I think you’re free to send whatever cards you have and whether they like it or not, that’s not your business at all lol. Maybe it’s not the holiday card when you travel abroad that many people avoid, but a holiday card like Christmas one? I could be wrong too
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You can send whatever you like.
Often postcrossers say that because they rather receive a card where picture, ID and stamp match the ountry the card comes from. However you can send whatever you like from whereever you like.
However: Do you know travel mode? That way you can send a card with the ID of the country you are visiting.
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When people state they don’t like holiday cards, they most often mean not sent from country of origin or they mean seasonal cards.
When you travel abroad you can use the travel mode, then your ID matches the country you are currently staying.
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Yes, I think this is what people mean.
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I like travel mode, both sending and receiving. That is precisely the origin of postcards, isn’t it?
Anyway, as you say, none of us is entitled to make demands on what to receive, though we can say what do we prefer. Given that, if you draw a profile of someone who says they don’t want that kind of postcards, I see different options:
- pick a non touristic postcard. You can even take a couple of them in your luggage.
- If you’re close to going back home, wait to send from there.
- just send a touristic one and write about it. Life is life, the recipient should learn to live with it and it is not a big deal.
Edit: I didn’t think about Christmas cards and so. That’s a good poin!
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I’d also think “holiday card” means “Christmas card”. However, it may also refer to a postcard with an ID and/or a stamp that don’t match.
If you travel abroad, I would definitely recommend you select “Travel mode” on your Account page. Just be aware that you need to be in the country and be connected to a local network for Postcrossing to verify you are actually there and give you addresses with the ID of that country. It’s quite easy, anyway. 
If you can, bring a few non-touristic postcards from home for people with special preferences. Anyway, all of my Travel mode postcards were always appreciated!
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I had originally joined Postcrossing just before travelling and I thought I would use it to send more cards while on holiday, on top of the ones I send to friends. And use my surplus cards from holidays to send from back home. I was pretty sad to learn that a lot of people only want cards “from country of origin” and with country ID matching - travel mode didn’t exist then. My very first sent card has a GB code and was posted from Malaysia.
I was very enthusiastic when travel mode was introduced, but wishlists make me enjoy it less so I don’t use it a lot (well not that I had a chance in the last couple of years, sigh). It puts me in a bad mood if I get someone who doesn’t like tourist cards because I am there to send tourist cards. You can send anything you want and don’t have to follow wishlists, but it still annoys me.
Since I don’t live in the country I am originally from, it is important for me to send cards from my hometown when I travel there - this is where I am right now. In the past few days I have sometimes not picked addresses because I only had a few cards at hand, and none local since I hadn’t had a chance to go buy some. Last time I got an address, I was delighted to get someone really easy going and who actually encouraged sending postcards from travels, as all I really had was spare cards from a holiday a long time ago (same country as the ID, but not my local area).
A few days back, instead, I got someone who would simply love a card from the place where I live, but I am not there now. I decided to send from here anyway, and then offer a second card when I go back.
Once instead I forgot to put travel mode and so had the “wrong” ID and also got a profile for which I had the perfect card back home. I waited a week and sent from home instead.
These examples are to say, there is always a way to handle things, and if there isn’t, your only obligation is “send a postcard” so there is no need to stress about it (in theory!).
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To be honest, I don’t see what the problem is.
I love wishlists and like to send a card that goes with it.
But if I don’t have anything or I’m on holiday, I send something else.
It doesn’t take the fun out of it and it doesn’t still annoy me, because there’s no reason for it.
Perhaps one should see everything a little more calmly instead of seeing it as a restriction.
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I think you’re interpreting this profile a little too strictly. Travel mode is only a very small number of the cards sent, so I’m sure most people aren’t thinking about it when writing their profile.
Wanting a card from where you live I take to mean they want something that relates to your life - when you are travelling, your life is in the place you’re visiting.
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I think the interpretation of the word holiday is confusing for some.
Holiday to Americans means seasonal celebrations - Christmas, Easter, etc. Travelling for pleasure is a vacation.
