In so many words ....

[+The Booklady]

I am very excited about my new hobby, but whenever I try to explain it to others, i can see them start to glaze over

 

How do you describe geocaching and capture the 'excitement' in just a few words?

[markandlynn]

High tech treasure hunting

[+Von-Horst]

Other than to say that I was born a geek, was raised as a geek and will die a geek I don't really try (although I have been known to say its a bit like orienteering without the Kagool and with Snickers rather than Marathons...).

 

Instead, if someone asks what its all about and they seem to be genuinely interested, the Mrs and I just take them caching.

 

Sometimes the bug bites , sometimes it doesn't

[ljay]

orientering with a GPS

 

There is leaflets on one of the link sites, i'll look them out and post the links here.

[Izzy and the Lizard King]

How do you describe geocaching and capture the 'excitement' in just a few words?

 

Oooh! Is it a competition?

I used to enter loads of comps years ago - the sort where you have to complete a sentence in less than ?? words. I was pretty succesful too

 

We've had the "glazed expression" response many times. Also the derisive laughter ...... you do what?! ......tupperware boxes in the countryside! Woe betide if you do a night time cache before meeting friends in the local hostelery! (We've done that)

Now we are very selective as to who we tell. We are much more likely to share our hobby by visiting the forum, attending events or emailing our geo-friends.

 

Iz

[+4 Badgers]

There is leaflets on one of the link sites, i'll look them out and post the links here.

 

It's here

[+Renegade Knight]

I am very excited about my new hobby, but whenever I try to explain it to others, i can see them start to glaze over

 

How do you describe geocaching and capture the 'excitement' in just a few words?

"Come with me, we are going geocaching!"

 

It's easier to show them than try to combat the glaze factor.

[ljay]

Thanks to 4 Badgers for saving me the time, i just saved them on to my Flash drive.

The only problem i have is that i can't get the little card one's to print properly.

ok on one side but they don't line up on the other.

[+Father Jack]

I remember seeing on a friendly cachers t-shirt.....

 

‘I use multi billion dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods’

 

Or words to that affect

[+rutson]

I made one like that when I first started caching :-)

[+Delta68]

 

"Come with me, we are going geocaching!"

 

It's easier to show them than try to combat the glaze factor.

 

The inlaws live near Sutton Park and the last couples of times we visited them they came for a walk with us in the park to do some of the caches.

 

They're seen our Garmin and our Mio.

They've seen print-outs with the cache details on.

They've stood nearby while we've signed logbooks etc

and they STILL don't understand it It's not like they're senile or anything... they just don't seem to grasp the idea that people hide things for others to find

 

I think we'll be doing caches on the way to their house in future...

[+currykev]

I've given up trying to explain!

I thinks it's better if we keep our sport "unusual" and for a selected few only!

[+The Booklady]

There is leaflets on one of the link sites, i'll look them out and post the links here.

 

It's here

 

that is a great little leaflet, thanks for sharing

[+vw_k]

I usually first check that they know what GPS is. If they don't, I simply say it's like a cars satnav but you use co-ordinates like latitude/longditude and can be accurate to within about 10 feet.

 

Then I just say it's a treasure hunting game where people hide boxes with logbooks in and publish the GPS co-ords so other people can find them, it's a high tech treasure hunt, some are easy to find boxes in the local park, some are in difficult to reach places or the co-ords are hidden within a puzzle or other challenge, the thrill is in the hunt

 

The other, even quicker options are "it's treasure hunting for nerds" or "It's a game created by the US government to get computer geeks exposed to sunlight!"*

 

 

 

 

* Not a proven fact.

[+Pharisee]

I just tell 'em that I hunt wild tupperware. Most say 'Oh.... really?'. One or two have even asked if I ever catch any.

[+SidAndBob]

I say it's a great way to discover new and interesting places to visit and go walking. The tupperware, events and geocoins bit just seems to encourage ridicule.