jaspertl

Can you tell me the price of a postacard stamp and will they availble at the hotels or do I need to go to a postoffice? and how long do you think it will take to get back to the U.S?

I always hate it when we beat the postcard home!!

4 days.......

lcuy

Which country???

Bob found a fabulous web-site that lets you create postcards on line using your travel photos. You make it with their easy templates for your photos and text, then the company will print it, put on a the postage and mail it out (from a US location) to your friends. It will get there before you do.

I've lost the name, so...Bob?

dogster

jasper... jasper... jasper... deep breathing. Four more sleeps. Calm. Focus. You're going on a lovely big trip to amazing places, different cultures, fabulous scenes.

The price of a postcard stamp is supremely unimportant in the scheme of things. If you go with a narrow focus, if you stress about the tiniest of tiny details, then that is all you will see.

Change channels, jasper, think BIG not small. Here is your great opportunity. Don't sweat on the little things, eh? Just for me? Four more days and you'll be on the way and none of this will matter.

Deep breathing...

jaspertl

dogster dogster dogster...absolutely no stress here....lots of excitment but not stressed in the least. I just love thinking about all the little things that lead up to a trip. All the big stuff has already been worked out....

85% anticipation 15% recollection!

that being said....I want to make sure that I get those postcards out or I have a host of disappointed family and friends who don't have the opportunity to travel, and do it vicariously through us.

If I have to spend my time looking for a stamp or think that's it's going to be delivered a 5 weels from now, I won't bother.


ICUY! Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and China.
sounds like a fab idea but I don't travel with a laptop....

Hanuman

jaspertl,

For Thailand postage rate try this web site: http://www.thailandpost.com/newweb/index_en.asp

For first class airmail to the USA it usually takes from 5 - 10 days.

lcuy

Cambodian mail takes forever.

Mango7

Insist that the stamp has two elephants on it: A mother elephant and its baby. Also be damned sure they are not African elephants (larger ears are the tip off) or face being scammed.

WhatAreYouWaitingFor

Last spring we mailed cards from Laos. They arrived long after we had given up hope - maybe three months later!

Where were they all that time...?

Hanuman

Whatareyou...,

Did you send it "air mail"? A common mistake is just to hand over the postcard to the mail clerk or you hotel and only ask how much without instructing them to mail it first class air mail. In your case it sounds like they sent it by surface mail!

dogster

Lol jasper, jasper, jasper! Good. Now I know you're not stressed I'll relax and enjoy your trip. Heh.

Cicerone

In most hotels, you will find postcards in the room, but you may not want to use them to send to friends as they will be hotel postcards; you will of course find postcards for sale in many many other places on your travels with local sights on them. In most hotels, the front desk will mail postcards for you. In many cities, like Hong Kong and Bangkok, you can buy stamps from a machine at post offices which are located throughout the city, so you don’t need to wait in line at the post offices, you may need coins for this. Otherwise, you may enjoy the experience of going to a Post Office in smaller towns, like in Laos. (In Switzerland for example, one takes a number and sits down and is called to the counter, no standing in a line holding packages; extremely civilized, as you would expect.)

http://www.hongkongpost.com/

jaspertl

mango! is that for real or are you pulling my leg??? they have counterfit stamps with 1 african elephant ?????

Cicerone: you make finding and buying a stamp sound like an adventure! I'll check it out!

Doggie dogster...you are one of my favorite posters. you always make me laugh~!

Hanuaman: first class air mail. I'll be specific! Thanks for
that...!

Cicerone

Post offices are not quite as interesting as say, Indian train stations, but they can be good people-watching. You can learn a lot about local customs by watching what happens. (The Swiss are orderly for example, the British very polite.) Some places, like Singapore’s old main post office (now the Fullerton hotel) are gorgeous. It had black marble floors and had a big atrium and was always cool and dark and was so nice to come into from the hot and humid streets. Part of it is now the hotel lobby.

In the olden days (you know, 15 years ago), when people wrote letters and not e-mails, if you were travelling with no fixed address, your friends could write to you at any post office in the world by putting your name, “Post Restante” and the name of the city. You could then go to the main post office, show a passport and collect your mail. It was usually those thin blue airmail letters. You would meet up with old and new friends at the Post Restante window. You can still use Post Restante as far as I know, I just don’t think anyone does because no one writes letters. Try sending yourself a letter to Hong Kong Post Restante and see if it shows up…

erikadid

Hello, everyone! I'm new to Hanoi and I wanted to send off a few postcards to the USA, UK, Iceland and Australia. I bought my cards and stamps from a street vendor and now that I'm back home I'm having a hard time figuring out which stamps go on the cards to the US and which go on the cards for Europe and Australia. And unfortunately for me there are multiple combinations due to the destinations and three types of stamps he gave me.

I *think* he suggested that it's 22,000 VND for Europe and Australia and only 10,500 VND for the US. I can only find postcard postage rates online for 2008-2011 and they all seem to vary greatly. Can anyone help me untangle this mixup?

Thanks!
Erika