Roll your own postcards (with an iPhone)

10/3/2012 — By Budget Travel

We recently reported on the best ways to Stay in Touch While on the Road. One of the services we liked, hazelmail.com, has just added an iPhone App (hazelmail.com/iphone) that turns photos snapped an iPhone (including the upcoming version's 3-megapixel camera) into postcards on which you can add a personal message and then ~~either e-mail or~~* print-and-mail. The app is free to download and includes one free postcard print-and-mail postcard (including postage).

*CORRECTION POSTED June 21

Here's what we liked about the Web-based service:

Everyone loves to get postcards, but actually missing with the mail while on vacation can make you go, well, postal. (And in any case, do you really want a cheesy image from the hotel gift shop to stand as the definitive shot of your journey?) Roll your own postcards instead. At HazelMail, named for its founder's mom, you can upload your photographs and then enter a message and an address. The website takes care of the rest, printing out and mailing a freshly minted postcard (and saving you from having to track down stamps). The flat fee of $1.50 includes postage to anywhere. hazelmail.com.

—Mat Honan and Sean O'Neill