Return to Sender Trivia Quiz

Answer: France

The phrase "Vous êtes un gagnant!" is French, meaning that "You are a winner!" Unfortunately, I'm not; I'm receiving spam from other countries. The stamp would likely feature the French flag-- a tri-banded blue, white, and red; the original stamps of France (and some of the rarest) created in 1849 actually featured the face of the Roman Goddess Ceres. Perhaps if I received that on the letter instead I'd have been the winner.

75008 is a real postal code from France too, if you're curious. In this case, my letter came from Paris' 8th arrondissement, right near the Champs-Elysees.

Answer: La Recoleta Cemetery

La Recoleta Cemetery is the final resting place of Eva Peron, perhaps better known to the world as Evita. The Recoleta Cemetery, also considered a place of fine art for its beautiful mausoleums spanning centuries of architectural styles, sprawls across fourteen acres of Buenos Aires. "Wish you were her!" is a weird take for the typical postcard saying "Wish you were here!", especially considering where the card is from.

But alas, I will not cry for this Argentine postcard! Instead it will go back to Buenos Aires-- a location signified by the postal code. In Argentina, if a postal code number starts with 1, it heads to the capital city; any other number would head to a different part of the country.

Answer: Southeast Asia

Well, Sabah is actually a state of Malaysia in Northern Borneo. Its largest city, Kota Kinabalu, is home to the original sender of the package; 88000 is actually the zip code for a large part of the downtown area of this coastal city; it could've been sent from any number of hotels or commercial centers. Kota Kinabalu is actually a popular tourist destination on Borneo due to its being a short distance from several national parks and reserves.

'Rapuh' is the Malay word for 'Fragile', a warning obviously not heeded. Back to Malaysia it goes.

Answer: Australia

I never realized how apt his greeting really was-- he knew it was from Australia. The postal code, 2026, is for Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. What was inside the package? Brewer's yeast. You know what that's used for? Making Vegemite, one of Australia's most famous foods (though it's definitely not for everyone).

Bondi Beach is only a short distance away from Downtown Sydney. Found on the Tasman Sea it's a popular surfing spot. Vegemite was invented elsewhere-- Melbourne, to be exact, almost nine hundred kilometers away.

Answer: Vladivostok

Far Eastern Federal University, found on Russky Island in Vladivostok, Russia's easternmost large city, is one of the leading institutions for learning on the Pacific Rim. It baffles me as to why they would send me a series of nested packages (not unlike a Matryoshka doll, coincidentally), but there you have it. All postal codes in Russia beginning with 69 refer to Vladivostok; Moscow's codes begin with 10, 11, and 12 while Saint Petersburg's begin with 19. 69 is actually as far as the system goes.

Vladivostok is so far east in Russia that it's closer to more than a dozen other world capitals than its own (and, closer to American soil than Moscow). It's a seven day train ride to Moscow, nine thousand kilometers on the Trans-Siberian. It's only two hundred sixty kilometers from North Korea.

Answer: Cuba

There may have been a concern that the box, containing cigars (as the Spanish wording would lead one to believe), would've been held at the border, but alas, here we are at my doorstop again with something I never should've received. No doubt it'll return to its sender at postal code 43000, one directing the box to the Zapata Peninsula in Cuba's Matanzas Province (a section of the country home to the resort city of Varadero in the north). Near Parque Nacional Cienaga de Zapata, you can actually find a township by the name of Australia, known for its sugar fields and crocodiles.

Coincidentally, there's also a town called Cuba in Queensland, Australia. Tit for tat.

Another tip-off would be the flag-- While the Cuban flag contains blue and white stripes, there's also a single star in a triangle jutting out from the left-hand side of the flag.

Answer: Zambia

20100 is the postal code for the hotels surrounding Victoria Falls, some of the most famous waterfalls in the world located on the Zambezi River. Found along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the falls are considered a part of Livingstone, a town in Zambia named after the famous Dr. David Livingstone. The letter probably wasn't addressed to this man-- it was part of the return address.

Victoria Falls is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites listing (and has been since 1989). It's one of the most famous tourist destinations of south-central Africa.

Answer: Hollywood, California

Whatever's making the noise in the box is definitely a souvenir recording of the moon landing which occurred in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the surface of the moon. This is probably a bit too fitting-- 90028 is the ZIP code for the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, which happens to be a very short distance from the world famous Beverly Hills (which is home to the 90210 ZIP code). In fact, all Californian addresses have a ZIP code beginning with 9 (as do all states touching the Pacific Ocean). Florida starts theirs with 3; New York uses 1.

But what about that moon landing? Well, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins have their spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at that intersection, commemorating the televised broadcast of the landing as shown July 20th, 1969.

Answer: The Shibuya Scramble, Tokyo

150-0043 is the postal code specifically for Hachikō, the bronze dog statue marking the exit of Shibuya Station in Shibuya Square, essentially the Times Square of Tokyo, Japan. This major intersection is home to one of the city's most famous shopping districts and is lined with colourful electronic billboards from major corporations.

Hachikō is the other clue as to this one's original sender as it's the name of a famous Japanese Akita dog. The immense loyalty displayed by the dog towards its owner made Hachikō a legend, and his statue can be found across the country...including the busy Shibuya Scramble crossing.

Answer: Berlin

I can barely make it out, but the stamp must say "Ich bin ein Berliner", which is part of John F. Kennedy's famous speech from the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. The package is definitely from that city which, at one point, was split into an East side and a West side. Oddly, the package comes from a point almost straddling the spot where the wall once stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate; 10117 is a postal code used right across the street.

As for the pickled cabbage smell, it's likely pickled cabbage-- sauerkraut, a dish quite popular in the region (literally translating, from German, into 'Sour Cabbage'). It goes well with bratwurst, which is also likely in the package and, miraculously, made it past customs to my front step.