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Airport layover bookmark list


hzoi

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Howdy. We've benefited from many an airport stopover cache and wanted to put a master list together. Kudos go to Mensa2, who has a great list of European airport caches, for getting us started.

 

So far we've identified over 100 caches in or near international and larger regional airports around the world. (Though we did stop at three caches for Copenhagen and didn't list all eight or so.) The idea is that a traveler can either log the cache without leaving the airport or can nab it after a short walk or shuttle ride.

 

Please take a look at the list. If you know of a cache we missed that you think belongs on the list, let us know. Or, if you see a cache on the list and you don't think it should be a layover cache, let us know that, too!

 

The list is here:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/plan/lists/BM11W0M

 

Thanks,

 

Christian & Kelly (hzoi)

Edited by hzoi
updated link to new format
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Here is a great resource for USA airports!!!

 

http://www.wnag.net/airports

 

I transfer through Denver quite a bit. Using your link, I looked up the caches there, and I don't think there is any way to get a cache without renting a car or getting a cab. Try explaining that on to the cabie. "Keep it running! I will just be over there messing with that military container right next to the airport, and will be back in about 5 min."

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If you have a sizeable layover at an international airport and you leave to go geocaching, won't you have to go through customs again. Or security here in the US?

 

I had to do that when I had a short layover at CDG in Paris coming from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the way home in New York. Your lists contains one of the caches at CDG but when I went through there were two of them (both near airport hotels) that one could do if you had a long enough layover. I considered it but was unsure if I'd have enough time. I went as far as going outside so I got another stamp in my passport.

 

There used to be one near a hotel at Shiphol airport in Amsterdam. I had an early flight out after spending a few days on a business trip in the south part of the country. I specifically stayed at that hotel the night before because there was a TB hotel next to it.

 

Yesterday I just finished up a Terms of Agreement for a year long project I'll be working on with FAO of the U.N. so there may be a bit more travel in my future. Thanks for posting the list but I generally always search for caches near any airport where I might have a layover.

 

Your posting does reveal an enhancement that I've often wished for: sharable bookmarks. Wouldn't it be nice if someone could create a bookmark then others could add caches to it?

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If you have a sizeable layover at an international airport and you leave to go geocaching, won't you have to go through customs again. Or security here in the US?

 

If you are out of the country, you will go thru customs/security in the USA, regardless of what/where you have been while traveling.

 

What you'd have to do 'over there' would be to be security re-screened and what ever their country requires wrt their customs procedures.

 

With today's heightened security, I would not be at all surprised to learn that if leaving an international airport and returning 4-5 hours later raised a red flag or two.

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Excellent idea!

But what of the time factor for getting through security? Any trouble getting back to your gate with just a boarding pass and your passport? Anybody have any details specific to Europe they can share? My layovers are typically 1 to 2 hours (and I can *almost* see the cache from the lounge!).

With only two hours, I would not chance it. At some airports in Europe, you may have to go through two security checkpoints coming in from the outside. I know that, after arriving from an EU country at both Frankfort and Copenhagen, I had to go through another security check before getting to the departure concourse for flights to the US and other international destinations.

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If you have a sizeable layover at an international airport and you leave to go geocaching, won't you have to go through customs again. Or security here in the US?

 

If you are out of the country, you will go thru customs/security in the USA, regardless of what/where you have been while traveling.

Most geocaches would require you to go through immigrations and customs of the country, since it would need to be in a non-sensitive area (airports are not usually very friendly towards geocaching) and the cache owner needs to be able to access it for maintenance. There are exceptions. The one in Singapore I linked to above is one of them - it is in the transit area, so you search for it after you exit the plane, but before you go through the metal detector / x-ray to get to the boarding gates for your connecting flight.

 

With today's heightened security, I would not be at all surprised to learn that if leaving an international airport and returning 4-5 hours later raised a red flag or two.

I guess it would depend on the airport, and whether your name is on any list. I haven't encountered any problems personally. Most countries would like you to spend some of your money during your stopover.

