Why I Send Postcards All Over

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doi
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Taal Volcano

I always have this penchant for stamps, postcards, writing letters and keychains. I can still recall those days when I was exchanging letters to someone from Germany and Indonesia back in grade school but then I got busy and grew up.

Then 2 years ago, after blog hopping some sites, I stumbled upon Postcrossing.com, a non-profit (i guess) site which aims to give you the opportunity to allow you to exchange postcards with random strangers across the globe at the expense of the person sending the cards. With this, my passion in exchanging letters via postcards got renewed.

Puerto Galera postcardsent to Netherlands in 2010
receiver: “I wanna live there 🙂 “

So what do I gain from exchanging postcards? Stamps. My motive is selfish in nature. I send postcards so that I can receive postcards with real stamps in it. You see, I collect stamps. Not that I am a fanatic about it but I just want to collect them. No special/complicated reasons involved. The sight of stamps always fascinate me eh 😉

Then lately, something hit me.

This Facebook group where I’m a member, the Pinoy Travel Bloggers group, is very much aggressive in their advocacy of promoting the tourism of the Philippines. You see, like any other Asian countries, a lot of travellers fear of visiting our country due to the bad publicity about our place. Some countries even have the Philippines on their list of must-not-visit places for security reasons. Aside from our country being totally misunderstood in terms of safety, travellers are also wary of travelling here due to the costs involved. Imagine the 7,100+ islands we have and the costs involved on exploring each one of them. Too expensive! Unlike the greater mainland Asia where you simply travel by bus or train to go to each country, in here, you have to fly to each one of those destinations. Cheap alternatives are available too but might be too tedious and stressful for some.

Anyway, going back to where I got hit (hehe), I realized that I was unconsciously promoting the Philippines by sending these postcards. Such a no-brainer if you’d think about it 😉

Some of the random folks I send postcards would list down nature, sea, beaches, folk traditions, festivals, architecture and all those other categories for their postcard preference and we basically have all of those!

Like these 3 postcards I just sent out, each person who’ll receive this had their own preferences on what they wanted to get and here’s my share of promoting tourism in our country 😉

Taal Volcano postcard

This postcard of the Taal Volcano will travel all the way to USA since the person who requested this loves nature. I hope that with this postcard her family can visit the Philippines and explore Taal Volcano as soon as it’s safe to trek there again. Never been to this part of the country too. The closest I got to seeing Taal was viewing it from Tagaytay and I look forward to the day that I’d be able to climb this cute volcano 😀

Coron, Palawan postcard

This beautiful scenery of the beaches of Coron, Palawan will go all the way to Germany as the person who will receive this loves the sea. Being in Germany, I guess they have limited options to swim in their beaches due to the cold temperature and I hope they find time to fly to the Philippines and enjoy this truly captivating treat that Coron has to offer. I’ve never been to this place too but Coron has been added to my must-see places list. Soon Coron, soon…

Cebu postcard

And of course my hometown – Cebu. This postcard shows the different places to visit in Cebu and this one’s gonna travel to China as the one who’ll receive this also loves nature, architecture and requested to receive something about my place. Like any other destinations in our country, Cebu is blessed with a rich cultural heritage and beautiful beaches that will definitely lure any traveller to visit the place. Although China is also rich with its own natural resources, I hope the one who’ll receive this postcard would visit Cebu and enjoy our tropical climate and prestine white sand beaches too.

So there you have it. Now you know the reason why I waste take time and exert effort in sending out postcards. 😀

How about you? Do you want to receive a postcard from Cebu? 😀 Yes? Then send me your complete mailing address here, with the subject: “PLEASE SEND ME A POSTCARD”, ok? 😉

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14 COMMENTS

  2. Doy, this is such a nice advocacy – promoting tourism that is!
    curious lang, how much do you pay for sending the postcards? and how long before maabot sa recipient? via Philpost ka? by the way I still have those stamps with duplicates, kitakits nya so you can pick some of them!

    • Thanks cille! Yey! looking forward to choosing those stamps cille!

      as for the postcard, let’s just say that the postcards i send out are priced either P12.00 or P25.00 since those are the decent ones available in NBS. The 35-peso postcard has a different mailing rate coz of its size eh. The stamp only costs P14.00 (2pcs P7.00 stamps). I bought stamps in advance so i just paste them then i immediately hand them over to the postmaster when i visit the post office. i think it takes around 2-3 weeks before the recipients receive my postcards 😉

  3. oh, im sorry i thought you’re a guy. i know two people named “doy” who are male. anyway, i love this idea. i love stamps too. but what i did when i was younger was i wrote to penpals, part of the reason is because i wanted to get stamps from different countries.

    but post-cards would be nice and less bulky. great idea! i would ask for a postcard but i’m from dumaguete so wouldn’t make sense. haha 🙂

    • hehehe. it’s ok kat. i always get that 😉 i’ve got 2 penpals before too! i completely forgot about that term. lol. why would it not make sense? i can always send you a postcard 😀 do you already have the Year of the Tiger stamp from 2010 or a butanding stamp? 😉

      by the way, i love your work and i just learned that you’re Praline’s classmate/schoolmate. we might go there during Siliman’s Founder’s Day. hope to bump into you there! 😉

  4. ang ganda ng taal pic doi,

    yes hopefully masamahan kita dito magtrek tayo, been there, tanaw na tanaw yan dito sa bahay namin, Im from Talisay.

    natuwa ako sa comment ni kat, pareho kami akala before lalaki ka rin..hahaha

    • aling pic ang tinutukoy mo? yung taal sa homepage or the postcard? 😀 thanks!
      sana nga makapunta din ako jan at nang makita ko kayo lahat! 😉

  7. Hello I want postcard from Cebu too! I’m from Metro Manila, I’m thirsty for nature. 😀 And may stamp ba na with Cebu in it too?

  8. Did you know about Taal Heritage Town nearby? Balisong & Barong Tagalog Capital of the Philippines. I recommend adding it to your list of adventures for 2013! Check out: taal.ph

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