Sunday, December 12, 2010

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, Tristan da Cunha

Yippieee!! Yippiee!! Wohoooo!!! Yay yay yay!!!! What a country!!! Sorry to those making jealous faces right now, but im really over-excited and extra happy to be granted such a rare and special country in my collection...written and stamped!!! And yeah, to add more to the jealous reasons, i received in total 4 cards! All written and stamped!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

And it all came very spontaneously...a man came across me, and since among all my requests, I also had Tristan on the list, he kindly offered to help me since he said to have contacts on the island. And he did so! But i didnt expect that 4 cards would be coming my way, i was expecting one only...but of course, no way I would complain about this...just that I dont think i have the right means to show my excitement :D
The special thing about Tristan da Cunha is that it is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, having South Africa and South America as the nearest pieces of land, being away 2,816 kilometres and 3,360 kilometres from them, respectively. Can you imagine being somewhere so cut off from the rest of the world?
And another VERY special thing is that this island has no airport, so the only means of transport is by ship...one really has to have enough patience in order to arrive here or from the island to somewhere else.

The island has 264 inhabitants, with Edinburgh of the Seven Seas being its capital, is regarded as the most remote permanent settlement in the world, being over 2400 kilometres from the nearest human settlement, on Saint Helena. This is where the entire island population lives.

There are just so many fascinating facts and figures about this place on Earth...it is sooo amazing!



and here come 3 lovely stamps...the very right one and the one in the middle come from a set of 6 stamps issued in 2008, commemorating the 60 Years of Fisheries, while the other stamp comes from a set of 12 birds stamps issued in 2005. I have to say that Tristan issues some really lovely stamps, with great themes and picturesque images.

And something EXTRA special on this and the other cards I received, is the cancellation. Apart from being so clear,  I cant believe it that the card was sent on my birthday!!!! What a coincidence!!! Out of 365 possible choices during the year, this one got cancelled on that very day! Sooo thrilling!!!
As a side note, the cards travelled 4 and a half months until they reached me.....which is understandable when you take in account the means of transport...and they arrived in an impeccable condition!!
Im just sooooooooooo happy!!! Happy happy happy!!

I dont think I could ever properly thank enough Chris, the man behind all this, as well as the postal clerks on the island. Thank you so much to all of you for one of the most special treats my mailbox could have ever had!!!

5 comments:

Vagirl said...

Wooow!!! Such a cool card. You soooo deserve it! I'm really haaappy for you! I've never even heard of this country : embarrassed:
Hugs to you!

Gem from Airdrie said...

What can I say, one card from Tristan is good, but four, WOW.To a postcard collector or even a stamp collector Tristan is like The Holy Grail. I put Tristan in the same category as St. Helena, Pitcairn , Nauru or Wallis & Futuna. Hard to get , but a huge pleasure to receive. Way to go. I'm so happy for you.

evelayn said...

Wow! So rare country in your collection! Congrats :))

Ps. I found you blog on postcrossing official forum :)

Linn said...

Wooow Ana, you lucky bastard. :-)

I guess I wrote here once that I'm not into postcards anymore but a card from Tristan Da Cunha is something I would still be really happy with.

Tristan da Cunha is such a magical place. I did an oral presentation about the island for my French course last year. No one knew the island, they had never heard of it before. Hehe.

Enjoy your cards! I'm happy because you are so happy with them. :-)

Ana said...

thanks everyone for the comments and the praises...I feel even more proud and happy now :)

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