April 8, 2008
Geocaching & travel bugs
Here's a game I've never heard of before: geocaching. And its sister game "travel bugs". With the Geocache you use GPS coordinates to get to the general area and then search for the cache where you write your name down. Sometimes people put a travel bug inside the cache. Then the next person who finds the cache take the travel bug and hides it in some other cache. In this case, the travel bug would probably do more traveling than any of the people playing the game but I felt this was interesting enough to get a mention on my travel blog.
I don't think this game is for me, but if you're up for some local traveling you might give it a try.
Posted by James Trotta at April 8, 2008 3:34 AM | TrackBack
Not so fast James! I was pretty negative to the idea when my wife first suggested it. However, since last summer when we started, it has been fun. The kids love to get out and we have found some beautiful parks and walking trails that I never knew existed in my area. We also geocache on vacation, it has taken us to areas I probably would have missed. I especially like the ones in urban areas. Your posting makes it sound like an activity for those that don't normally travel extensively, but that's not the case, at least with us. We travel widely with our children, our 3 year old has already been on 3 continents, and traveled throughout North America, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. So give it a chance.
Posted by: Tom at April 8, 2008 11:06 AMI didn't mean to imply that it wasn't for travelers, just that it's not for me. I don't own a GPS and I have no sense of direction. Plus I get frustrated easily when I have trouble finding what I'm looking for. I'm sure it's great for some people though...
Posted by: James Trotta at April 8, 2008 11:11 AMWe've geocached on vacations for several years now and have discovered great locations, including restaurants, historical sites, and of course walking trails and nature preserves. It is a fun hobby, though admittedly it can seem strange as adults, poking around in public places for "buried treasure." Still, it has a certain charm about it. If you're interested in learning more, go to www.geocaching.com.
Posted by: Joni at April 8, 2008 1:55 PMI started geocaching about a year and a half ago. I'm up to about 200 finds so far, and I have put out a few caches myself. Kids love it because there's usually some good "treasure" in the caches for them to take (unless it's a micro). Sometimes you find really cool spots while caching, and sometimes you wonder why anyone would ever put a cache in some of the spots. The travel bugs are fun too, it's like having your own virtual traveler. You can view a plot of their entire journey overlayed on Google Earth, which is really cool. Overall, it's a very cool hobby... but I can't recommend it. It just wouldn't be as cool if everyone did it.
Posted by: Jason at April 8, 2008 7:03 PMMy wife and I love geocaching. It has taken us to placed where we would normally never have visited - all in search of geocaches. I have a travel bug that has traveled from one end of the continent to the other. My wife has one that is now on it's way back to the mainland from Hawaii. I encourage anyone that is interested, give it a try.
We blog about our geocaching adventures at http://geocats.blogspot.com where there's plenty of info and links to other resources.
Posted by: Norm at April 9, 2008 6:14 PMThere's a similar game called Letterboxing. Same concept (although often the spots aren't given through GPS coordinates, but rather simple directions). The prize is an ink pad and a stamp--usually hand carved with an image/motif related to the location--and a pad of paper to leave your own mark. Our family has a book of the stamps we've found, which provide a good memory spring for the trip/hike/whatever. I carved stamps for my wife and daughter so we can stamp the small notebooks that are usually included in the letterbox.
I've been to London more times than I can count, so as a tourist, I'm kinda bored with it. The last time I went, I hunted half a dozen stamps. I saw so many sites, experienced so many new things that trip, that I fell in love with the city again.
Anyway, sites if interested:
http://www.letterboxing.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterboxing
Oh, and readers should check out the similar BookCrossing (traveling books):
http://bookcrossing.com/