Like most people with loved ones abroad I have become lazy over the last few years. The easy of Facebook, email, Skype and ordering gifts online have made me almost forget the love of receiving a hand packaged parcel from overseas. Or the enjoyment of parcelling up something special to send to someone I love and imagining their delight as they open it.
Do you remember when you were a kid? Getting a hand packaged parcel was much more common. Yes, I know we still get heaps of things from eBay and Amazon through the post (or maybe that’s just me), but it’s not the same as tearing open a parcel that you know has been loving wrapped by someone who really cares for you. Even if it does turn out to be a badly knitted itchy Christmas jumper!
My big sister moved to Australia from the UK 15 years ago. At first I used to send her lots of things by snail mail. I can remember making many things for her kids over the years and carefully wrapping them and packaging them with some special little tokens of love. Now they are older and the internet has become such an easy place to find companies that ship direct to Australia I haven’t sent a physical parcel in ages. So when I read about the parcel2go Sent with love campaign the other day I decided to change things and go shopping.
What would my sister miss from the UK? Other than us of course! I took a trip round the supermarket picking up some very English things from when we were kids that I’m pretty sure she can’t get out in Oz. She used to tease me about lemon curd (something I loved), and once told me it was made of cat sick so I should start eating Marmite (which she loved). After many strange nightmares as a child of battery farmed cats being made to vomit in to little jars I don’t think I have eaten lemon curd since.
The last time I saw my sister was on our family trip out the Australia with my mum. We took the photo above of us all together on the beach and it brings back such happy memories. I ordered a canvas print of the image on the internet to go in her parcel with a few other bits.
I really enjoyed parceling up all the goodies for my sister and was so surprised at the international parcel shipping costs. I have always posted things to Australia by Royal Mail and even just sending a small gift became very expensive and often didn’t even arrive. This parcel was pretty heavy with lots of packs of biscuits and a jumbo jar of Marmite, but for under £40 I could send 4.5kg all the way to Australia by tracked snail mail.
And off it went.
I can’t wait for my sister to open it and I’m already shopping for the next one!
Bring back snail mail – sent with love.
Disclaimer: thanks parcel2go for your kind offer to try this service. I will certainly be using it again for many more parcels sent with love.
a field somewhere 
awww there is nothing like spreading the love and being able to do that to loved ones is so nice!
Thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments