Snail Mail Collective Update: September

So literally the day after I wrote my Snail Mail Collective post for my partner Jenna, my package arrived! Just wanted to share a picture of the wonderful goodies I received from her!

If you did not check out my previous post, here's my Snail Mail Collective post that I wrote two days ago for Jenna: http://loveatraveler.blogspot.com/2013/10/snail-mail-collective-september.html

She sent me yummy Chocolate Covered Dates, a cute Bee Notebook that her students use, two UAE magazines, and a cool Camel Postcard with a beautiful written note!

I love my beautiful package from Jenna! It made my day. :-) I can't wait to read the magazines! We thought our packages would take a longer time to get here than usual so I'm pretty happy with how fast we received our mail. (She told me about the post office process over there!) I feel lucky to have met her in this way and we plan on continuing to stay in touch! Once again, Jenna is a wonderful lady and I hope you guys check her out!

Postcrossing

I'm a huge fan of snail mail, making new friends, keeping in touch with old, and learning about different people and cultures in this world. Always have. Always will. I guess I'm one of those people who loves living with the past in mind! And I'm probably the only person who has yet to succumb to a smart phone!

I just love the idea of expressing ones thoughts and feelings through writing. To me, that's what makes things feel more special. I also love sending positive notes to others, whether I know them or not. Lately I have been looking for ways to connect to others whom I've never met before through my blogs (Love A Traveler and my food blog: Peace Love And Blueberries) while I'm still living here in the states. I'm currently figuring out my expat plans for the very near future - December/January. It's my way to do more good deeds and still feel connected with other travelers while I'm at my home base.

So when my new friend over at The Female Tramp: http://thefemaletramp.wordpress.com told me about this postcard idea, I had to take a look at it. 

http://www.postcrossing.com

This project is here to send surprise postcards to anyone in the world and to keep our world connection strong. It's also for those who really do enjoy sending letters and receiving real mail. Postcrossing is all about getting to know one another and spreading positive cheer throughout this world.

Why I also love this idea?

Because it's affordable and looks like so much fun! It doesn't cost a lot to send a postcard. I also believe my home isn't in one place. It's this whole world. I get to write a little about me and send inspiration and I will receive a postcard in return and learn about someone else, their lifestyle, and inspiration back as well. 

The cost of sending an international package: $19-50 and up! The cost of sending a postcard: under $2. 

How it works:

For every postcard you send, you receive one back.

Make a profile

Request an address

Mail the postcard

Receive a new postcard from someone else

Register* the postcard

And the cycle continues!      

*When you request an address to send a postcard, they show you the address with the persons profile and give you a code. You write that code on the postcard and mail it to the receiver. When they see the postcard in the mail, they register the # on the website. Once they register the # on the website, it puts you in the system to receive a postcard from someone else. To learn more, visit the website (above)!

This project gives you the opportunity to either send a postcard to a new person each time or the opportunity to do a direct swap** with someone you are interested in sending postcards back and forth or both. I like this chance of writing back and forth with the same person if you feel you both have things in common. But I also enjoy sending good vibes and inspiration to others without expecting anything in return. This suites me just fine. :-)

**Basically with postcrossing, you send a postcard to someone else in this world, they register your card, and someone else sends you a postcard, not the person who received yours, unless of course they do, I believe. I'm still figuring out this project since I am a newbie at this! With direct swap, you can choose to put yes or no down on your profile. This means if you are open to exchanging postcards back and forth with an individual on the site, you select yes. If not, it's just as fine. Either way, I'm open to both ideas.

I originally was going to post the link to my postcrossing page but I think I'd like to leave it to chance to see if anyone randomly gets my address. 

If you'd like to do a direct swap with me, comment below or email me! I'd love to direct swap, but you must be a member on the site and follow their rules before we proceed! It's more fun that way. :-)

As of today, I have 5 postcards in the works to send out!

Will you join Postcrossing?