Holiday in the U.K. means travelling for pleasure.
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I agree Brian! And personally think it would be a grand surprise and extra special that someone took time on their holiday to send a card. 
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Oh no, sorry that is not what I meant but I can see how I wasn’t clear. I didn’t mean she wrote “cards from your place” - I totally agree that any card from where I am/anything nearby would be great. I wouldn’t have an issue with that. What I meant is that I drew a profile of someone who simply loves South East Asia, which is where I usually live, as the first profile I drew in Europe. I found that ironic 
So I would be very happpy to send her something else from South East Asia once I am back there, since there was so much enthusiasm for that area of the world in that profile. Just an extra, to be nice.
(I also thought I could wait until I am back but then the card would have an IT- code. Again, some people mind, some don’t. But anyway, that was my way to approach this situation which I found peculiar).
Every time the conversation is about wishlists, I express how I am one of those that does not appreciate them. I have taken (short) breaks from officialis because of that and considered in my first few months wether I wanted to continue with postcrossing or not - obviously I decided I would. And obviously when I choose to use travel mode (or also in general), I am prepared to do as you say, just send what I have - but I have to be in the mood. If this wasn’t a consideration for people, this thread wouldn’t have been opened to start with…
But I was thinking more specifically to those people who don’t want tourist cards at all - what can I say, it dampens my enthusiasm because in my view the whole point of postcards is learning about places, not collecting cats of flags. To each their own, of course, but I often don’t have time and energy for that on holiday.
In fact, the other thing about travel mode on holiday (as opposed to when I am back at my parents’ in my home country) is that I am often too exhausted from the activities of the day to have a lot of energy for postcards, so I don’t send that many, especially as officials since it takes more effort to read a profile etc. than to send to a friend or a regular swapper that you already “know”.
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I actually have an encouraging story about that to share. When I was travelling domestically last summer, I drew addresses in (national) travel mode. I got the address of someone who really doesn’t like tourist cards, especially not multiviews. So, since I was in travel mode, that was all I had, haha. I wrote that on the card - “Sorry, I’m in travel mode and this is all I have at hand”. She registered the card with a friendly message and didn’t seem to mind. So I think that maybe people are more understanding than we think. 
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That does happen pretty often I have to say, even when travel mode is not involved. I had cases of people sounding so demanding that I didn’t enjoy sending to them, but then their registration message was super friendly. In 5 years of postcrossing I never had a rude message (I guess I am calling for it to happen now 
).
But it definitely is about how I see it, I never claimed that there was something wrong with travel mode, just that I don’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, ultimately because of a feature of postcrossing (wishlists) that I do not appreciate in the best of days,
I sent 9 cards in travel mode in the last two weeks, since I am hanging out at my parents’ rather than running around so I have time and energy for everyone (and did not come across any demanding profiles).
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Didn’t interpret it that way, don’t worry! It’s definitely valid how you feel about it! I just aimed at trying to reduce the nervousness about sending multiviews in travel mode. 
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Yes, I got it It was more about the previous part of the conversation too
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I find travel mode is a great feature and has used it both in my home country and abroad. 
A friendly piece of advice: you can check the current postage rates for the most of the postcrossing countries here. It can help you to consider how many cards you can or are willing to send before you go amok with the “Request an address” button.
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As almost all countries (except Denmark and Norway) have cheaper postage than Sweden, “going amok” with sending postcards is what I do whenever I’m in another country. 
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I went slightly “amok” (for my standards) in Italy these past two weeks even if it is a lot more expensive than in Singapore, but it’s my first holiday in two years and it was rent-free (visiting parents) and we didn’t go out for food very much because of the covid situation. I don’t like clothes shopping in most cases and I only needed some small items… basically, it was a treat 
Also having more free time than when I work, I just spent more of it doing postcards.
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Same here but with Portugal!
I’ve been there recently after a long while and took the time to write and send some postcards. The most expensive stamp is slightly more than half the price of a Finnish one, so I sent postcards as much as my energy allowed me. It also felt nice to write other ID than FI!
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