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Excellent idea!

But what of the time factor for getting through security? Any trouble getting back to your gate with just a boarding pass and your passport? Anybody have any details specific to Europe they can share? My layovers are typically 1 to 2 hours (and I can *almost* see the cache from the lounge!).

With only two hours, I would not chance it. At some airports in Europe, you may have to go through two security checkpoints coming in from the outside. I know that, after arriving from an EU country at both Frankfort and Copenhagen, I had to go through another security check before getting to the departure concourse for flights to the US and other international destinations.

 

WeightMan, the extra security you describe is only for flights going from Europe to the USA. They do take longer, but I still found it quicker to go through Frankfurt security getting back to the States than going through domestic security in the US. And don't even get me started about how long passport control takes in the US. The big cattle pens in Atlanta and DFW take forever. I know why, I understand why, but it doesn't make it any more enjoyable.

 

I lived in Germany for five years and flew in and out of Frankfurt probably around fifty times, maybe more. I don't think it ever took me more than a half an hour to fourty minutes from walking in the airport door to clearing security and passport control. A little more time needed when checking luggage, but most airlines are on self-check now so the lines are normally much shorter. I found most customs checks in Europe are perfunctory, even in eastern Europe. That's if you even have them -- if you're coming from another EU country, they don't even check. Since the Schengen treaty passport control has been less formal as well -- you're lucky if you get a stamp these days.

 

I flew through Milan-Malpensa a number of times. The third time was the time we got the cache, but I think just about every time I would have had enough time to leave the airport and grab the cache.

 

It'd be nice if every airport was like Frankfurt or O'Hare, with a virtual right in the airport. (Or Copenhagen, with around ten physical caches in and around the airport.)

 

Bottom line, your mileage may vary. The list is there if frequent travelers want an easy pocket query to load caches just in case they have time. Obviously if you don't think you're going to have time to grab a layover cache, you shouldn't take the risk.

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Excellent idea!

But what of the time factor for getting through security? Any trouble getting back to your gate with just a boarding pass and your passport? Anybody have any details specific to Europe they can share? My layovers are typically 1 to 2 hours (and I can *almost* see the cache from the lounge!).

With only two hours, I would not chance it. At some airports in Europe, you may have to go through two security checkpoints coming in from the outside. I know that, after arriving from an EU country at both Frankfort and Copenhagen, I had to go through another security check before getting to the departure concourse for flights to the US and other international destinations.

 

WeightMan, the extra security you describe is only for flights going from Europe to the USA. They do take longer, but I still found it quicker to go through Frankfurt security getting back to the States than going through domestic security in the US. And don't even get me started about how long passport control takes in the US. The big cattle pens in Atlanta and DFW take forever. I know why, I understand why, but it doesn't make it any more enjoyable.

 

I lived in Germany for five years and flew in and out of Frankfurt probably around fifty times, maybe more. I don't think it ever took me more than a half an hour to fourty minutes from walking in the airport door to clearing security and passport control. A little more time needed when checking luggage, but most airlines are on self-check now so the lines are normally much shorter. I found most customs checks in Europe are perfunctory, even in eastern Europe. That's if you even have them -- if you're coming from another EU country, they don't even check. Since the Schengen treaty passport control has been less formal as well -- you're lucky if you get a stamp these days.

 

I flew through Milan-Malpensa a number of times. The third time was the time we got the cache, but I think just about every time I would have had enough time to leave the airport and grab the cache.

 

It'd be nice if every airport was like Frankfurt or O'Hare, with a virtual right in the airport. (Or Copenhagen, with around ten physical caches in and around the airport.)

 

Bottom line, your mileage may vary. The list is there if frequent travelers want an easy pocket query to load caches just in case they have time. Obviously if you don't think you're going to have time to grab a layover cache, you shouldn't take the risk.

I had to go through that extra security check on my way through Frankfort from the US going to Milan.

 

I tried that one at Milan/Malpensa, but I didn't realize it had to be done coming from the airport and tried to get to it from my hotel. Almost got in trouble for trespass.

