Postcards.

A friend of mine recently went to Turkey for a post-graduation trip. I half-jokingly asked for a postcard, not expecting I would actually receive one, but receive one I (eventually) did. I was grateful for it, and it got me thinking about just how great postcards really are as souvenirs.

When someone sends you a postcard, especially in this day and age, it says a lot. A postcard says "Hey, here's a personalized message I wrote just for you, while thinking about you. I'm out here enjoying myself in this faraway land, but I took the time to pick out this postcard in a design I think you'd appreciate, pay money for it, think about what to write to you, write (as opposed to typing) it out in my hopefully legible handwriting, and then locate and make my way to a local post office to then pay more money to get it posted all the way to where you are. Also, I know where you live."

Unless, of course, the message on the postcard is something boring and generic like "Wish you were here!" Something like that indicates that the sender obviously doesn't actually wish you were there with them, because if they really cared enough about you to want you to be there they would have been bothered to write a little bit more than what sounds like something a bunch of marketing executives hurriedly and indifferently came up with during a 5.15 pm meeting. The postcard sender would still know where you live, though.

A regular souvenir, on the other hand - like, say, a keychain - is thus pretty dull in comparison. Someone will come home after a week away on vacation and come back with a bag full of keychains. "Here you go, take one," they'll say. "I just bought these in a rush on my last day so that people won't get all bitter about me not bringing anything back for them. And by 'people' I mean all of you in general; I wasn't thinking about each of your individual tastes and preferences when I got these because I was too busy enjoying myself to cater to each and every one of you," is what they'll think, but won't say.

I'm only joking, of course. I appreciate any sort of souvenir, but I just wanted to highlight just how superior postcards are in that particular gift category. And it's kinda sad how postcards are dying out (this is based on actual statistics as well as common sense).

When I went to France in 2016, I sent postcards to three of my friends back home. The first friend had asked for one, just because of that one song by The Band Perry. The second friend knew nothing about hers until it reached her mailbox - she'd never traveled in her life and I thought it would be a nice surprise that might possibly inspire her to go on a trip of her own someday. And the third friend, well, I don't really remember if I'd offered to send it or if it had been asked for.

So after having sent out postcards of my own, it was nice to receive one (even if it wasn't from one of the friends I'd previously sent a postcard to). I have to admit, though, I probably like sending them more than I do receiving them. I suppose that could just be because I have my own idea of what a good postcard looks like, and it's a different idea from what other people have. Regardless, I want to send more postcards in the future. How many I end up sending is obviously dependent on how much traveling I end up doing, so I guess I should save up.

Upon reflection, saving up money to travel just so I can send postcards to people does sound like something I would do. Which means that I want to do it even more now.