Adding to what @Florallle has said, the stamps to avoid are produced by a company called Universal Mail. You might be offered them at tourist attractions, usually in sheets of five or six with pictures of the attraction or stereotypical British images (e.g. black taxi, red Routemaster bus) but I echo her advice not to buy them. Best to visit a Post Office (find branches near where you’ll be staying / visiting here: Branch Finder | Post Office) where you can buy proper Royal Mail postage (international standard information here: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/international/international-standard; international economy information here: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/international/international-economy) to post your cards. Note that at a larger Post Office you may have the option of using a self-service machine to buy postage labels; for traditional stamps you’ll need to see a clerk at the counter. Post Offices may sometimes not have stocks of special stamps, but they should have plenty of the Machin definitives (stamps in a block colour with a profile portrait of HM The Queen on them). The new barcoded £1.85 stamps are brown. Have a great trip!
Also bare in mind, that there is No £1.60 stamp denomination at the moment, you will have use a mix of smaller stamps to make the international economy rate and post office clerks will pretty much do anything to discourage you from using it.
How do you find travelling times when using £1.60 ? Any noticeable difference ?
I did a test a while back… although “BC” but the test items I sent seemed to arrive quickly as if they’d been flung on a plane. When that Icelandic volcano disrupted air travel, RM said about sending via ship to US to arrive within the month.
Before Christmas, someone accidentally sent me two Christmas cards, so I sent two back, one via airmail, and one via economy… the US… both arrived the same day.
I sent out 13 items of post with surface mail postage on 7th March 2014 (a Friday) from the United Kingdom. I haven’t heard if 2 of the letters have been received or not… but:
11th March - one arrived in Massachusetts.
12th March - one arrived in Toronto
13th March - arrivals in South Africa, Australia, Hawaii, Montreal, Iowa,
14th March - arrivals in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Texas,
15th March - one arrived in Texas
Oh, almost forgot, wrote a postcard this year on Pi day, March 14, to Australia. Arrived 12th April.
No, not really, most international economy arrives in the same time as standard post.
For me only China & Hong Kong seem to take ages with the International Economy Rate.
I posted two cards at the same time to Hong Kong in August 2020, standard took 32 days the economy one took 99 days.
I should use economy more often, just in the last year the convience of using two 1st class stamps has made me lazy, I guess.
Commonwealth Stamps Opinion: 2067. 🇬🇧 Britain’s Women At War. 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 has info on the next RM stamp issue. £1.85 only in the miniature sheet…
The issue is under embargo but can be found on the Royal Mail website!
These are images of the postcards
Unsung Heroes: Women of World War II
Issued: May 5th
Oh, I love these! Such a great set! 
(But exactly when I DO NOT NEED any more stamps! Disaster!!)
@FairyFoot Mia thanks for the link to see all the stamps …I did baulk when I saw the QR code that were in Gold (? Brown) and Silver (grey?).
Something to get use to.
Hi! I will be travelling to London within few weeks and I’m planning on to send some cards. So I would like to make sure I have understand couple of things right 
There is a tiny post office nearby my accommodation, but I’d like to use special issue stamps (platinum jubilee etc). In order to find them, I have better chances stopping by some bigger post office like Regent St, High Holburn etc and buying the stamps from the clerk rather than the machine. Am I on right path? 
You are indeed on the right path! The self-service machines will give you postage labels rather than proper stamps. Have a great trip!
Perfect, thank you so much! 
Evening all, does anyone know why Royal Mail doesn’t take part in the EUROPA stamps competition for the UK?
The Royal Mail have not issued a Europa stamp since 2017 (Windsor Castle)
Maybe the lack of a stamp this year is because they couldn’t find any ‘Stories or myths’ associated within these isles 
Thanks. Royal Mail managed a set of stamps on the legend of King Arthur last year
Media articles today that Royal mail are looking at price increases again…
Uh ho 
Volume down so put the prices up! that’s going to fix the problem… this after ‘only’ making a yearly profit of £662 million!
Then again they have to pay shareholders as well as compensation for the postmasters scandal.
Add to that the swapping and paying out of millions of stamps because they can’t be bothered to make sure every used stamp is post marked at the sorting office!
Norvic sent me this link ROYAL MAIL plc RESULTS FOR THE FULL YEAR ENDED 27 MARCH 2022
- Royal Mail: Domestic parcel volume (ex. international) up 31% vs. pre-pandemic period (2019-20); and down 7% year-on-year due to normalisation post lockdown restrictions. Test kits accounted for c.7% of total parcel volume in 2021-22. Addressed letters (ex. elections) volume grew 3% year-on-year following sharp declines last year; down 18% vs. pre-pandemic.
I just hope they don’t dash this small growth of addressed letters… by rising prices.
The BBC article says:
A spokeswoman said: “We haven’t made decisions on future prices, but we always carefully consider the impact on our customers and ensure that any changes help to secure the sustainability of the Universal Service.”