 

I understand completely about the lines at IAD. Two 747s came in from Europe at about the same time and customs was backed up something fierce. I haven't returned through Atlanta or DFW so I can't comment on those.

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If you have a sizeable layover at an international airport and you leave to go geocaching, won't you have to go through customs again. Or security here in the US?

 

If you are out of the country, you will go thru customs/security in the USA, regardless of what/where you have been while traveling.

Most geocaches would require you to go through immigrations and customs of the country, since it would need to be in a non-sensitive area (airports are not usually very friendly towards geocaching) and the cache owner needs to be able to access it for maintenance. There are exceptions. The one in Singapore I linked to above is one of them - it is in the transit area, so you search for it after you exit the plane, but before you go through the metal detector / x-ray to get to the boarding gates for your connecting flight.

 

With today's heightened security, I would not be at all surprised to learn that if leaving an international airport and returning 4-5 hours later raised a red flag or two.

I guess it would depend on the airport, and whether your name is on any list. I haven't encountered any problems personally. Most countries would like you to spend some of your money during your stopover.

 

This geocaching thing must be really important.

 

"Most countries would like you to spend some of your money during your stopover."

 

I'm quite certain that that is true. This probably explains why most airports have large shopping areas so that you can spend your money during your stopover. I hope that they are not placing sales revenue above passenger safety. You probably didn't mean to imply that though.

 

Also, it wouldn't be too difficult to believe that certain behaviors would gain the attention of airport security regardless of your name being on any 'list'. I think that we all know of total airport evacuations when someone inadvertently 'slips' thru security and the constant warnings wrt those unattended bags. Someone passing thru customs and leaving the airport, then later returning, re-entering thru security. Yeah, that might not catch the attention of security but I'd seriously doubt it.

Edited by Team Cotati
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This geocaching thing must be really important.

"Most countries would like you to spend some of your money during your stopover."

 

I'm quite certain that that is true. This probably explains why most airports have large shopping areas so that you can spend your money during your stopover. I hope that they are not placing sales revenue above passenger safety. You probably didn't mean to imply that though.

I'm implying that leaving the airport for a short interval is not viewed by me (see below) to be a security threat.

 

Also, it wouldn't be too difficult to believe that certain behaviors would gain the attention of airport security regardless of your name being on any 'list'. I think that we all know of total airport evacuations when someone inadvertently 'slips' thru security and the constant warnings wrt those unattended bags. Someone passing thru customs and leaving the airport, then later returning, re-entering thru security. Yeah, that might not catch the attention of security but I'd seriously doubt it.

Who knows what the security people at airport might find suspicious. Certainly it'll take a much greater mind than mine to fathom what goes on in their heads. I'm merely sharing my experience and would love to hear about the experience of others. I'm definitely not presenting this as "no you won't get into trouble".

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So far we've identified over 100 caches in or near international and larger regional airports around the world. (Though we did stop at three caches for Copenhagen and didn't list all eight or so.) The idea is that a traveler can either log the cache without leaving the airport or can nab it after a short walk or shuttle ride.

 

Please take a look at the list. If you know of a cache we missed that you think belongs on the list, let us know. Or, if you see a cache on the list and you don't think it should be a layover cache, let us know that, too!

 

EWR Layover does not strike me as a good choice for this list. It is not at Newark Airport. It is on the other side of a major highway, with no pedestrian access. Possbly accessible by shuttle (of that I am not sure.) (We actually went looking for it once (on the way back from Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth), but took the wrong ramp, and ended up on the Interstate.)

To pilots, 'layover' can mean the overnight stay between flights. And I think that that's what 'layover' means here.

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GCAD23 is at Bradley International - Hartford/Springfield - BDL

 

I saw that one, but is it within easy striking distance for a layover? It looked like it was on the opposite side of the airport.

 

As the say in Maine, "can't get there from here". If you have a lot of time, you could walk, but otherwise, a cab would be needed. It is, in fact, on the opposite of the airport from the terminals.

