Mail

Impact of Mail

The Impact of Mail

Little effort to create happiness.

We communicate via phone, email, text message or whatsapp.

All of this is great but in my oppinion "going back to the basics"

in long distance relationships can be a real highlight for your

special someone. Sending mail - no matter what kind of mail -

always shows the effort and thought that you put in the gesture.
Using the internet and phone for the daily communication is great:

cheap, fast and efficient.
Receiving mail is a suprise - or not if you are a blabbing mouth like I am...

and who doesn't like (good) surprises.

I try to send a postcard every now and then, a few times a month.

They arrive on the next day, which is very lucky. I made other experiences (e.g. US - Switzerland), where mail regularly gets lost or takes forever.
But try it out!!

Postcard, letter, package. There are so many possibilites.
And yes...we are all happy about someone else showing us that we are worth going the extra mile! :)

top of the page

Postcards from all over the world

Sharing your experiences

top of the page

I think that postcards are a great medium: easy, cheap and quick.
How nice is it to be at home working or going to school and getting

surprise mail from somehwhere far away - or maybe not that far away, but

still somewhere exciting (I recently received a postcard from Athens, Greece,

which I thought was pretty amazing).
A postcard costs a few cents, the stamp usually a bit more and they are
easy to find at every corner in a big city or holiday resort.

Yes, we all know that trips are stressful - no matter if business trips or city
trips with friends. There is so much to do, to see and to experience.
Nevertheless I always make sure that I send a postcard to my special
someone.
Most of the time I only scribble a few words on the card, but he appreciates
the thought. And why not only state a fun fact or share a fun story that
happened that day?

And as it is not always easy to communicate in foreign languages,
I looked for the translations of "postcard" and "stamp" in some of
the most important languages in Western Europe, and the US and
Australia (no offense to the other languages but these were the easiest
to find out :P).

Postcard:

German - Postkarte
French - carte postale

Italian - cartolina
Spanish - tarjeta postal

Portuguese - cartao postal
Swedish - vykort

Stamp:
German - Briefmarke

French - timbre

Italian - francobollo

Spanish - sello
Portuguese - selo
Swedish - frimärke

Santa's Cookie Express

Send sweets to your special someone.

top of the page

Maybe you and your special someone can't share the pre-holiday time.
This is the case for me. Nevertheless I want him to get in a christmas
mood and somehow be around without really being around.
I decided that a good way to achieve this is mailing christmas cookies.
Next to you showing a lot of effort and care, you can enjoy the
cookies as well...Yay a win-win situation!

My process was the following:

Find out what your special someone's favorite cookies are
Bake them (along with some of your favorites.
They might be new for him/her)
Choose a nice box where to put the cookies
Seperate the layers in the box with parchment paper.
It's the best way to make them last long.
Write a nice Christmas card explaining what kind of
cookies you are sending
Put the box in a package and try to fill out all the empty
space surrounding the box with newspaper.
Annnnd send!

If you are too lazy to make the cookies buy yourself, either ask
your mom or buy some at the store ;)

A Postcard a week!

Sending thoughts on a weekly basis

top of the page

I love getting mail - not bills, but the "good kind". Letters and postcards.
They show that someone has taken his/her precious time to send me something.
It doesn't have to be big. In essence it is the thought that counts.
Plus it's something that you can look forward too!

This year I have the goal to send my special someone a postcard a week.
It sounds like quite a bit of work, but it isn't. You go to the store, select some
postcards and buy some stamps and you're set for the start.

I recommend writing his/her adress on the postcards and putting a stamp on them
already so you decrease the weekly work.
Now set yourself a reminder for a specific day every week, when you want to
send it. Check if their is a mailbox or postoffice anywhere soon your office/school.
I bet there is one.

And off the postcards go!

Why am I sending a postcard a week?

It is unique. There where not millions of people who did that before you in your special someone's life
It has a great impact and is effortless
I love to reread stuff that he writes to me (good stuff) - that is easy with a postcard
He's happy when he gets a postcard. And when he is happy - I am happy
Some thoughts are to be written by hand and not by message. It has a different value
He expresses his appreciation of my "work". A little thanks never hurts.

I even thought of a hashtag for this idea - yeah i know so web 2.0, generation Y. True but still fun:

I INVITE YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ACTIVITY "#apostcardaweek"

Sending a book

Share thoughts and your current reading.

top of the page

If you like to read, like I do, you surely discover some great books or articles in
magazines or newspapers.
I always share the most interesting facts or plots with my special
someone over skype.

But it's not the same than sharing the actual content. So what I
recently thought of was just borrowing a great book to your significant other
when you have finished reading. Depending on how often you see your special someone,
you could either give it to him/her yourself or simply mail it.
Usually books are not not very heavy on one side and book sendings
are rather cheap on the other side.

This way you can talk about the content of the book and share interesting
thoughts. And who says long distance relationships are only about
skype, and virtual communication tools. Let's go a little old school :)

Additionally you can share literature in your language, which might be hard
to get for your partner who lives in a different country.

What do you think about sending a book?