A postcard is slow on purpose. While everyone else gets a photo on their phone, one person gets an envelope with your handwriting on it and that small delay is exactly what makes it feel like a gift.

Sending one from Barcelona takes five minutes once you know where to look. Buy your stamp at a Correos post office or at any tobacco shop marked Tabacos, both fast and easy to find in the city center. Then look for a yellow mailbox marked Correos, usually near squares, post offices, and busy pedestrian streets. Drop your card in, and it lands in most of Europe within one to two weeks.

Here is the tip most travelers miss: write it on day two, not on the last day. Sit somewhere with a view, order a coffee or a vermut and let the ink still carry the excitement of just arriving.

If you want a postcard from Barcelona that already looks like a small piece of art, Postalona's hand drawn designs are sold across the city and at this webshop.