u/toos_

The New York Times has two articles about snail mail this morning! If you don’t have a paid subscription you can sign up for a free one that lets you read a few free articles every month.

The first is from today’s “Newsletter: The Morning” and is called “Slow Motion”. It includes a link to the main article (or you can search it directly) titled “The Very Online Push for Snail Mail”

🐌 💝 📬

ETA: thanks to u/RitaAlbertson for the reminder! Lots of public libraries have subscriptions that you can use from home or onsite!

I see lots of official WPD postcards and others with beautiful homemade WPD designs (I’d be no good at that all). Is it fine to send postcards that are from your regular collection? Should you write about WPD or is being postmarked on OCT 1 enough? I ask because I have two regular cards ready to go but they don’t mention WPD - they’re from sub-reddits. I’ll pull two more addresses from postcrossing tomorrow.

Thank you u/mrpostman414! Your postcard to me - my first - got me choked up. Being a beautiful maxi, including stamp math, and having a Pittsburgh postmark (my hometown and, I’m assuming you know, closely connected with the theme) was just a start. You knew from your thread that I was from Pittsburgh, but I don’t think you knew that I love trains, planes, and other marvels of engineering.

What you never could have guessed is that my grandmother lived a five minute drive from Louise Thaden who is featured in the blurb on my card. MY Card! Not only that, but my grandmother was an activist - one of her causes was advocating for women’s empowerment and progress. Louise Thaden lobbied specifically for women’s equality in aviation and the two crossed paths in those civic circles. It’s crazy. I mean, really, I might as well retire from the whole mail world - this is the pinnacle!

Hi everyone, I know that lots of people participate in multiple mail subs and I’m wondering if there are rules or standard practice for details to include on your outgoing mail. For example, I joined postcrossing and you have to include an ID number on the cards you send so the recipient can register it to acknowledge receipt. Obviously, there aren’t ID numbers at the Reddit subs - how do you let your recipient know what’s going on? I just sent a card to someone and included my Reddit name and the sub where we connected. Is that sufficient, unnecessary, should I include the thread name, none of the above? Overthinking is one of my strengths 🤪

ETA - thank you for the replies! I think I’ll stick with my user name and sub like most of you are suggesting. I do like some of the additional info some of you include, though - maybe someday that’ll be me!

Hi everyone, I know that lots of people participate in multiple mail subs and I’m wondering if there are rules or standard practice for details to include on your outgoing mail. For example, I joined postcrossing and you have to include an ID number on the cards you send so the recipient can register it to acknowledge receipt. Obviously, there aren’t ID numbers at the Reddit subs - how do you let your recipient know what’s going on? I just sent a card to someone and included my Reddit name and the sub where we connected. Is that sufficient, unnecessary, should I include the thread name, none of the above? Overthinking is one of my strengths 🤪

ETA - thanks for all the responses! I’ll put my Reddit name and sub name. :-)

Hi all, my spouse is committed to grilling as much as we can for the next month or so. We use propane, not charcoal :-(

Which of Nagi’s barbecue recipes are your favorites? We eat chicken, beef, pork, and lamb (probably in that order in terms of frequency). We both love lamb and would it eat more, but it’s hit or miss if it’s available. Ok, I’m going to check how full the tank is while you share your favorites! :-)

That’s pretty much it lol. I sent my first card (posted it last week - a big crowd of birds) and got my Hooray! today! Said it traveled 1,309 miles from Iceland (traveling) to The Netherlands in 8 days - but really it was 6 because I dropped it in the box the afternoon of the next day. Can’t wait to get home and pull my second address - and flip back into Active mode 🙂

Lindu BUFF!?

I liked chocolate with licorice before I came here - actually thought I’d created the combo ;-p so I get why people who haven’t had it would love this new experience.

Chocolate with rice, wafers and chocolate - all the favorites: Hraun, Þristur, Rís, Kropp, Bingo, etc. These get all the love. What about Lindu BUFF!? It’s so crappy-good. What gives?

ETA - what I mean is that Lindu BUFF are sooo good but no one ever talks about them. More for me! :-D

Hi everyone! I just registered at postcrossing and have a couple questions I think you can help me with.

1. I read in other threads here that most people send their cards out within a day or two. I don’t have a stash yet and also wonder what if I’m sending a handmade card - or I want to find a card that fits my postcrosser’s preferences? Does the person know that you waited? Do you get a bad reputation on the forum/website if you take a week (for example) to send your card?

2. Is using a standard international stamp frowned upon? I see so many cards with lots of stamps on them.

I’ve been reading and ogling for the past couple of days and this seems like a really supportive sub with some really great looking cards. I’m looking forward to getting started!

It set the bar too high. I’ve traveled a lot and have gotten something good out of all of it even if there were some downsides. Now I’m in a different country (not New Zealand) that people rave about - including an emphasis on natural beauty. I’ve seen gorgeous pics of this place at Reddit and elsewhere - and some wow-worthy sites and walks while I’m here. But I’m not feeling it yet - even the wow-worthy spots. My appreciation is almost more because I recognize beauty - not that I’m immersed in it.

Who knows what it would be like to live in NZ, but as a visitor it was sublime and all sorts of other superlatives. The people, cultural quirks, little villages, clean public restrooms, natural beauty, hiking, roads (I know you warn about them, but to us they were great or fine), even when we just didn’t feel like going out in the cold rain at Arthur’s Pass one day - we were still so happy to be there. The whole vibe. I’ve been thinking about NZ more than where I am and that has never happened before. Miss you!

ETA - I edited the first paragraph to make it more clear for people who thought I was dissing New Zealand. Never - the intent was to emphasize how much I loved New Zealand.

