• Our Blog
  • Airport Lounges
  • About Us
  • Why work with us?

Mobile Menu

  • Search
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The RTW Guys

Live More. Travel More. Spend Less.

  • Our Blog
  • Airport Lounges
  • Destinations
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • United States
        • Puerto Rico
    • South America
    • Central America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • South Pacific
    • Africa
  • About Us
    • Where Have We Been?
    • Why Work With Us?
Belize City Postal Clerk

Unique Travel Journal Ideas – Postage Stamps and Post Office Cancelations

March 21, 2017 By //  by Halef 9 Comments

I’m a stamp collector and part of how I like to capture the essence of a place is from the pretty stamps that they have. That includes the cancellation stamp that defines the place and the date of the cancellation.

Looking for travel journal ideas? You can read my travel journal entry here. – 11 Geeky Things to Include in Your Travel Journals.

Unfortunately, with the broad use of Internet and online sources, post offices and snail mail, are starting to become a thing in the past.

But some collectors, including myself, still send out postcards and buy stamps.

Buy foreign stamps and have them canceled

unique travel journal postage stamps- Belize City Postal Clerk
Postal Clerk in Belize City – happy to do my cancellation request!

It’s easy to buy a stamp, of course. Just go to any post office in the world and ask! Sometimes, the clerk will even show you all the stamps that they sell and allow you to pick the ones that you like.

Glue the new stamp on your journal page, and ask them to cancel it! Here are a few of my own experiences:

Milan, Italy

The Italian postal service tends to be a bit unreasonably strict about canceling any stamps that are not being sent out as regular mail.

Although I have many other successful examples of Italian stamps, this particular Milan post office flatly refused to cancel my stamps.

I ended up canceling my own stamp and venting on my journal about it.

unique travel journal postage stamps- Milan cancel
Milan, Italy. The postal clerk refused to cancel my stamp, so I had to cancel it myself.

That’s one of the great parts about a travel journal – you can vent your frustrations and no one has to hear it but you!

unique travel journal postage stamps -
Milan, Italy. I finally got the cancellation from Malpensa International Airport.

Singapore

I just so happened to arrive at the main post office on the day when they issued a new series of stamps. The helpful clerk was really excited to sell these new stamps.

As a result, I purchased the whole set and have them all fixed in my journal. Even better, they were canceled on the issue date!

unique travel journal postage stamps- Singapore Stamps
Republic of Singapore. The complete series, canceled on the date of issue!

Vaduz, Liechtenstein

The Vaduz main post office, which is the philatelic center, shares the space with the Liechtenstein visitors’ center.

At the visitors’ center, you can purchase a novelty stamp for your passport, which many people do.

After purchasing a stamp and affixing it into my journal, the postal clerk regretfully informed me that they didn’t have the cancel stamp in that office.

But they offered to cancel it with the ‘passport stamp’.

So that’s what I did.

Typically you will have to pay in order to get this cancelation for your passport.

unique travel journal postage stamps
Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The same cancellation for your souvenir passport!

Andorra

Sandwiched between France and Spain, the tiny Andorra Post service is also, interestingly, split between the two countries. They issue separate stamp systems, meaning you may choose whether you want to send your mail with the French Andorra post office or the Spanish Andorra post office.

Both the stamps and cancellation both have Andorra on them; however, they have different designs, depending on whether or not they are French or Spanish cancellations.

Andorra post office is definitely one of the most unique post offices in the world.

unique travel journal postage stamps - Andorra
Andorra – this tiny country has two separate postal systems!

Easter Island, Chile

Easter Island is one of the most remote islands on earth, and there is only one post office on the island that is served by the Chilean Post Service. The post office mainly caters to tourists.

Visitors buy stamps to send out postcards bearing the rare Easter Island cancellation.

You can also get a novelty stamp in your passport. I purchased the souvenir sheet of stamps that are only sold here.

I had them cancelled using the two stamps available at this unique post office.

unique travel journal postage stamps - Easter Island
A souvenir sheet from Easter Island – cancelled with the souvenir passport stamp.

Robben Island, South Africa

Robben Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site off of Cape Town. It’s where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for more than 30 years. You have to join the assigned tour groups in order to visit this historic island, and you can send out your postcards with a special cancellation form here.

I was lucky to have an awesome tour guide here. After explaining what I wanted, he went above and beyond to help me!

We had to chase the post office lady around to get the cancellation, but we got it!

unique travel journal postage stamps- Robben Island Stamp
Robben Island, South Africa. Great group of people!

