Monthly Travel
Photocard Subscription
Subscribe to monthly ‘journeys-in-an-envelope’ from Vast Compass and so much more!
Get Cleared for Takeoff!
See the world for only $16 month, one amazing destination at a time.
How It Works
Every month, we create photocards featuring the world’s best travel destinations + their stories. Each image and word is chosen with care, and podcasts on YouTube dive even further on each featured destination.
As a member of the Boarding Pass Club, half the fun is the anticipation when you open your mailbox every month: Where are we going next? The other half is the reliability: At the beginning of every month you open an envelope and voilà!...you hold a new perspective of the world in your hands.
That's the transporting power of a travel photocard from Vast Compass with beautiful photography, a travel essay, and an inspiring quotation. All handcrafted by Allen and Mark. And every card hand signed by Mark.
But there’s more! As a member of the Boarding Pass Club you also receive a snappy bulletin with more history, more photography, and advice on how to make travel to every destination awesome.
Keep One, Send One
As a member of the Boarding Pass Club you don’t have to decide whether to keep the monthly card for yourself, or to share it with those you care about the most. Because members receive both a travel photocard (ready to mail), and a second photograph (ready to frame). It’s a win-win to share a thousand worlds, and include awesome travel places as part of your decor!
What’s Inside?
Each month's mailing includes:
A 4”x6” photocard with lab-printed metallic finish photo on linen cardstock (really luxe!), along with a 200-word essay, inspiring quotation printed on the back of the notecard—all handcrafted and handsigned
A second 4”x6” photograph of the same image as on the photocard, ready to frame
A TRAVEL INSIGHTER bulletin—four pages of destination information, more travel photography, trivia, maybe a playlist, recommendations on guidebooks and apps, tours to consider, places to stay, what to eat. All from two travelers who have been at this a good while
And every couple of months you get some extras—postcards (to frame or send), stickers, bookmarks, more, all featuring the world’s best destinations in fun ways
Plus, YouTube podcasts on the same featured travel destinations are free to stream anytime
The Boarding Pass Club makes it easy to share a thousand worlds with those you care about the most, and keep the world’s best places close at hand to enjoy as elements of your interior design.
The Fine Print
Mailings are sent out via USPS the final week of the month
Allow 1-2 weeks for your mailing to arrive (the envelopes cannot be tracked)
International subscriptions, add $2 USD per mailing
Subscriptions received by the 15th of each month ship that month
Subscriptions received after the 15th of each month ship the following month
One-month subscriptions welcome—give it a try!
12-month subscriptions include destinations from six continents
We're building a travel community to share a thousand worlds
(12 at a time!)
Twelve worlds out of a thousand. That's why we're expanding the Vast Compass community: To share our travel photography, to tell the stories of some of the world's best destinations, and to offer advice on how to make travel awesome. All with some fun and surprising rewards along the way!
All passengers, now boarding. Please join us on this journey!
— Mark and Allen
Watch the production process of how a travel photocard from Vast Compass is made.
Then click on over to the Vast Compass Kickstarter page to make a pledge to a Monthly Travel Photocard Subscription.
Every month backers receive a journey-in-an-envelope photocard + a Travel Insighter bulletin with destination information and travel insights to make travel awesome.
Follow the journey of a travel photocard from Vast Compass, from parent sheet and blank cardstock printing, to hand-tipping photographs, signing each card individually, and packaging them in archival, eco sleeves for safekeeping until it’s time to share a thousand worlds.
About Vast Compass
Only connect!
We take to heart the deeply felt invocation from E. M. Forster’s novel, Howards End—“Only connect!”
It’s the driving force of our mission, because Vast Compass is all about connection. With one another, with places we’ve been, and with places we all dream of seeing one day. Connection via the wide, wide world is the reason for the studio prints and handcrafted photocards on offer in our Etsy shop. Our travel photography of the world’s best destinations, the stories behind them, this website, the Vast Compass blog—all are ways we put a thousand worlds at your fingertips.
Travel nourishes us and we can guess you feel the same, so stop by often. We’re pleased and proud to share our travel experiences and insights with you, and invite you to share our ready-to-frame enlargements and journeys-in-an-envelope with those you care about most, because we truly believe the world is a better place when experienced and celebrated, together.
The destinations on offer in our shop can be fleeting, because we’re either in the studio, crafting even more photocards featuring even more destinations and stories from an itinerary 30+ years in the making, or we’re on the go, camera and curiosity at the ready, to capture another tranche of the world’s best places and the stories that bring them to life.
Connection via the wide, wide world
is the reason for our Etsy shop.
What you’ll discover in our Etsy shop
The Vast Compass Shop on Etsy showcases lab-printed ready-to-frame 8”x12” enlargements and handcrafted photocards featuring the world’s best places and the stories behind them. Our studio prints bring a small part of the world to your decor. And you can think of our notecards as bespoke journeys-in-an-envelope to share with those you care about most, no passport required.
Please note neither the enlargements nor the photocard prints have a white watermark. They arrive as shown in the video clips below.
CAIE19006
Giza Plateau—Cairo, Egypt
JSIE23002
Amarantos Cape—Skopelos, Greece.
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le Marais—Paris, France.
About our photocards
The photographs
Shot on the fly like the typical travelers we are, the pics aren’t staged with pro lighting and a tripod in tow. But they are shot with deep curiosity and deliberate consideration. Captured on prosumer cameras and non-compressed for high-quality post-production, our current kit is just the most recent in an evolving continuum of photo technology over the past 75 years. It all comes together in photos that measure 4”x6”, and are printed with a special metallic finish—glossy, luxe, shimmering. Of course, as beautiful as the photos are, it starts with the right gear in the field.
Featured gear
Mark shoots on FUJIFILM models X-H2 and X-Pro2 using either an XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR lens or XF 23mm f/2 R WR lens.
We use Lexar SD cards for their write speed and video capability, plus water, temperature and x-ray tolerance, and built-in write protect switch.
Think Tank pouches keep cables and cards and batteries and dongles and adapters and USBs and everything else close at hand and easy to find.
A Peak Design slide camera strap. That’s all.
Library highlights
Guidebooks are certainly part of the equation. There are also the maps, atlases, apps, city guides, and blogs we read.
Allen and I are Francophiles, sans aucun doute (without doubt), which explains the above collection of books in our library about our favorite country. Now imagine just how many books in our library aren’t about France…
…including our section on Italy, shown above. Other countries, regions, and topics having an outsize presence in the stacks include Scandinavia, the Nordics, Greece and the Med, Egypt, Japan, New York City, botanical gardens, cathedrals, chateaux, ruins, art history, and architecture from Alvar Aalto to Zaha Hadid.
Our production process
It’s quite a journey from 4’x6’ master sheets of paper to a finished card, ready to sign, seal, and deliver. All along the way we strive to keep the production line as sustainable as possible, leaving as small an eco footprint as we can, from responsible paper sourcing and low-impact consumables, to recycled ink packs, minimal product packaging, and smart shipping materials.
Founded in 1873, Neenah Paper is internationally recognized as a world-class manufacturer of premium paper. They produce Vast Compass’ cardstock and envelopes.
Putting it all together
Please note the photocard prints do not have a white watermark. They arrive as shown in the video clip (r.).
It all comes together with a photograph on the front with the destination printed below and hand-signed by Mark. On the back is the essay, quotation, product information, and a link to stay in touch.
Currently in our Etsy shop
People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains,
at the huge waves of the seas,
at the long course of the rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars…
…and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.
—St. Augustine
Unless otherwise noted, all images are copyright © Vast Compass, 2025.
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