Here are the postcards!

I’ve been collecting postcards since 2008. Since then, I’ve sent and received over 1800 postcards from all over the US and dozens of countries. I respond to every postcard I receive, so I’m always open for private swaps.

My origin story: Back when I was a young boy, I got the idea to write a letter to several world leaders, but I only ever ended up writing the US president and the Queen of England. I was so tickled to receive responses from President Bush and then Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II! Well, they weren’t directly from the world leaders, but rather from their staff members. President Bush sent me an autographed photograph (which I lost later in a show-and-tell accident).

One of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting sent me a very detailed letter, typed on Buckingham Palace stationery, answering all of my questions about the Queen’s horses and her corgis and her favorite foods. I marveled at the strangely-sized paper, the texture of the embossed coat of arms centered at the top of the page, and the stamps on the envelope. A real person had spent time reading my letter, responding to it, folding it and placing it in an envelope, and then more real human beings had taken the time and effort to transport it from London to some mail distribution center, to an airport in England, to an airport in the US, and back through the various USPS chains until it arrived in a plastic mailbox at the foot of my driveway in southeast Michigan.

I’m still fascinated by this process today, and all for less than the price of some chocolate! So I maintain correspondence with about a dozen penpals across the world, and send and receive postcards. At last count, I have a little under 2,000 postcards that I’ve received. Keep scrolling to see the most recent postcards that have arrived in my mailbox.

Kristopher Geda Kristopher Geda

meeting in the middle (Colorado)

This is the California Zephyr train 5 and 6 crossing each other in the opposite direction! Michael and Kimee are the most dedicated to public transit-people I know! As part of this, they took the Amtrak to Colorado and back and have lots of stories to tell!

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Kristopher Geda Kristopher Geda

Ballarat (Australia)

The sender of this postcard lives in Ballarat and although we're in the summer here, of course it's winter there. I feel bad but this city has 120,000 people (perhaps incongruous with the images on the postcard) but I've never heard of it! It's only 1 hour outside of Melbourne.

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Kristopher Geda Kristopher Geda

the land of Oz (Colorado)

No justification was needed whatsoever to get this great postcard, but Kimee and Michael offered one anyway: “Just climbing stairs at altitude feels like going over the rainbow.”

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Kristopher Geda Kristopher Geda

Sacred Rock of Acropolis (Greece)

Dominique a voyagé en Grèce, Athènes et il m’a envoyé cette carte postale. À première vue, je n’ai rien noté de special, mais maintenant en la révoyant, je vois que c’est une réprésentation des anciens bâtiments dans leur époque!

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Kristopher Geda Kristopher Geda

Pullman Car (Colorado)

Everyone should look up the Pullman Cars; what a sophisticated way to travel (for those who were permitted to do so, of course)! Thanks to Kimee and Michael for this great card from a stop over in Breckenridge.

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Kristopher Geda Kristopher Geda

Café Campagne (New York)

What a lovely embedded postcard! This is from the Café Campagne in Pike Place Market (Seattle) sent from New York City by our friend's mother. It emulates a French café, too!

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More to come from the past…