The Vacation Began with the Picture Postcard

In major cities like Berlin, postcards featuring popular holiday spots were often cheaper than they were at the destinations themselves. Back then, the card was not considered a special souvenir, but rather an everyday mass-produced item from the paper industry. Millions of picture postcards were printed and distributed through bookstores and stationery shops across the country.

In his memoirs, the writer Hans Fallada describes how his father would buy postcards of their future holiday destination while still at home in Berlin. This allowed the family to save a few pennies. Today, that would seem as unusual to us as taking a selfie in front of a poster of Brighton while still in London—or ordering Brighton souvenirs online before the trip even began.

Traveling back then was, in any case, a logistical feat. Anyone renting a holiday apartment or house often had to bring their own bed linen, pillows, and sometimes even mattresses. All luggage was transported to the train station in a special baggage carriage. At the start of the holiday season, there was a constant scramble for these carriages; Fallada even recounts instances where other travelers tried to poach a coachman who had already been hired by offering a larger tip.

While today we compete for cheap flight tickets or a seat on a packed train, holidaymakers around 1900 first had to vie for the horse-drawn cab that would transport half their household belongings to the station. Yet one thing has remained the same: those looking to save money planned their trips strategically. Back then, that even included buying holiday postcards well in advance.