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Hi All

 

Don't seem to be able to view the rest of the list besides the 1st page??? Any suggestions?

 

Cheers

 

That's a but that I used to see quite often when viewing bookmarks with lots of pages. I hadn't noticed it in awhile but noticed the same behavior on this bookmark list.

 

Regarding going through security/immigration.

 

I just got back from a 10 day trip in Africa and went through two security checkpoints at several airports. At least in the African airports that I've flown out of there is typically a security checkpoint just to enter the airport and another near the gates. In Nairobi, Kenya there was a dedicated security checkpoint for each gate.

 

How long it takes to get through immigration/customs and security checkpoints can't really be generalized. It depends on the airport and the time of day. I had a seven hour layover at CDG in Paris so I left the airport to visit the city. The lines were very short at immigration and security going in and out but I wouldn't rely on that always being the case.

 

I have found that smiling, greeting the immigration (ie. Good morning, bonjour) then don't say anything unless asked and you'll get through immigration quickly. A U.S. citizen with an american passport will get through immigration quickly, but be aware that there are still many countries which may require some kind of visa as well to leave the international section of an airport. Make sure to read the immigration sites for any country you may be passing through to see specific requirements.

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On a 5+ hr layover in Frankfurt on my way to Bangalore, I had a coworker watch some of my stuff and I went out, took a hotel shuttle to a nearby hotel, found the TB hotel in the park across the street, swapped some TBs, signed the log, then took the shuttle back. I wandered around the airport a bit, then passed back through passport control and security and rejoined my coworker. The guy in passport control looked a bit suspiciously at the exit stamp from about an hour earlier, but as a US citizen, I don't need a visa to enter Germany and he stamped me back in. I thought about doing the terminal virtual at that time but that would have meant clearing security twice in a short period and I thought that might be pushing my luck with respect to interrogation.

 

(My Indian coworkers are not so lucky. It's difficult for them to get even a transit visa for Germany ,so they're stuck within the security perimeter no matter how long the layover.)

 

I did get the virtual on a subsequent trip while changing planes on my way to Stockholm.

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When flying through MSP (Minneapolis-St.Paul) people can end up with long layovers. If the layover is long enough to leave the airport, there is a light rail system (LRT) that you can take to the Mall Of America with a very popular, yet time-consuming indoor cache (GC7B09)

 

However, there is a bookmark list listing a cache at each LRT station. Fares on LRT are ~$2 for 2.5 hours unlimited use, ~$4 for 6 hour unlimited use, and $6 for 24 hour unlimited use. (Fares vary at times of day, and day of week)

 

Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but feel free to send me e-mail if you want more information or have any question on these caches.

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After hitting a high water mark of 210 or so layover caches, looks like this list is losing more caches than gaining. Bumping this topic to see if I can get recommendations any new caches near airports that I might have missed.

 

Here's one not on your list that I might grab next month:

 

SJO - San Layover (San Jose, Costa Rica)

 

A couple of other general comments.

 

In an earlier post you mentioned how easy it was to get through Frankfurt. After the first time I flew through Frankfurt it was really easy and even though I had a fairly short layover I exited the airport just to get my feet on the ground in Germany (it was my first visit to Europe). The last time I think I went through several checkpoints and it took much longer. In that case, I was coming through the US and going to Marseille, France (another EU country).

 

There are a couple of other considerations when traveling through an international airport that are worth mentioning. For US and EU citizens traveling through European airports is pretty easy and doesn't require a visa (not even a transit visa). However, for others a short term or even a transit visa might be required to exit or even get out of the international section of the airport.

 

Some countries require an exit tax that must be paid before entering security. Although a visa isn't required for a US citizen to enter Costa Rica, an exit tax is required to be paid before leaving. In some countries, an exit tax is included in the cost of the airline ticket.

 

One of the things that I've done several times when traveling through a layover airport is to go to the spot where one leaves the secure area and ask the TSA agent there how long it takes to get back through security. If you're not transferring to a domestic flight you're also to have to go through exit immigration but that typically goes faster than entering a country (but you're going to have to do both if you want to leave the airport).

