Post on tour

These days you can get away with a lot of personal correspondence via e-mail, but you might still want to keep up with elderly relatives, bills and other things by good old fashioned post.

It’s really much easier than you would think too using a service available through the Royal Mail and other international mail carriers called Poste Restante. It seems to be a long-forgotten service, much used in the ‘bad old days’ before the internet but can be really vital for not missing those important bits of mail.

It’s simple to use, just request that your mail is sent in the following format;

Name
Poste Restante
Town; Postal Code
Country

The service is more than affordable, with most regions holding your mail for up to 7 days for free, then charging around $2.50 (£1.65) for each consecutive week to a total of 4 weeks, at which point it is generally returned to sender. Some offices will hold your mail for up to 3 months, but it’s essentially impossible to find out which without going in and asking.

Be warned that Poste Restante services vary from country to country. The only sure way to ensure that your mail will be safe is to confirm directly with the Post Office that you will be using. Services are generally good, but email or call in advance to confirm size and weight restrictions.

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