Who I Am, Why I Travel and Why I Visit Post Offices

Hello! I’m Mary — Maret in my non-travelling life — and I’m the writer behind Exploring the Unexpected and Post Office Diaries.

I am an Estonian traveller, postcard sender and enthusiastic visitor of post offices. My travels have taken me to places ranging from Iraq and Eswatini to Pitcairn Island, Saint Helena and South Sudan.

When I first started travelling to more remote and sometimes politically unstable places, I did not always tell my family exactly where I was going. In 2012, I travelled to Iraq during a rare period of calm. In 2022, I visited Syria while Bashar al-Assad was still president. It felt easier to let friends and family follow my journey through a blog than to explain every plan in advance and listen to the increasingly worried comments that tended to follow.

Along the way, I discovered something unexpected. The world turned out to be far friendlier and more welcoming than I had imagined. Places that sounded intimidating on the news often became some of my favourite travel memories.

The post office habit was not originally mine.

My partner Andry has long been fascinated by stamps, cancellations and postal systems. I was initially more interested in the places we visited than in the post offices themselves. Over time, however, I realised that post offices often provide a unique glimpse into a country and its people.

These days, Andry is usually the one examining the stamps and reaching for the date stamp, while I notice the conversations, stories and occasional adventures that begin simply because we walked through the door. We are also enthusiastic Postcrossing members and often travel using Postcrossing Travel Mode.

Together, it works. Andry finds the post office. I find the story.

Since September 2024, I have been writing about post offices, postcards, postal history and the places we encounter along the way. During the first year, a new post appeared every Wednesday. In the second year, I switched to every other Wednesday. Now I aim for at least one post a month. There are still plenty of post office visits to write about, just not always enough time to do so.

The posts usually arrive eventually, even if not always on the exact day originally intended.

You can explore the places featured in Post Office Diaries on the interactive map.

Although post offices provide the common thread, this is not a philatelic blog. I also enjoy hiking, joining local group dance classes, visiting unusual places and talking to people whose lives are very different from my own. The famous sights are usually worth seeing, but it is often the everyday details that make a country memorable.

Part of the blog is written in Estonian. If you do not speak it yet, translation tools are remarkably good these days and should help you navigate without too much difficulty.

If you are interested in a particular country and have a question, feel free to ask. I am always happy to share what I know and what I experienced.

And if you do not want to create a WordPress account but would still like to get in touch, you can always email me at nexttrip123@gmail.com.