Hi all, do any of you have experience or advice about hiking to Hengifoss via Litlanesfoss in the rain (or just after)? I hate, hate, hate gravel and am worried about the narrow bits too. Can any of you estimate how narrow the path and buffer to the edge (if any) gets?

I’m interested in your impressions overall - not just focused on someone with anxiety. It’s just heightened right now because I fell walking down a narrow gravel slope at Stórurð the other day and sort of rolled. Maybe I’m wrong, but it felt like the path was a meter or so wide there and had barely (no) any buffer. I’m just a day hiker - no through hikes. The rest of the walk was great - highly recommend it if you get the chance!

Hi all, do any of you have experience or advice about hiking to Hengifoss via Litlanesfoss in the rain (or just after)? I hate, hate, hate gravel and am worried about the narrow bits too. I’m interested in your impressions overall - not just focused on someone with anxiety.

Hi all, we’ll be staying at cottages and such for a week at a time when we’re in Iceland this August and September. I know some Airbnb-type places just have you leave the trash inside and they take care of it after you check out. That’s fine for a couple nights, but not if you’re there a week and cooking at home. Do any of you have experience as private-stay guests or hosts in Iceland? Is it more typical to have outside bins, take it to central dumpsters, or something else? Also, what about recycling? I’m not stressing over it - it’s more a matter of curiosity.

Hi all, I have a two-month trip to Iceland coming up and am wondering if any of you have ideas or use techniques that would enhance my travel journaling style. This is cross-posted at r/travel and r/journaling so some of it might be irrelevant to one or the other. My search of both subs didn’t come up with what I’m looking for.

Important to know upfront: I won’t be bringing any supplies besides a pen, highlighter, and notebook – no sketching, no saving space for ephemera and photos – just text that’s written while we’re away.

My format and style have changed over the years, but here’s an idea of what I’m doing currently. Believe it or not, I’m really trying to edit myself – if you want to incorporate anything like this into your own travel journal, I’m happy to share more details.

SETUP

Map, Code (what margin symbols mean), Index, cross-referencing (like in a commonplace book – helps a lot if I get behind or pop a special section in), some page layouts

PRACTICAL

Flights, lodging, apps, research sources (including helpful Redditors!), packing list (mark what we used or didn’t need, and what we needed but didn’t pack)

JOURNALING

The first actual journaling touches on trip planning – how/when we got the inspiration, how planning went, what was going on in our lives during that time (like my husband had an injury and we’ll find out tomorrow if we need to delay this trip). Then, besides daily journaling I also include some more specific spreads. For example, a list of foods to try or animals we hope to see – if we do, then I check it off and note the daily page where I write about the experience.

EPHEMERA ALTERNATIVE

I keep ephemera and make notes on postcards while we’re away. After we’re home I put it all on a couple ring binders and call it a day. Love to reminisce this way - plus it’s more interesting and tactile for friends to leaf through and spark conversation without sharing private stuff from the journal.

As fun as more artsy/junk journal/sketch travel journals used to be for me, I’m finding that this approach – keeping a practical/diary-style journal and a separate bunch of ephemera is “just right”. It’s personal, useful (refining packing list), and a terrific reference to help people with their travel planning.

If you made it this far, after reading my own post I “think” I’m mostly looking for your ideas about the Practical and Journaling sections – but bring on whatever you’ve got!

I swear the only sounds I used to hear on this game were the click and swoosh of the items. Today I’m noticing a background soundtrack. I’d love to turn it off but I don’t see a settings menu.

Hi everyone, Please let me know if this isn't the place for this kind of question...

I’m looking for some extra-savory main dishes to cook for dinner. By extra-savory I mean things like sausage stew or Peruvian chicken - as opposed to dishes like butter chicken or teriyaki that have a sweetness to them.

We don’t eat fish or seafood - but we do eat chicken, beef, pork, lamb, and beans/vegetarian.

We cook a lot of stews and one pot/pan meals but also grill and bake. Love leftovers and/or meals that freeze well!

I cant think of any cultures whose food we’ve tasted but don’t like.

Can any of you recommend recipes you’ve enjoyed that fit that description? Links to the actual recipe would be great.

Hi everyone, Please let me know if this isn't the place for this kind of question...

I’m looking for some extra-savory main dishes to cook for dinner. By extra-savory I mean things like sausage stew or Peruvian chicken - as opposed to dishes like butter chicken or teriyaki that have a sweetness to them.

We don’t eat fish or seafood - but we do eat chicken, beef, pork, lamb, and beans/vegetarian.

We cook a lot of stews and one pot/pan meals but also grill and bake. Love leftovers and/or meals that freeze well!

I cant think of any cultures whose food we’ve tasted but don’t like.

Can any of you recommend recipes you’ve enjoyed that fit that description? Links to the actual recipe would be great.

Hi everyone, I'm interested to know if/how you would reallocate time spent at the eight different locations on our itinerary. Only the following eight locations please, as we can be somewhat flexible with days but not with adding or changing bases to stay.

We'll be arriving in Iceland this August, staying for two months, and departing at the end of September. Currently, we're booked for a week at each of the following areas (in this order):

Egilsstaðir

Hornafjörður

Dímonarvegur

Reykjavík

Nýjabúð, Naust

Patreksfjörður

Ríp

Aðaldalsvegur

Part of the reason we're considering some changes is due to reading about the south/southwest being extremely over-touristed and sensing that, besides Reykjavik, there are comparable sites elsewhere in the country that could fill our cups.

In case this makes a difference for your recommendations, we're a well-traveled couple in our 50s who are looking forward to the waterfalls, geysers, lava fields, hiking, seeing the flora/fauna, and soaking up the spectacular landscapes - but not so interested in soaking in lagoons, geothermal pools, and hot springs.

Thanks everyone - I'm looking forward to reading your feedback!