Postcrossing 2014 Statistics

Even if I started my Postcrossing activity in the middle of the passed year I still got some interesting statistics.

"In 2014 your mailbox was happy 45 days!"
Postcards sent           82
Postcards received    76

Number of postcards sent to
16 - Germany
10 - USA
9 - Russia
6 - The Netherlands
5 - China
3 - Belarus & Canada
2 - Czech Republic, France, Japan & Taiwan
1 - Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine & United Kingdom

Number of postcards received from
16 - Russia
13 - Germany
7 - The Netherlands & USA
4 - Japan
3 - Belgium, Finland, Poland & Singapore
2 - China, Taiwan & Ukraine
1 - Belarus, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Turkey & UK

Compared to non-official (forum) sent/received cards, this number is about 5 times less.
On the other hand, the big players such as Russia, Germany or USA are on top which is not a surprise.
The most exotic card received was this one (Mauritius).
Other interesting statistics you can find here.

Happy Postcrossing in 2015 !!!

online postcard books

Never ordered online before from other countries. But since The Book Depository had some -49% off and offers free shipping worldwide, I took the chance and ordered 3 postcard books on 4th of September. Two of them arrived this morning. 

Bad part about any postcard book: you cannot choose what cards to buy (separately) and therefore you will get some crappy pictures as well. But those were really cheap and non-touristy. I don't mind. The majority will be send in RR groups to people with this kind of interest.

Always there is hope

This is a post for especially Postcrossers newbies. I know it's frustrating to wait weeks and months for your card to arrive, especially to Russia or China. But never ever lose hope. Want a reason? My VERY FIRST postcard sent to Russia 68 days ago arrived & got registered today. I am really glad.

gift pack from Austrian & Lufthansa

Today begun just outstanding. I received a 24 cards package with airliners cards from Austrian & Lufthansa. I am just out-of-this-world happy and excited. They were kind enough to write me something, too. The text translation: "Thank you very much for your inquiry. We send you couple postcards from Austrian Airlines & Lufthansa. We hope you will like them! We await you on our airplanes. All the best, Lufthansa Group team."

Yes, I like them VERY much.

Thank you !!!

First Official Card

 

Today was a big surprise.  
My first official card arrived, after traveling 9 days from US, as well.

It's a reproduction of a vintage card, one of many 1950 style, covering American States. Even the paper feels like a vintage one, although is linen brand new.
There are states symbol all over it.
Firstly, in the upper left corner there is the California poppy (Eschscholzia Californica). This was designated the state flower of California in 1903. It is also known under different names such as "the flame flower", "la amapola" or "copa de oro" (cup of gold)., The flower grows wild throughout California and native Indians valued it as a food source and for the oil extracted from the plant. Every year, April 6 is California Poppy Day and May 13th - 18th is Poppy Week.
The lower right corner is taken by the California State Capitol build in Neoclassical style and home of the State Government .
All letters that form CALIFORNIA host something representative for this state.
The well know are the Golden Gate Bridge (first A) and The Chandelier Tree (last I). For the others letters I have some difficulties identifying the symbols exactly. Here is a better resolution picture and perhaps someone will be kind enough to help.

On the backside there were two other surprises (beside the text from the sender): a beautiful round forever stamp and a QR code with a California Sunset small movie. I love scanning QR codes, even this practice is not so popular among forum users.
The stamp was issued in 22 April 2014 and features a visual representation of our planet’s sea surface temperature, with North America continent in the center. Very beautiful and educational.

Thanks for all, Jacqueline!

Country: United States
Description: Reproduction of a Vintage Postcard
Photo: DavidAllensCardCollection.com #1004

My very first card

When you're starting to use postcrossing you get anxious to receive new mail, as a sign that everything is as it's promised to be. I didn't knew that in order to receive a postcard, my own had to arrive & be registered first. So, those days when my mailbox was forever empty were quite grey.

Fortunately, since I've begun to activate in the forum too, a user was kind enough to request my postal address via U2U in order to send me a welcome postcard. I gladly gave him my address but I was rather skeptical about receiving anything.

But reality turned to be contrary. Today in may mailbox was... something. A colorful postcard with Kentucky hot air balloons race. The first Great Balloon Race was held at Iroquois Park in 1973, and featured only seven balloons. However, the Great Balloon Race quickly became one of the most popular Kentucky Derby Festival events, and what was once just the Great Balloon Race is now an entire weekend festival of hot air ballooning events.
The two forever stamps are a part of the 10 Songbirds Collection issued in April 2014 to celebrate those ten melodic voices and depicts a western meadowlark and the Baltimore oriole. Finally, the small stamp features a portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, being issued in April 2011.


This beautiful card gives me the courage to continue on PostCrossing.
Thank you, Ron.

Country: United States
Description: The annual Derby Day Balloon Race in Louisville, Kentucky.
Photo: Courtesy of Kentucky Department of Travel Development.
Location: here.

First card found its shelter

The first card that reached its destination was this one, traveling 11 days over the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of the very first 5 that I send. I was glad that the winter scenery was a delight to receiver.

The beginning...

As always, there should be a beginning. 

Mine was not so spectacular. I found out about postcrossing project following a link posted on EuroBillTracker links page. Obviously, it was love at first sight. Well, not quite "first sight" because 10 years ago I was also starting my own project collecting Orthodox Postcards.

So, I was a little familiar with what postcards collecting is all about. But the idea "send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person in the world" fitted me like a glove.

So I signed up, filled my profile and I started to send...