Icelandic postman delivers letter to 'hand-drawn' address — and wild mail stories pour in from across the world

When was the last time you drove to, say, your friend's house without using Google Maps for directions? Even if you know the address by heart, you probably would still check the app to avoid traffic. In fact, a survey of more than 500 smartphone owners by Manifest found that more than 77% of smartphone owners regularly use navigation apps. Now, take a minute just to understand the dependency of people on digital apps for directions. It's almost impossible to reach someone without having their address on the maps, but a letter that reached Rebecca Cathrine Kaadu challenged the notion, according to a report in the BBC. 

Kaadu was on her horse farm near Búðardalur in the west of Iceland with her husband and three kids when she received the letter. Surprisingly, the letter didn't have a postal address or a recipient's name. Instead, the sender had only drawn a map with a pen, informing the postman of the location of the farm. The information that was provided in the letter was, "Country: Iceland. City: Búðardalur. Name: A horse farm with an Icelandic/Danish couple and three kids, and a lot of sheep!" Moreover, to help the postman deliver the letter to the correct person, the sender had added a description of Kaadu. They had written, "The Danish woman works in a supermarket in Búðardalur." It was revealed that a tourist from the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, who had stayed at the farm earlier, had sent the letter. While their extraordinary way of explaining the address to their postman went viral on social media, what's more surprising is that it was successfully delivered to the right place. The letter was posted by someone anonymous on the r/pics subreddit. 

Meanwhile, reacting to the story, u/dave_van_wonk shared, "We used to do this in Ireland all the time, and we would sit in the bar having competitions on how vague we could make it. We sent my uncle in Belfast, one that said, 'To the big man with the ginger hair who lives around the corner from Dan Boyle and used to work at the mechanics in Belfast. Have a good one; we're all here getting steamed without you!' He received it from the postman two days later! Edit: Just to clarify, we sent the postcards from where we were on holiday near Cork, so the postcards travelled the whole way up Ireland before my uncle received them."

Similarly, u/honkerstim wrote, "Postal workers are pros at this. I've sent mail to my buddy in a small town in the US (Ridgecrest, CA) using just his name, street name, and town name. I didn't know his house number or the zip code. I later found out his street numbers go up to the hundreds, but the mailman still managed to find it." u/whoteeni joked, "Meanwhile, my local postal carrier can't read street addresses. I get mail for an address one street over daily." u/joanne5959 wrote, "Wow! I am impressed! I'm sure it was a talking point among the workers, who must now feel truly satisfied with their achievement."

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