Category: Trip

The Year In Postcards

December 9, 2018

I traveled a lot this year and sent many postcards. Happily I received many as well, from all over the world!

As you know I have a particularly love of strange postcards, and happily sent and received many of them as well:

These are just a sample of course. I always send KLS/myself lots of cards when I travel, and between them and the ones you sent me I reckon there must have been nearly 100 arriving this year! ?

That’s a wooden card, which made it intact from Australia when I was there in January. Interestingly it only cost the same as a normal card to mail.

Speaking of stamps:

You may have not noticed, but I put a lot of effort into the stamps I put on cards. Specifically I try not to repeat stamps where possible. Watch for this the next you get cards from me. This past year it meant a massive variety of stamps and as usual Australia didn’t disappoint with their pretty and varied selection.

Of course in the name of fun I’ll sometimes repeat stamps:

This year I also took my postcard art to a new level, especially during the days in Hawaii where the hurricane shut everything down:

Many of you received original art this year as well. I hope you treasure it 🙂

Of course some of you reciprocated demonstrating talent that frankly shames mine:

Or created ‘modern art’ using other means:

No summary of 2018 in postcards could be complete without mentioning the dozen or so different Nessie’s I painted on cards sent from Scotland. It took ages but I was very happy with what I achieved…

In a few weeks I’ll be in Oz again, and then very shortly thereafter in Japan. In other words next years cards aren’t too far away. Look forward to them 🙂

The Lost Cards

September 3, 2018

Exactly three months ago today we were in Glasgow, and as usual I wrote and sent postcards from that fair city. Some of those cards featured these stamps:

These are commonly sold in tourist stores around the UK and I’ve used them before (including from many locations in England a couple of years ago). But I have since learned that these stamps are not issued by the Royal Mail (England’s official postal service) and are instead owned by a third party who has a dubious reputation when it comes to actually delivering stamped items.

If you use these stamps, apparently the items (which you put into a normal post box) are not delivered by the mail service, but are instead sent to a clearing house ran by the company that issues these stamps. They then send the collected mail in large quantities to another country with cheaper international rates, and mail it from there. According to what I’ve read these countries are usually in SE Asia, and there are significant delays as a result.

As far as I know only one Glasgow postcard using these stamps (and I believe I sent 10) has arrived – to my parents in Oz. The rest of us are waiting, but since it’s been three months I’m starting to wonder if we’ll wait forever…

I once sent my parents a card from Scarborough, England that took over 6 months to arrive but that used Royal Mail. I fear these Glaswegian cards are forgotten in a box somewhere, or perhaps experienced a grimmer fate.

The lesson is: in the UK, no matter how pretty the alternative, only use Royal Mail stamps (look for the queens head on the stamp). Even if your cards do arrive using these imposter stamps, they will likely be long-delayed!

And Then It Passed

August 26, 2018

By Wednesday the storm warnings had become grim, with talks of hurricane force winds and colossal surf that would flood Waikiki. But on the ground there was little evidence of this:

That’s Waikiki viewed from atop Diamond Head crater. I climbed it myself on Wednesday morning while KLS rested in the shade in the crater and probably sweated off a pound or two!

Later in the day the weather took a distinct turn. Stores started closing early and the tide was very high, almost coming up to street level. It was dramatic and large crowds had collected to gawk at what we assumed was hurricane-related weather.

On Thursday most everything was either closed or closing early. We walked around and saw shopowners preparing for the worst with plastic and sandbags and in some cases boarding up entire storefronts. All public parks were closed, buses weren’t running and the warnings had adopted a darker aspect since by now the hurricane had started devastating eastern Hawaii with incredible rain and flooding.

And yet the skies in Waikiki were still (mostly) clear and we spent a lot of time at the beach in between stocking up on food and water under the assumption the storm would hit and we’d be staying in Hawaii longer than our scheduled departure date. By the end of the day there was a glimmer of hope: the storm had weakened slightly and had slowed.

Friday was interesting. It was our last full day in Hawaii and virtually everything was closed. The very few shops or restaurants open had massive lines mostly full of tourists that had just arrived or failed to heed the warnings. We stayed in our room eating food we’d stockpiled while packing, and then joined what seemed like every other tourist in Waikiki for an amazingly fun time at the beautiful beach.

I also wrote loads of postcards that day, although since mail pickup was suspended and due to the flooding warnings I hadn’t been mailing them (and didn’t until the airport).

But the strange reality of Friday was that Waikiki was essentially closed for business but the storm had gone! Between Thursday night and Friday morning – during the exact time we had been told the full force would hit us – the storm basically weakened and faded away! By mid morning it became clear Oahu had dodged a bullet and even the rains still buffeting The Big Island and Maui weren’t going to reach Oahu! The sun even returned while we were at the beach, and it was a beautiful day.

Yesterday we got up early, enjoyed our last incredible hotel buffet, went to the airport and traveled home (3 flights, 18 hours!) with no interruptions at all. To quote the headline of the Honolulu newspaper:

Hawaii was fantastic. It was relaxing and fun and beautiful and as unique as we had remembered. Staying literally on the beach at a luxury hotel was an incredible experience and we took advantage of it and visited the beach every day. We saw every bit of Waikiki, drove around the island and visited the north shore. We climbed diamond head, saw a magic show, ate amazing food including at two very realistic Japanese-style food courts and even saw tropical fish swimming in the surf! It was a wonderful trip and a great way to end the summer 🙂

Robot Claw