Postcards To Your Future Self

If there’s one thing people recommend when embarking on a trip of a lifetime, it is keeping a journal. Now, I am not much of a journaler, as I always feel like I write complete nonsense. My future self is always confused about what I am saying, and to me, it never sparks many memories. This is where postcards come in. 

When I was about two weeks and five cities into my backpacking trip, I met an Australian who was buying a postcard in every city she had visited on her journey through Europe. This inspired me to do the same and write what I had seen and done in each city on the backs of the postcards. This means a lot more to me than a journal, as it’s a piece of the places I visited. It’s also a great way to display my memories rather than keep them locked between two pieces of cardboard and fabric and stored away in a place I never think about. 

To be honest, however, I wasn’t the best at remembering to grab a postcard in each city either. I think I missed about five or six cities which is odd considering that finding a postcard is pretty easy, especially in touristy. There’s always a place near a train station, museum, or historical site to buy them. I also wasn’t great at writing them. Despite the countless hours I spent on trains with plenty of opportunities to write, I still managed to fall behind. When you are doing something new and exciting every day putting it off is not a good idea. I constantly had to go back through photos and past hostel bookings to remember what I had done and what dates I was in each city. 

Either way, collecting postcards is a great way to memorialize a trip that you are proud you went on. It doesn’t even have to be a big trip. It can be a day trip to a city close to where you live or even the city you live in. No need to carry around a bulky journal the whole time, especially one that will just end up packed away in a box when you can display a new little souvenir that can hold the same words and memories.