Postcard Collecting Builds Memories And Dreams When we go on vacation, most of us can't resist picking up a few postcards to remind us of our adventures long after the trip is over. Although we also usually take a camera along on our trips, we may not have the opportunity or photographic skill to catch that beautiful sunset off the Jamaican coast in all its glory. Postcards allow us to capture that memory in a little card and bring it home. Our friends may send us postcards from their travels, allowing us to savor the photo from our armchair vantage point. Just as we all have family photo albums, postcard collecting is a fun and inexpensive hobby that lets us remember the good times, share our memories and dream of future trips to exotic places. Postcard collecting can start at any time of life. Vacations with the kids to Disneyworld, a honeymoon trip to Paris or a business trip to New York all provide an opportunity to add to your postcard album collection. When you buy postcards to send back home, pick up some duplicates to keep for your own postcard collecting album. Kids love these keepsakes, which are fun to share with friends at a sleepover or just a rainy day activity. A bunch of kids can pore over their collections for hours, reliving those fun moments in imagination. As the adage goes, a picture is indeed, worth a thousand words. Pictures stimulate memories and details we might otherwise forget over time. Once you start collecting postcards in their own special album, you'll soon see the opportunity to add to the personal value of your collection with journal type entries that accompany each postcard. What did you do the day you visited Notre Dame? What were your impressions of the surrounding streets, sights and people? These little details are so easily forgotten years from now. How about that journey to the Grand Canyon, or the Badlands in the Dakotas? These famous sights carry a lot of history. Make a point of recording what you learned at the visitor's center. Was the day hot and still, was there a biting wind? Did you sample the best trout you've ever eaten at dinner that night? Ironically, these are the small things that tend to fade in memory over time, yet spark recollections of just what made that trip such a happy event in our lives. Once you take up postcard collecting, you'll find it's an expandable hobby. Vacations may only come along once a year, but you may find your appetite for travel increases in disproportion to your means. Look on eBay or postcard collector's websites to find postcards of places you'd like to visit. Then, do some research on travel sites to see what you can discover about that destination. Although you may never have the opportunity to visit Pitcairn Island, you can certainly make an armchair visit. Dreams and memories are not really so far apart. Summary Postcard collections are a great way to re-visit a location time and time again. They not only capture the most beautiful spots, but also freeze them in time. Just seeing a picture can wake up fond memories and allow you to wander down that happy road. Think your life is boring? Go through that stack of postcards and get a little dream time. Related Articles Collecting Postage Stamps Related Sites