#74: San Francisco to Malaysia

Postcard number: 74
Bought in: San Francisco, USA
Sent to: Sue in Malaysia
Written: 3 January 2017
Sent: 4 January 2017

Text says:

3 January 2017, Auckland

Dear Sue,

I found this postcard while going through a box of souvenirs and brochures from my choir tour to North America in 1998. I was still in high school then, so this is probably one of the oldest postcards I have in my collection. While I’d been to Australia as a child, this was my first Big Trip overseas, and I remember feeling so grown up sharing a hotel room with one of my friends in San Francisco.

According to the trip report I found in the same box, we only had two days here. I can’t remember everything we did, but the memories that stick are our choir performing at Grace Cathedral, riding on the trams, walking around Alcatraz and eating dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (a restaurant inspired by the movie Forrest Gump) – and trying to work out how much we should leave as a tip afterwards (as we’d never done this in New Zealand).

This was a trip that definitely made me want to travel more – and is probably in part responsible for all the country-hopping I did in my 20s!!

Wishing you a Happy New Year,
Tash

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#63: Westminster to Malaysia

Postcard number: 63
Bought in: Houses of Parliament, UK
Sent to: Ni-San in Malaysia
Written: 22 August 2013
Sent: 22 August 2013

Text says:

22 August 2013, London UK

Dear Ni-San,

Big Ben (the Elizabeth Tower at the UK Houses of Parliament) is definitely one of the most iconic London landmarks. My first fulltime job in London was in an office located a couple of streets away from here, and every day on the way to work, I’d be dodging other tourists who were trying to get the perfect photo.

Last year, my husband, daughter and I, as well as several other local residents, were taken on a tour of the Houses of Parliament by our MP. We were allowed into both the House of Commons (decorated in green) and the House of Lords (decorated in red), as well as the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft and the broom closet where suffragette Emily Davison hid on census night in 1911 so she could claim her address as being ‘the House of Commons’.

Our one-year-old got bored listening to the tour, so she and my husband waited for the rest of the tour party in the Central Lobby. While they were waiting, my daughter apparently took her first steps in that historic building – perhaps an indication that her future’s in politics!

Tash

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#59: Carlisle to Malaysia

Postcard number: 59
Bought in: Carlisle, UK
Sent to: Shaliza in Malaysia
Written: 20 August 2013
Sent: 20 August 2013

Text says:

20 August 2013, London UK

Dear Shaliza,

Greetings from Great Britain. This postcard is one I bought on a road trip to the North of England with my two friends from work in 2010. This castle was one of the highlights of our time in Carlisle (along with a great second hand bookshop).

Carlisle Castle is close to the border between England and Scotland and its history is strongly linked to the rivalry between the two nations. Mary Queen of Scots was housed there in the 1500s and the castle was a significant site of conflict during the Civil War and Jacobite Uprisings.

We stood on the castle walls and looked out to Scotland, imagining all the people who’d done the same thing from this site in the many centuries before us.

All the best,
Tash

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#40: Kilmahog to Malaysia

Postcard number: 040
Bought in: Kilmahog, Scotland
Sent to: Audrey in Malaysia
Written and sent: 25 April 2010

Text says:

25 April 2010, London UK

Dear Audrey,

Greetings from me and from Hamish, the hairy Highland ‘coo’ who you can see on the front of the postcard.  I actually met Hamish during our trip to the Scottish Highlands at the end of 2008, when our tour bus stopped off at Trossachs Woollen Mill in Kilmahog.  I was surprised by the size of Hamish – and particularly the size of his horns.  He seemed friendly enough and stood placidly as we took photos of him, but I was glad there was a fence between us!

On Christmas morning, we were at Loch Ness and some of the braver members of the tour group went for a mid-winter swim.  We didn’t see the legendary Loch Ness Monster, but our bus was held up by a flock of sheep who had wandered out onto the road.

Best wishes,
Tash

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From Sajida

I came home from work today to a whole pile of mail.  Sadly, most of it was bank statements and bills, but I smiled to see this postcard from Sajida showing Putrajaya in Malaysia.  On the back, Sajida’s written that this is the first postcard she’s sent to a friend overseas – so I feel very lucky to have received it through my door!

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#18: Ellis Island to Malaysia

Postcard number: 018
Bought in: Ellis Island, America
Sent to: Alia in Malaysia
Written and sent: 6 March 2010

Text says:

6 March 2010, London UK

Dear Alia,

Today, on a cold morning of London, I’ve been thinking about Ellis Island.  It’s a tourist attraction these days and a short ferry ride from Manhattan, New York.  But from the late 1800s to the 1950s it functioned as the entry point for millions of immigrants who wanted to move to America.  My husband and I spent half a day there in 2008, walking around the old immigration building, listening to an audio guide which described the rooms where the potential immigrants were sorted, where they were tested for various health conditions, where some were told they were to be sent home and others were reunited with their families.  Being so far away from home myself, I found the personals stories very moving – and may have even shed a tear or two…

Before heading back to the mainland, we ate pulled pork sandwiches with crisps and pickles on the picnic tables – a meal that, for me, will always be synonymous with my stays in America.

Best wishes,
Tash

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#15: Windsor Castle to Malaysia

Postcard number: 015
Bought in: Windsor, United Kingdom
Sent to: Diyana and Asilah in Malaysia
Written: 1 March 2010
Sent: 2 March 2010

Text says:

1 March 2010, London UK

Dear Diyana and Asilah,

Hello from London!  This postcard shows the Queen’s Drawing Room at Windsor Castle.  My husband and I visited this castle, the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II, at the start of 2008.  The Queen wasn’t in the castle that day – her flag wasn’t flying.  We wandered through St George’s Chapel and the rooms that were open to the general public.  Imagine having tea or entertaining friends in a room like the one shown on this postcard!  In 1992 there had been a fire in the palace and we got to see the rooms that had been restored.  We also saw where the famous monarch, Henry VIII, had been buried so many centuries before.  I’ve read so many novels about British history by people such as Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir – but it’s travelling through Europe and visiting places like Windsor Castle that has really brought history to life for me.  I’m tempted now to one day write historical novels of my own.

I hope this postcard finds you both well over there in Malaysia.  All the best,
Tash

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#6: Stratford-upon-Avon to Malaysia

Postcard number: 006
Bought in: Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
Sent to: Sajeeda in Malaysia
Written and sent: 14 February 2010

 

Text says:

14 February 2010, London UK

Dear Sajeeda,

Happy Valentine’s Day!  This year, my husband and I are having a fairly quiet Valentine’s Weekend of going to the cinema, watching the first days of the Winter Olympics and sleeping in, but lat year we spent the Valentine’s Weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of the famous English playwright, William Shakespeare.  We visited the house where Shakespeare was born, the church where he’s buried, and Anne Hathaway’s cottage, where as a teenager, he’s said to have courted his future wife.  In the cottage kitchen, there were people in costume reciting love sonnets and, in the evening, we went to a performance of “The Tempest”.  The following day, however, was less romantic: I sprained my ankle, my husband got food poisoning and it was a very long train ride back to London.  Oh well, such is life – it certainly added to the memorability of the weekend.

Best wishes,
Tash

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