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Travel bug motel


Team MonkeyLove

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I live almost on a major east/west interstate and very near a busy north/south highway and thought about placing a TB motel right off one of the exits in a parking area for a restaurant. Does anybody think that would be benificial for cachers and/or TBs or just too simplistic and cheesy? this would be my first hide if I do it. I have lots of great hide ideas just not too sure whats a good cache and a boring or too hard???

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If a travel bug hotel is in a good spot for the quick and easy exchange of travel bugs, then an empty hotel won't stay empty long. People are always looking for a convenient place to drop bugs off. The owner of a well-placed hotel should actually be pleased if the hotel is occasionally empty, since it shows that the hotel is serving its purpose: to get bugs moving quickly. And if a hotel does stay empty for long periods of time without the cache owner continually raiding other caches to re-stock it, then it's not a good place for a travel bug hotel.

 

- the hermit crabs Dec 2005

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The trouble with TB hotels is that some trackables can get "stuck" there, as cachers will take the most interesting TBs and others that may not grab their attention so much will continually be left in the cache. If you do place a TB hotel I'd recommend checking the cache regularly for trackables that havent moved, and if necessary, movethem on yourself. Nobody wants their TB to remain in the same cache because other TBs get taken instead.

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I think they are great. There is one not far from where I live that i can always dump some bugs into when I find them. I am usually a rescuer of bugs - many times I find some that have been in a out-of-the-way cache for a long time, and I will move them to the motel to get some miles.... they usually don't last long.

 

Sometimes you will have the other problem too, where people will go to retrieve a bug, and they area lready taken (which seems to be the case with the cache I use), so i feel that I am 'helping".

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There are many of these and I really don't like them. If one goes missing, a lot of TBs can go bye-bye in one swoop.

 

I went against my personal bias and placed a cache similar to a TB hotel for the purpose of exchanging geocoins. Of course it went missing along with the load of geocoins inside, which only made me more firm in my belief that these things are a bad idea.

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I've had both good and bad experiences with TB hotels.

 

But if you know of a good place to hide a secure, regular-sized cache near the intersection, then it will be used for TB exchanges whether you call it a "TB Hotel" or not. The best ones I've seen were securely strapped to a light pole or telephone pole (urban camo) with a padlocked cover. The padlock combination was the Interstate exit number.

 

Whatever you do, please don't make it a "TB Prison", which is where the cache owner sets rules that do not allow people to take a TB unless they leave an equal number or more.

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There are many of these and I really don't like them. If one goes missing, a lot of TBs can go bye-bye in one swoop.

 

I went against my personal bias and placed a cache similar to a TB hotel for the purpose of exchanging geocoins. Of course it went missing along with the load of geocoins inside, which only made me more firm in my belief that these things are a bad idea.

I agree, too well traveled areas are not a good place, we have one well off the "beaten path" of major through-ways so a dedicated cacher will find and swap, not muggles who are curious. I check it at least once a month and move along any stragglers to another "safe" cache. :unsure:

Edited by brainandbraun
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I live almost on a major east/west interstate and very near a busy north/south highway and thought about placing a TB motel right off one of the exits in a parking area for a restaurant. Does anybody think that would be benificial for cachers and/or TBs or just too simplistic and cheesy? this would be my first hide if I do it. I have lots of great hide ideas just not too sure whats a good cache and a boring or too hard???

 

I love nothing more than geocaching while driving from home to a distant vacation getaway, and many cachers also like to do so. If you check your area, you might really be surprised how many TB Hotels there are along major highways!!!! Go ahead and do it!!!

 

http://grigoriirasputin.wordpress.com

http://www.glass-cockpit.org

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I really like TB hotels, thinking of putting one in my area, so glad to have a place to drop them off, but only good when it is in a good location, where it can be found quickly enough by cachers, and the TB's are moved quickly.

 

Therein lies the problem. It should be in a fairly high traffic area, easy to access and easy to find, but those are the kinds of caches that are most likely to go missing.

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You just have to be smart. "Easy find" for a cacher is different then a cache that is easy for muggles to spot. Obviously you want it out of the way enough that a grounds keeper won't find it while trimming hedges. We all know what to look for; a UPS/UPR, an odd shape on a tree, etc, etc, etc...things that muggles will walk by or even on without noticing.

 

People have made many good posts about the high risk of TB motels. Keep it maintained and hide it so that a bunch of TB's don't go missing.

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