 

A couple of locations that often make good layover caches are near off-site car rental and long term parking areas. Usually there are lots of quick and free shuttle buses to those spots that'll get you there and back pretty quickly.

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Well, it isn't really all that important whether or not any individual views leaving the airport for a short time as a security threat. What is important is what the security individual who is screening you on the way back in thinks.

 

Also in this modern age of smart phones why is a bookmark list needed. Just fire up the phone, run the app and peruse all nearby caches.

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Well, it isn't really all that important whether or not any individual views leaving the airport for a short time as a security threat. What is important is what the security individual who is screening you on the way back in thinks.

 

Also in this modern age of smart phones why is a bookmark list needed. Just fire up the phone, run the app and peruse all nearby caches.

 

Try doing that in many countries and you'll find a hefty data roaming charge on your mobile service bill when you get home. $20 per megabyte is fairly common.

 

When I travel internationally I often have a choice of which airports I might go through enroute to my final destination. I have looked over geocaching opportunities near airports prior to booking my flights to see if there might be something I can grab and if I have a long enough layover. A bookmark list makes this even easier.

 

I wouldn't even consider trying to fire up my smart phone app and see what's nearby when landing someplace I haven't previously visited. I know well before I leave my original destination what caches are near layover airports and usually my final destination airport and if I'll have time to get them.

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I logged the O'Hare virtual a few weeks ago while transiting and it sure made the layover much better. :) Though I was wondering how it would factor into the long-neverending argument with my sister about if you can say you've been in a state/country if you have only visited the airport- if someone logs the cache then it will be in Illinois so they've been to the state no? ;)

 

I had a long layover at the Santiago, Chile airport a few months ago and was super-annoyed as there's a cache right outside, and while I had enough time to grab it I would've had to pay US$100 for a Chilean visa (not all citizens have to, just us Americans). So I spent my time in the terminal looking out from a restaurant at the bush where the cache is hidden instead!

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I logged the O'Hare virtual a few weeks ago while transiting and it sure made the layover much better. :) Though I was wondering how it would factor into the long-neverending argument with my sister about if you can say you've been in a state/country if you have only visited the airport- if someone logs the cache then it will be in Illinois so they've been to the state no? ;)

 

I don't count it unless I've exited the airport building. With the official Groundspeak mobile app you would merely need to search for geocaches in order to obtain a souvenir for Illinois.

 

I didn't realize that there was a virt in O'Hare but I've found the one in Frankfurt airport. The first time I landed at Frankfurt was before I started geocaching but I left the building so that I could say that I had been to Germany. I don't count landing in Kenya and going from gate to gate as a visit to Kenya, nor do I count the time I was on a plane from Johannesburg to Washington DC that landed in Senegal for refueling (I never got off the plane).

 

I had a long layover at the Santiago, Chile airport a few months ago and was super-annoyed as there's a cache right outside, and while I had enough time to grab it I would've had to pay US$100 for a Chilean visa (not all citizens have to, just us Americans). So I spent my time in the terminal looking out from a restaurant at the bush where the cache is hidden instead!

 

That's as bad as driving within 1000' of one of only four caches in Ethiopia (and the only one within 200 miles) four times but never able to get any closer to search for it.

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Here's one not on your list that I might grab next month:

 

SJO - San Layover (San Jose, Costa Rica)

 

Little off the beaten track for what I would consider a layover, but hey, it says "layover," so in it goes.

 

...in this modern age of smart phones why is a bookmark list needed. Just fire up the phone, run the app and peruse all nearby caches.

 

Well, I've got a "dumb" phone, and I suspect I'm not the only one. And you're assuming your phone works in the area or country you find yourself in -- something that's increasingly common these days, but far from universal.

 

After finding a few stopover caches (the virtual at O'Hare, the traditional outside Milan-Malpensa, the virtual at Frankfurt am Main, the TB hotel at Frankfurt am Main, one of the many caches at Frankfurt-Hahn), I got curious as to how many caches there were like this, so I started looking around, and I started bookmarking the ones I found. I thought making it a public bookmark list would help some folks out, so I did, and from time to time, I ask folks if they have any for the list.

