Travel Bug Etiquette?

[+Vartan84]

For all I know this has been asked before but there are so many topics it is hard to go through it all. I am wondering if there is a such thing as "travel bug etiquette"? I ask this because I bought a couple tags and finally sent my first one free into the wilderness. What I turned into a bug is very special and I much anticipated its start. A few days after I played it in the cache it was taken- but I am worried about it. The based on the comments the person made they seem to be a teen and not very dedicated. The day they found my bug was the first time they even cached since July. All their logs are very terse and they don't seem to take the hobby too seriously. Also, even though they took the bug they did not log the find so the site still lists the bug as in the cache.

I wrote them a message thanking them for taking the bug and asked them to please log that they have it on the site. I got no response and there has been no action, and the person has been missing from the site since. I am really worried that I might never see the bug again, or that at best they will end up keeping it for months on end if the past is any guide. I have tried to contact them with no luck. Does anyone have an idea how long it takes before a cacher should be expected to replace a bug? I'd be really upset if this cache is lost forever right out of the gate!

 

Thanks and please be sure to check out my youtube series of geocaching adventures at the link below! If you have an account please subscribe, I only have 10 and its getting very lonely.

Edited February 10, 2009 by Vartan84

[+Headhardhat]

This is always a very touchy subject to people and not so much for others. Here is my take...

 

A travel bug is a very fun trackable item that can if successful travel all around the planet. You have to consider though that it is "in the wild" which means once you place a TB in a cache say goodbye because you may in most cases never see it again.

 

- It can be taken by noobs who quit the game and never put the items they have back in another cache.

- The geocache can be muggled, lost due to weather/animals.

- The geocache can be destroyed weather, fires, floods, etc.

- The travel bug can have a successful run and go tens of thousands of miles.

 

The point in all of this is the TB is out where anything and everything can and will happen.

 

The usual etiquette is to have the TB for no more than two weeks before moving it on. This almost never happens. I have had bugs that people have hung onto for 10 months before moving. I have heard of others going for over two years though rare. The average is a month or maybe two before getting worried.

 

-HHH

Edited February 10, 2009 by Headhardhat

[JustWannaCache]

You should never attach a tb tag to anything of value, whether sentimental or monetary, and leav it in a cache. Trackables can disappear at anytime without warning.

[+AngelWolf93]

I thought about this myself when I started getting back into Geocaching. I will only pick up a TB or other trackable on two conditions. 1 - I'm going somewhere interesting that will further the TB's mission or the TB is located in a remote cache that doesn't get a lot of traffic, and is likely to get stuck there. Or 2 - It's a really neat TB that is located at a cache the geo-missus can't get to. In the first instance, I will move it on as soon as possible when I get to my destination or find a more well-traveled cache that it will fit in. In the second, I'll move it on as soon as I show it to the wife and then find a cache it'll fit in.

 

I'm starting to get into Geocoins, and this also crossed my mind. I got a few from a friend who happens to be a Groundspeak employee, and they're so nifty I don't want to lose them, so I won't be sending them out. However, now when I order my own geocoins, I always order 2 of each. That way, I can collect one and send the other out on a mission. Since I still have one in my collection, I don't have to worry whether I see the other one again or not.

 

If I send a TB out, I'll make sure that I have a duplicate of the TB at home, or I'll send something that has no sentimental value out into the wild.

 

As far as official etiquette, I've not seen any. I would expect the person who picked up my traveler to move it along within a couple weeks to a month at most. After 4 weeks, I'd probably try to get in contact with the cacher and ask them, politely, to please move it on so it can continue it's journey.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

As far as official etiquette, I've not seen any. I would expect the person who picked up my traveler to move it along within a couple weeks to a month at most. After 4 weeks, I'd probably try to get in contact with the cacher and ask them, politely, to please move it on so it can continue it's journey.

 

If there is an official etiquette (or unofficial) it could probably be more easily found in the Trackables forum.

 

I've been guilty of holding onto trackable items for longer than a couple of weeks (probably more often than not) and also considered moving a trackable in a direction which does not meet it's goal. I suspect that the 2 week guideline is probably violated quite often, especially during the winter.

 

As a general practice if I grab a trackable item and expect that I might have it more than a few weeks or might be traveling in the near future I'll send the owner a PM and let them know that it's safe in my hands and what I intend on doing with it. In more than one instance I had a trackable with a specific goal but I would be traveling to an area they the owner may not even have considered that their TB might visit. For example, I grabbed a "Lion" TB that had a goal to visit as many states as possible. After confirming with the owner, I took it to Rome with me and dipped it into the cache at the Colosseum. I had another that want to get to a specific waterfall in Thailand but, after contacting the owner, dipped it into the cache at Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe.

 

Basically, as long as the owner has some assurance that the TB is in safe hands (or in a "safe" cache) they're probably going to be happy.

