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The McIntyres weren’t even in the same hemisphere as Vestavia Hills on their family trip to the Galapagos Islands, and yet they still found a slice of home.
While on Floreana Island in December, the McIntyres found the centuries-old tradition of Post Office Bay: a covered barrel where sailors — and now tourists — leave letters and postcards to their families in hopes that another passing traveler will “continue the tradition” and deliver them on their way home.
“It’s one of those unexpected delights of traveling. You know when you travel and you plan your itinerary, all the things you want to see and check off. And then it’s the unexpected things that happen, that you do not plan for, that end up being one of the highlights,” Kellie McIntyre said.
Kellie McIntyre said she and her family — husband Dale and daughters Delaney and Riley — didn’t know about Post Office Bay when they arrived in the Galapagos. But once their tour guide showed them the barrel, the Vestavia Hills family found three cards from close to home: Homewood, Montgomery and Auburn.
“We all just started sifting through them. And there were four families in our group, and we were the only family that found any at all [from our area],” Kellie McIntyre said.
It’s far from the McIntyres’ first experience in world travel. Kellie McIntyre said she and Dale were first attracted to each other because of their mutual love of globetrotting – and her frequent flyer miles. They decided to pass that on to their daughters in late 2013 and early 2014, when they homeschooled the girls to take a five-month trip around the world. The family documented their travels on their blog, 4 Worn Passports.
In 2016, they achieved their goal of visiting every continent except Antarctica before they reached high school graduation. While they no longer go on months-long excursions, Kellie McIntyre said her family takes a trip or two to a new location each year.
“We still travel, just not for months at a time anymore. Back to weeks at a time,” she said.
Delivering strangers’ postcards, Kellie McIntyre said, is a first for her family in all their travels. There was an extra excitement for Delaney McIntyre, who will attend Auburn University in the fall and asked to deliver the Auburn postcard herself.
The excitement of taking these postcards to their recipients, Kellie McIntyre said, was tempered when they returned home and she realized she had no idea whose homes she and her daughters would be visiting to deliver the cards. It started a round of Google searching that found connections with friends and neighbors for two of the three cards. The third required some help from a story on Yellowhammer News to find the recipient.
“For everybody there was a super-close connection. It was just weird to me that 2,400 miles away, you’re in some island off South America, and just to think that some little postcard – you would be so connected
The McIntyres have been in touch with all three families and have already delivered their first card, to Homewood resident Mazi Rasulnia and his sons. Delaney McIntyre will deliver the Auburn postcard when she moves into her college dorm, and Kellie McIntyre said they will deliver the Montgomery one on their next trip to the beach.
The McIntyres have a long “bucket list” of stamps to add to their passports. Read about their trip to the Galapagos, including Post Office Bay, and past adventures at 4wornpassports.com.