Postcards of Italy

Susan -- RELAX --- enjoy your trip. That is why they have sidewalk cafes. Enjoy an expresso, absorb the atmosphere, write a few cards.

It might be easier and cheaper to mail them before you leave. The Italian Post office is not that reliable, and it may take a long time for the cards to get back to the U.S.

Of course, there is the small problem of what you are going to write, but perhaps that is not the point.

I agree with Frank, RELAX. You will enjoy Italy much more if you slow down. Write your postcards while sitting at a piazza or at the end of the day when you can describe how you spent your day. If writing postcards is too much of a hassle than don't send any.

If you are taking any trains that would be a good time to use to write your postcards. Depending on what cities you will be traveling between there could be a few hours you have to do it.

Hi Susan, We always make a preprinted mail labels of the people we want to send cards too. It saves on taking time to write the addresses out on the cards while traveling. If you can't make preprinted labels with your computer of you address list, buy labels and write them out ahead of time. I find it a great way to make sure I don't foget anyone I wanted to mail a card to. You dont have to think of something creative to write on each card, compose what you want to say and you can write basically the same thing on each unless you are sending them from different location. I ususally write them on a train or while relaxing for a 1/2 hour at some fun locaation. One time I got a card from a friend who bought her cards overseas, but mailed them after she got home to save on postage. I thought it was strange to see CT postmark until I realized why she did it.

Ok, I'll just relax and write my cards out while sipping an espresso at a cafe in St Marks Square, and I'll prewrite the address labels as advised. But I'd still like to purchase a few leftover cards if anyone has some of Venice, CT or Florence, that way I know they'll get home before I do! Thanks again!

Susan,
Another suggestion...buy the postcard there. Wait and write/mail them back home. Share with the lucky recipient a memory represented by the postcard. This way you can share your trip with them. They'll understand you were gathering memories instead of corresponding.
We're going in October (soooo far away!) and I'm going to try and do this so I can take the advice of others. Stop and sip the espresso, so to speak.

Postcards from Italy arrive in the US fairly quickly if you use the slightly higher postage rate that guarantees airmail. I don't know how much it is now, but we sent a bunch of postcards at the lower rate first, then followed with a second wave to the same group of friends using airmail, and the second wave arrived before the first.

We also used email at an internet cafe to send "Eat your heart out" emails to some friends. :-)

You people are great! We'll be using a few of your ideas, airmail for quicker delivery and making memories to share with special friends back home. Most of all you're right of course about slowing down and soaking up the beauty of what we are about see! Thanks again!

I mailed several postcards to my family from Rome, the Vatican, and Florence (you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a post office box in Florence!). Sure it cost a bit, but getting the postmarks was fun.

I beat all but two of the postcards home. Didn't matter. It was fun to see which ones would show up first. Florence won. I wrote my cards whenever I had time to kill, before bed/napping or on the train mostly. I wrote one set of postcards while at the Bapistry in Florence. They don't take long to do, especially if you have an idea of what you want to say. I started by listing the gelato flavors I had tried to date!

I also sent emails to my family. The internet cafe I found had ports for memory cards, so I was able to send off a few of my favorite pictures as well.

I have never arrived home prior to the post cards! Usually they arrive within a week of mailing. Just be sure and get real stamps at a tabachi shop, and mail them in a real post box!

I love sitting at a sidewalk cafe or bar and sip a local drink while writing.

I also do the pre-printed labels. The typed label is easier for the Italian post office to read therefore speeds up the delivery.

One other thing- be sure and use a "sharpie" type pen so it won't smear if it gets wet!