These ‘anti-postcards’ are everything that travel should be

When Rob Murray-Leach went traveling around the world for a couple of months, instead of keeping a journal, he painted his own postcards.

snails

Source: Supplied

Most of the postcards you find when you’re on holiday show an idealised (but often hilariously tacky) image of a place that rarely has anything to do with your experience of it. So I decided to make my own.

At the end of each day, I posted a postcard I’d painted to a friend as a gift. Travel can be glorious, shocking, boring, intense and frustrating. Trying to capture that – even if I couldn’t – was far more enjoyable than just saying ‘wish you were here’.

FRANCE: Anything is delicious when you cover it in a tonne of butter, parsley and garlic. BUIwbcCyHC2P9xySWLucyEVFgs8-ZMT6pu_EiCgmw6PVr5DarR6zlJgXAdvd9wzt3U9H6nFtPZ75kGYtBbly_HyDKJzp4FjAL2lwevsiGAO-IDGjypk8pW6FfercUJhIdrRsXC01

  

UNITED STATES: An airport security guard really liked my daughter's backpack. Until he realised I didn't have a daughter. It got awkward. CnrlHTHqrrWmAOgA6unDHe4y3JHyhUn8WzmUdN6z69cqTNKMU2qpBPQ4pP81yKdHpC3_rNQhXPFScGECp1aWZ1N_PMk2L86ZShbxUONW1e3EsRDBmvrHnYp1W_g96DL5hhMad74z

 

ITALY: The worst food in Italy is still better than 99 percent of food in the UK. JjlgfILRvMvqGGWu5I8y8_l_qOAl_J6nNCkWTLkl9c63Gh0_hifOuDefwsXS892_727mwegehOznsDdMXHvNxb9YALww8Ag6ee6QNQjDkyhexiqwjIssWA086ZlNze3kN1QiQrbG

  

JAPAN: Hotels here have special slippers to wear in the toilet. Wearing them anywhere else is the equivalent of carrying soiled toilet paper in your hand.

t8_bk31YOAy2lruNOCdNJuFSfh5M6qJOzRF7IBi-ZUQ8ibrFGdD0cyhweBUymLpwLsCQocr2aUhTtXem1iJkHYnbmA7kXd00_m-fo1yvL2DiMTRq4lkw03SXsgZfvKls5BHH629W
 


  

UNITED STATES: In an unfamiliar country social issues can seem far more obvious than back home - especially when they’re rolled out on a 15 metre banner. PsLEFyWYsvtJSjxxzRwrreVbzu0p57IN9Xxq6vKJi-F3-2p_XKCdc4U70gBhKqbRLwKUUZL4jX8f3TqsCwYXwKMGZxJbNeVKblIPMR98_SmTqifHoQXRqSfnzDATNDugoROLtNlh

ITALY: There's something deeply disturbing about watching an active volcano from a cafe. I'm pretty sure this is how civilizations end. 5HgRXWqwuT0TUv5j84uF-vgRDbnHT7ldxAf28QP5bH-KKUHMtlN5kDMoCTs70Ub78WituIldxUyEMroMm_Uu542fkOKiOMZkhfAxDorAaxSghS54qXyGy853DwNpN56ukeg-hIK9

  

KENYA: Calling a product that gives you emphysema 'Sportsman' seems… ironic. The tar level in these things means they're basically bitumen. AXTZxOWCKE4S8za3KlDHXiFMTlbm2giBb3o4xmCfMUBIbuHiw5KHz8NLlNW18-A8QKfGLz1fcvNhhvTvEdghcp4ahhegSrodwILw9TSMHQw8GhpVdGtqkC_E7YeGrhlG06GI_YUs

 

JAPAN: That quintessential Japanese experience of being completely unable to read the menu. Edu1Dacc0gJ-iNnNWc4O83S01Qcujj-uynbHSqsJQWoLfypMBl9LcqfCjyXl9qLdvbXma-Igo3839wRCV3vmhWKu9F41SXVQt3Qq0CJxBEaugbMoSJbjJepr_RiGuu0fgdoUFDUf

  

ITALY: While my sister was forced to cover her sinful lady flesh under a weird hospital gown, my brother and I could totally flaunt our alluring knees. And Jesus was basically naked. ovLoNiigvRtRpq1vVMm_PfnhH6RmRaTOpEy4EAEIVbYc-jgD_Q54C6s96cqAoUj3Koq-Z3Z9F43kp-OGn4sNSj5mcF6a3MpVW2CowuNLoBWYV0jgwAJFj4PtDMT0DAsBOkvHne2L


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By Rob Murray-Leach


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