Pieman

I dare say you're right

I received the following automatic email from the site the other day relating to a TB I own. Never heard of transferring before. I checked the TB log and nothing was recorded there. The next day I got a normal email telling me that it had been picked up by the same cachers. "MackiltandJoobs transferred Salt of the Earth (Travel Bug Dog Tag) to at 2/28/2005 Log Date: 2/28/2005 Picked up to travel to the "Black Country"" Anyone seen this sort of thing before? P

I would certainly move on a TB that I could help on its mission or one that had been neglected a while even if I didn't have a swap, just as I would drop off a TB even if I didn't see anything I wanted (which is normally the case). I personally don't understand why TB's should be treated any differently to other trade items because if they are treated the same we won't get depleted caches! I know others think differently and I guess as this has been debated before I'll shut up!

One thing I noticed caching in the US was the superior standard of cache goodies compared to over here. (The other thing I noticed was that they are absolutely appalling at tracking travel bugs with it being the rule rather than the exception that the listed travel bug is not in the cache.) P&T's comment about people swapping TB's for goodies also intrigued me as it harked back to an earlier thread. I've done this myself, as generally I would consider a TB of higher value (interest) than the goody. But it does rely on people not just taking TB's! Made me look at the geocaching rules: "... the rules are very simple: 1. Take something from the cache 2. Leave something in the cache 3. Write about it in the logbook" Don't think TB's are excluded! P

Interesting. I've been pondering this as my TB hotel has become somewhat depleted this week. I don't see why TB's can't be traded as normal items. And in a TB hotel I would swap TB for TB unless I could genuinely move the TB towards its goal. I wouldn't take a TB and leave nothing, although I can't say I get too worked up when this happens in my cashes.

No problem, Tigger. I guess the main thing in describing the cache is to make sure cachers know what to expect. For instance, on a slightly different tack, I like it when the cache description gives some idea of how long a walk it is to the cache as at the weekend I like a nice walk but if I'm doing a cache in the week I'm normally short of time.

As two of the caches mentioned are mine, I suppose I should explain my thinking. On both "That's Magic" and "Hang up and run to me" I considered making them multis but decided that this would be misleading given that the latter involves a puzzle and the former requires more thought than searching. I thought that some people might be miffed if they set out on a multi only to find that the cache wasn't just about finding a series of boxes or clues. Now, having only this week read the geocaching.com definition of a puzzle cache, I guess that both of the above don't meet this definition, but I still feel that this classification better describes them than multis. If people who have found these caches disagree, I would be happy to change them to multis, however.

I have often bought stuff where the P&P price is more than the actual charges. 99% of the time this is not on ebay but from mail order catalogues or other on line firms. In fact I don't think I can ever remember buying anything from a company where they didn't charge more for the P&P than the actual cost! This doesn't bother me as I am only interested in the final price not the postage, the thing itself or the VAT. I have 100% ebay feedback but have had two people who commented on my P&P charges. In one I was reselling an article I had bought by mistake and just listed the P&P as it had been in the original sale. In the other case I had guessed and I had inadvertantly overcharged. Have to say I felt miffed at their comments as the charges were clearly mentioned in the listing.

Having spent some time planning a new (difficult) puzzle cache where the background was going to give an extra clue, I log on last night to send it for approval to find that the background has all but disappeared! Oh, well just have to make it a 5+!

I use GPX Spinner and Plucker to transfer the cache pages to my PDA that I have generated using a Pocket Query. This works fine except where there is a TB in the cache I can't get it to follow the link to the TB page. Given that I have set the depth level on Plucker at 3, it should pick up the page (I thought). Is there a way of downloading the TB page with a Pocket Query, or do I have to laboriously download each TB page individually?

But I don't really want to do this for each individual TB if I have downloaded a PQ of say 100 caches. Ideally, I would like to download a PQ, put the caches into either GSAK or GPX Spinner and download the cache pages, hints and TB pages to my PDA. Or maybe like Spoilersync we need a TBsync?

I want to be able to access the TB page while out caching with no internet connection, so I need the TB page to be downloaded on to my PDA. This would just be like the "Hint" link that I get on my PDA when I use GPX Spinner/ Plucker.

I use GPX Spinner and Plucker to transfer the cache pages to my PDA, which works fine except where there is a TB in the cache I can't get it to follow the link to the TB page. Given that I have set the depth level on Plucker at 3, it should pick up the page (I thought). Anybody any ideas on how to do this or what I am doing wrong? As an aside I tried using GSAK, but for some reason can't even get the links to the hints with that!

The prices are very low on the site Globetrotter mentions, but the shipping to the UK is very high- $26-61 depending on the method!

I have just bought one for a new cache I am planning, which is a little further from where I live than my other caches so I didn't want to have to keep going back because of damp contents. They are very expensive but I have yet to find a waterproof container having tried ammo boxes and tupperware (my last cache has tupperware within tupperware!). Haven't tested it out yet, but I assume their claims are true. Paul

Wow! Just read the entire thread. Read it because the UK Tsumani cache has been archived even though it was a real cache and there was no compunction for anyone to donate. I find that extremely bizarre. Why does it matter if a cache promotes a non-profit making cause? Would I care if similar caches were set up to promote donations to say fox hunting in the UK or the NRA in the US (both of which I strongly disapprove)- of course not- I wouldn't visit them. Quite easy really..

Many thanks to Nellies Knackers for the code to the UNICEF Paypal donation site- now added to the cache pages

Back in July I emailed geocaching,com to ask what had happended to the maps. I was told they had been taken off because they were about to be upgraded. Guess that wasn't true but you cn find the old maps at geocaching.com/maps/uk (e.g).

I think I can translate what Babypanda means. Theyfound the cache some time ago and thought they had logged it but the log is not showing on geocaching.com

I am from the UK. On a recent trip to the US I was amazed at how many travel bugs were logged into a cache but were missing. At one TB Hotel 6 out of the 9 logged in bugs were missing! I noticed the same thing in about 5 diffeent states so it didn't seem to me to be a single state thing. I have done over 50 UK caches, but as yet have never come across a missing travel bug. I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing or what. Is this normal that bugs go missing so often in the US?