Snail Mail Collective: August

A little late but worth the wait!

I joined the Snail Mail Collective last month and it has been great so far! My first partner was Bonnie Rose at A Compass Rose:  www.bonnieroseblog.co.uk

We are both hard workers and busy bees plus sometimes snail mail does move at a snail mail pace! We finally got our packages and our faith in the mail system has been restored!

3 beautiful pictures from Bath, England, a wonderfully written postcard, and a super cute UK Bear!

So what can I say that everyone doesn't know about the wonderful Bonnie Rose?

Bonnie is a wife, mother, blogger, and photographer. How she has time to do everything, I don't know, but she is definitely a superwoman! :-)

I had a great time getting to know her and love that we have some things in common and some things we could take from eachother.

Our similarities:

We love dark chocolate, enjoy reading books, loving outdoor adventures like hiking, love desserts that aren't too sweet, we don't like country music, similarities in how we travel, we enjoy food, and we BOTH BLOG! We also talked about our love of homemade scrubs. We exchanged our scrub recipes. Bonnie also gave me her pie crust recipe and I'm excited to try it out! 

What I'd like to learn from Bonnie?

To balance life better! I'm always on the go but need to learn how to slow down, focus on life, and focus on my blog. Bonnie is great at this! As I know everyone knows her. :-)

I had some questions for Bonnie and here are her answers:

When and How did you get into blogging? 

I started in 2005 to share photos of my son after he was born. I stumbled on a friends blog that had one post while waiting to give birth and thought...I want to do that.

What is the most daring thing you've done in all of your travels?

This was not my choice...but man it was thrilling and scary and emotional. I got my phone stolen in my home town of Napoli ( grew up there six years) and had to go to the police station. They brought me in a room with a door in between me and a suspect that I could see through and he was literally inches from my face, really amped up on adrenaline...Something out of a Guy Richie film. It was so freaky! Esp since I didn't know what I was going to be doing with the language barrier that when I was brought in. I was really freaked out. 

What's your favorite country you've been to?

So many...but Austria holds a lot of memories and I cannot wait to take my husband and boys there and eat germknodel again! 

What's the one place you are dying to go to?

That list is very long, but from a place I've never been, Iceland! 

Three places you would like to go to next? (One is Iceland!)

Austria, and then a trip that includes visiting all the places on one visit: Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. 

Best travel advice you can give?

Stay away from tourists and touristy areas and travel like a local. 

Farthest you have been from home? 

I can't answer this as I don't have a home per se. But farthest I've been from my parents when I was still living with them was being in Australia for a summer while they lived in Arizona. 

Favorite part of going to the beach?

Hearing the waves and smelling the salt air.

Sea creature?

Mermaids Count?

Thoughts on Food?

I love food! Probably my favourites are from places I've traveled as they are tied into memories.  Like Germknodel. 

Comfort food?

Starch...since we try to stay away from it. So like potatoes and chips (French fries). I get my fill with sweet potato mash and sweet potato fries.

Favorite dessert? 

Germknodel. It's a traditional dessert to eat served at the mountain lodges where you go skiing in the alps during winter time. 

Favorite ice cream?

Gelato in Italy...any flavour! 

Candy?

Dark Chocolate!

Favorite book/s? 

I love Earnest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast followed by a Sun Also Rises. I also love Tolkien's LOTR and the Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, and recently reading the Game of Thrones series. But I could equally read a travel book and be happy. 

What kind of music do you listen to?

Oh all kinds...really almost anything. Depends on my mood. Usually not country though. 

Favorite TV show?

I have quite a few. Some shows I currently love that are in their last season :( are: Burn Notice, Breaking Bad, and Dexter.

And lastly.....

5 items you can't live without!

My camera, may laptop, my glasses, coconut oil, and a good book! 

I had so much fun getting to know Bonnie and I'm so glad I got partnered with her. I hope we get to continue to keep in touch. Love you Bonnie! Check out her blog. She is amazing. :-)