 

It sounds like the basic problem with the OP is that without a response from the current holder you have no idea what the status of the item may be. As a TB owner (only a couple) I feel your pain. I had one that was in the hands of someone for almost exactly a year before they placed it in another cache. I sent a couple of PMs without a response and had pretty much given up on it when all of a sudden it was logged into another cache.

[Keystone]

Forum etiquette dictates that I should move this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Travel Bug forum.

[+Chi-Town Cacher]

Hi Vartan84. I just finished viewing one of your videos. I'm not trying to be a pain or anything, but I'd like to share my opinion which others may or may not agree with. I noticed on the video that you showed the hiding spot of the cache. It may just be me, but if I'd been the cache hider of that cache I wouldn't mind somebody videotaping the geo-adventure, but I would prefer that they not show the exact hiding spot or the method of camouflage. On a relatively simple cache it may not be quite as big of a taboo thing, but if a geocacher had put lots of time and resources into building a really unique multi or puzzle cache they might really resent somebody publicizing all of it's intricate details. Like I say maybe I'm the only one that will see it that way, but I thought I'd pass the thoughts on for you to consider. Happy caching!!!

[+gmcpower98]

Hi Vartan84. I just finished viewing one of your videos. I'm not trying to be a pain or anything, but I'd like to share my opinion which others may or may not agree with. I noticed on the video that you showed the hiding spot of the cache. It may just be me, but if I'd been the cache hider of that cache I wouldn't mind somebody videotaping the geo-adventure, but I would prefer that they not show the exact hiding spot or the method of camouflage. On a relatively simple cache it may not be quite as big of a taboo thing, but if a geocacher had put lots of time and resources into building a really unique multi or puzzle cache they might really resent somebody publicizing all of it's intricate details. Like I say maybe I'm the only one that will see it that way, but I thought I'd pass the thoughts on for you to consider. Happy caching!!!

 

X2

 

BTW

We lost a T.B. 2 months after releasing it.

The owner of the cache that it was supposed to be in e-mailed us and said he was there to do some maint. and noticed it was missing.

We gave it quite some time and decided it was not going to reappear.

I know some will say we shouldn't do this, but, we bought a replacement and attached the copy of the tag to the new one and set it free in a different cache.

it has slowly been getting some miles on it!

[+Vartan84]

I will only pick up a TB or other trackable on two conditions. 1 - I'm going somewhere interesting that will further the TB's mission or the TB is located in a remote cache that doesn't get a lot of traffic, and is likely to get stuck there.

 

This reminds me of the story behind my longest hold. I once held a bug for a month both because I didn't have a chance to get much caching in and then when I did I forgot it at home. After having it for a few weeks I developed the feeling that I couldn't just drop it anywhere, it had to be special. I found that special cache a month later and knew I had to place it in there. Your point number 1 reminds me of what happened next. Someone found it and moved it to a cache under a mile away!!! I was almost angry that after all that the person who removed it only moved it a few yards! There's no actual reason to get mad over that but I just felt it was a little futile to place it so close.

 

Oh and don't worry about my missing bug, it wasn't actually something sentimental to me. I like the idea used of using the copy if worse comes to worse!

 

Hi Vartan84. I just finished viewing one of your videos. I'm not trying to be a pain or anything, but I'd like to share my opinion which others may or may not agree with. I noticed on the video that you showed the hiding spot of the cache. It may just be me, but if I'd been the cache hider of that cache I wouldn't mind somebody videotaping the geo-adventure, but I would prefer that they not show the exact hiding spot or the method of camouflage. On a relatively simple cache it may not be quite as big of a taboo thing, but if a geocacher had put lots of time and resources into building a really unique multi or puzzle cache they might really resent somebody publicizing all of it's intricate details. Like I say maybe I'm the only one that will see it that way, but I thought I'd pass the thoughts on for you to consider. Happy caching!!!

 

Thanks for the feedback. I have thought about that fact, but I don't think it is really an issue. All of those which I have found are relatively simple caches like you mentioned- none are multis or puzzles, just typical easy-to-find caches. There are hundreds of thousands of caches out there, the odds of a random person looking for geocaching videos coming across one of mine and it ending up being one they've just not been able to find are slim to none- both because all the caches I have done are relatively easy finds and because they are all in one concentrated area while almost everyone else in the world is elsewhere. I have linked to the videos when I log them but always with a spoiler warning. I've since met the hider of the very first cache I ever found (episode 1) and they were glad to see the video and encouraged me to make one about a similar one they hid elsewhere. This doesn't mean no owner will be mad about it, just so far the only one who has said anything didn't mind. I suppose if someone caught the cache video early enough I'd be willing to take it down and remove the part where we actually find it, but once it gets some views I don't think I would since this would mean reseting all the info and perhaps making it be out of order. I guess just like we all take a risk when putting travel bugs out there a cache hider takes a risk that some crazy kids might make a video about their (non-puzzle or multi) cache. As long as we don't go around destroying it or anything and give the proper spoiler warning I suppose we are within our rights as cachers. Anyway thanks for bringing it up and watching!