WITH the economic global downturn and A (H1N1) outbreak, travelling is something that many of us could only dream of. Apart from armchair travelling via the television and Internet, travelling is something that is out of reach for cash-strapped teenagers.
Student Tiong Cher Minn however refuses to give up on exploring new places and different cultures. She has found another way to travel the world with just RM1.50, by exchanging postcards, or postcrossing to be exact.
“A friendof mine introduced postcrossing to me. I thought it would be nice to send and receive postcards to and from different people in all parts of the world,” shares the 15-year-old who has been postcrossing for seven months now.
Postcrossing is a programme which allows its members to send and receive postcards from random people all over the world. When a user requests an address, the website randomly picks an address for the user to send a postcard to, along with an ID number. The user then has to send a postcard to the given address with the given ID number written on the postcard. When the postcard is registered by the recipient, then the user would receive a postcard from a different postcrosser. In short, postcards are swapped.
Since she joined the postcrossing community, Cher Minn has received postcards from China, Russia, The Netherlands and Finland.
“Postcrossing is more than just a hobby to me. Through postcrossing, I get to learn about all sorts of cultures, languages and places from different countries, all within the comfort of my home,” adds Cher Minn.
''Another postcrossing member, 17- year-old Celia Wong joined the fun on a friend’recommendation.
“My friend told me that I could send and receive postcards from people all over the world. I thought it would be an exciting thing to do,” reveals Celia who has been a Postcrossing member for two months.
Like Cher Minn, Celia has also received postcards from many different countries.
“Postcrossing is very interesting as I can learn more about the
places I have never been to. It also gives me the chance to send and receive postcards from countries I have never heard of and will probably never get the chance to visit like Estonia and Lithuania,” shares Celia.
Postcrossing has a large database of almost 200,000 members from 195 countries, and the numbers are still increasing day by day. Since the programme’s inception three years ago, more than two million postcards have been exchanged between its members.
In fact, in some countries, postcrossing is so popular that gatherings are held for members to share and discuss their experiences. Some members even plan their holiday trips based on the postcards they have received.
If you are not going to get the chance to travel in the near future, why not try postcrossing as a temporary tool to ‘travel’? True, it may not be as satisfying as real travelling but you might be surprised with what you might gain from postcrossing.
“I will definitely continue to postcross in the future. I have learnt a lot, and postcards are nice surprises in mailboxes,” says Celia.''
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