Canada and Japan

These two countries are philatelist-friendly, and in many major post offices, they have an additional cancellation you can ask for.

These cancellations often have prettier images, including images of nearby landmarks where the post offices are located.

Oftentimes, you will have to ask these cancelations specifically, since they are only for philatelic purpose.

Any clerk will be happy to retrieve them to cancel your stamps.

unique travel journal postage stamps- Canada stamp
Montreal, Canada. Pictorial cancellation from Notre-Dame Basilica, Montréal
unique travel journal postage stamps - Narita Airport Cancel
Tokyo, Japan. Even Narita Airport has its own cancellation!

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

This is probably one of the most pleasant stamping experience that I’ve done. I’ve had several helpful clerks for several different days, and they all are helpful.

Plus, who doesn’t like the very unique and rare Svalbard stamps? I love this signature Svalbard polar bear stamp – they are pretty.

Awesome Svalbard stamp!

Next time you’re on the road, try adding some of these stamps to your travel journal.

It’s a neat souvenir of your journey and you’ll create a memorable story!

Want more like this? Subscribe to our newsletter below (mobile) or in the sidebar (desktop) to get our posts delivered to your mailbox! And like our Facebook page and Instagram feed. We’re also on YouTube. Watch our Travel vlogs right here.

Halef
Halef

Halef moved from Indonesia to the US nearly two decades ago to go to college here. He hasn’t looked back. He’s been to over forty countries and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He’s a Landscape Architect in Atlanta, GA.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: travel journals

Previous Post: «image-1024x768-2 Unique Travel Journal Ideas – 11 Ways To Make a Travel Diary Memorable
Next Post: Fardis Hotel Tehran Review – Places to Stay in Iran FardisFeatured»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JuliaSan

    March 22, 2017 at 8:01 am

    I love this idea!!! We also write a travel diary on all our trips and collect entrance tickets, cards of hotels and stickers of some spots, but we never thought of stamps. I think we will start doing this. 🙂 Thanks for the tip.

    Reply
    • Michael

      March 22, 2017 at 11:18 am

      It’s quite an authentic way to commemorate a trip, I think. It’s a real way to say “I was here!”

      Reply
  2. Christine K

    March 22, 2017 at 11:08 am

    Such a fun post. I used to collect postage stamps when I was young so love this idea. You’ve come across some incredibly interesting stamps and postmarks in your travels and they sure add a lot of beauty to your journal. Really enjoyed reading your article and seeing the photos of the stamps from different countries.

    Reply
  3. Milijana

    March 26, 2017 at 7:27 am

    What a fun hobby and an interesting way to make trips more memorable !! I love sending postcards to my family when travelling and my mum keeps them dearly. I love getting postcards and greeting cards from my friends across the globe as well. I guess I am a bit old-fashioned in a certain way and romantic 😀

    Reply
  4. Nisha

    March 26, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    You do have a beautiful collection. I remember collecting stamps when younger. I still buy stamps once in a while or send myself a postcard :). This is surely a dying hobby among the young.

    Reply
  5. Suma Shah

    March 27, 2017 at 7:31 am

    What a fun and lovely way to collect souvenirs and maintain journal while travelling. Used to collect postage stamps couple years ago as a hobby. This post just reminded how much fun it was and I guess it’s high time I go through the old memories and add some more to the collection ????.

    Reply
  6. nicolas

    March 27, 2017 at 8:39 am

    This is a great idea! Brings colours in the journal. Love it 🙂

    Reply
  7. RICARDO C, GUARDE

    June 21, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Good evening ! As a stamp collector,I was amazed and delighted to read the unique way of collecting stamps, how I wish to travel like you did, but it is now impossible. Thanks for such entertaining and informative write ups. More power !

    My best regards ,

    Ricardo C. Guarde
    Philippines

    Reply
    • Halef

      June 21, 2017 at 11:37 am

      Ricardo,
      Thanks for visiting our travel blog! I love postage stamps and by doing this onto my travel journal, I captured the place, as well as making a very unique souvenir for myself. I hope you will be traveling as much as you can in the future! Feel free to subscribe to our site to get more updates on our travels.
      Warm regards,
      Halef 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Stay Up-To-Date

Where are we? What are we doing? How much did it cost? All in one bi-weekly email. Plus personal stuff you won't find on the blog.

  • Our Blog
  • Airport Lounges
  • About Us
  • Why work with us?

Site Footer

32

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Copyright 2017-2020 by The Round the World Guys · All Rights Reserved
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Privacy Policy