiful postcard” message :)