When you’re on the road one of things that you’re going to have to do is keep in touch with family back home. Your friends will want to know where you are and your family will want to know that you’re safe. It’s one thing to setup a travel blog or send out mass emails to people but it’s quite another to kick it old school and send a postcard.

Before you leave on your trip buy and old, cheap, two dollar address book and fill it with addresses of your friends and family back home. Now all you need is some paper or a few postcards and you’re all set.

When was the last time you received a “Wish You Were Here” postcard from someone? These days the only time I check my mail is to clear out the fliers and collect the bills. I can’t even recall the last time I got a postcard or an actual letter from someone.

Sending letters is a great way to keep journals as well. Perhaps you’re not the type of person to keep a journal of your exploits but in a few years time you’d wish you had. Instead of keeping a journal send letters to friends back home from different legs of your trip and ask that they keep them for you. You’ll laugh as you recall how miserable you were in Mexico City when you got sick or how wonderful that family was when you got lost in Belize City.

Postcards are limited in size so if you’re not into writing a few pages in a letter then fire off some postcards. I always load up on postcards and send them to my nieces, nephews and my friends kids. They LOVE them. One of my friends kids brought his postcards from Guatemala in for show and tell one day like it was some sort of historical form of communication.

Lastly, you’ll find it therapeutic to sit on the beach, sip a cold beer and write a few letters and postcards to send back home. Your writing might be shot and your hand might crimp up because you’re so used to using a keyboard but you’ll enjoy it nonetheless. In this age of digital communication there’s something wonderfully acoustic about sharpening your pencil with a swiss army knife and jotting down a few musings from the road.