Just like the postcard from Edinburgh Castle

I find it funny that when you go to places like the Edinburgh Castle, people fork out decent money for postcards, in this case £5, but what if there was a more convenient way to accomplish the same thing?

I understand the whole “I’m writing useless stuff to fill out a card to make you jealous” thing with postcards, but I think there is a cooler way with modern technology. Most people have smartphones these days, and there are plenty of apps out there that cater to this market. One I like is Lonely Planet’s Postcards (iOS App Store) app.

Instead of paying £5 for a paper postcard that you then have to go to the effort of filling it out with illegible handwriting and leaving words out so you can finish your sentence on the remaining space, using an app you can snap your very own one-off picture (or imitate the official postcards like I have), which in itself is cool, but you can also write a nice, readable, note to go along with it.

How much for this? £1.30 to send anywhere in the world, taking up to 3 weeks to be delivered. You don’t enter a souvenir shop at any time to spend a long time spinning the rack with lots of the same picture.

Another app is Postagram (iOS App Store or Google Play), which uses the popular photo social network, Instagram (iOS App Store). It cost the same £1.30, but gives you more design choices for the postcard.

Who needs to go inside a rammed souvenir shop anymore when you can take a photo like this and share it instantly from the palm of your hand.

Wish you were here at Edinburgh Castle. Taken by James Miller in July, 2009.

Do you use any cool apps like Postcards or Postagram, or do you still prefer the nostalgic way of handwriting and posting it via snail mail? Let me know in the comments.