 

If the bookmark list ain't helpful to you, don't use it. Not going to hurt my feelings or keep me up at night, I made it for me. I just decided to share it and ask for a hand adding more caches to it.

 

That's as bad as driving within 1000' of one of only four caches in Ethiopia (and the only one within 200 miles) four times but never able to get any closer to search for it.

 

OK, I know there's a story here. Do tell.

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Three more for your list:

 

DUS: There is a very active one at Dusseldorf Airpot: GC193BP. Nice hike from the terminal, with very clear directions in the cache description. Please add to the list.

 

FRA: You list one cache, but I have visited another one that is easily done from the airport in under an hour with a free hotel shuttle bus: GCHWM1. Please add this one.

 

INN: Innsbruck Airport has a TB Hotel in the parking structure: GC1FY5E

 

LHR: There is a mystery cache that seems fun. GC243KB. I tried doing it but did not find, but others have since reported it there, so it must be there.

 

Thanks for maintaining this list.

Edited by SeekerSupreme
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Thank for the suggestions! I'd toyed with the idea of adding the other two TB hotels at Frankfurt, I went ahead and included them, as well as another new cache near Terminal 2 (cachers have logged that they found it during a stopover, so that works for me).

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GREAT list! I'm downloading as a PQ right away.

 

I logged this one during a stopover in Copenhagen: GCHRFB

It is a 15-minute (?) walk from the terminals, but I guess geocachers are good at checking distance and time available.

 

Relatively new airport in Norway: GC1HRV7, GC1HRWA

 

This bookmark list for Frankfurt is probably useful:

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=ffc33b24-9683-47c6-aaea-0a6546cffa2e

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There are three good ones at the main airport for Seoul (ICN): GC2E2DB, GC1C03C, GC1C3YF -- they are outside of the airport, but all of them are on or near airport shuttle bus stops. I ran out of time on my way out of Korea, so couldn't get them, but probably an easy three if you are there.

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With today's heightened security, I would not be at all surprised to learn that if leaving an international airport and returning 4-5 hours later raised a red flag or two.

 

I don't know about outside the US but that has not been my experience here in the US. Long layovers and smoking bans mean that some people will eventually leave the restaurant/bars in the secure area to go out for just a few minutes and then go back through security. I was stuck in Miami for 6 hours and went back and forth a few times. They knew why and did not care.

 

Back to the original topic:

There is a cache at Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, Jamaica that I plan to get next month on vacation.

Edited by John in Valley Forge
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mamoreb, thanks for the new caches. As for Frankfurt Airport, I'm going to stick with the ones I have already -- I lived near Frankfurt for a few years and, while some of those are indeed walking distance, others are at least a bike ride away.

 

Alkalikhoi, had two of those, but thanks for the new TB hotel.

 

It's nice to add some for a change -- seems normally when I update the list, it's to take off an archived one.

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Thanks to you both, added those four.

 

I knew about the Copenhagen caches; when I first put the list together, I decided to stick to only three caches near any given airport, because bookmark lists used to have a limit of 500 caches and I didn't want to run out of room. Now there's no limit, so I'm listing all 11 caches that appear to be close enough to the Copenhagen airport.

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Thanks to you both, added those four.

 

I knew about the Copenhagen caches; when I first put the list together, I decided to stick to only three caches near any given airport, because bookmark lists used to have a limit of 500 caches and I didn't want to run out of room. Now there's no limit, so I'm listing all 11 caches that appear to be close enough to the Copenhagen airport.

 

First of all, thanks for maintaining this list. I was unaware that you were limiting each airport to 3 caches.

 

It's also difficult to set a specific distance between the entrance/exit of an airport terminal and a cache. How long a layover one has at an airport, and how long it might take to exit the airport and get back to your departure gate in time really determines whether or not it's advisable to go for any specific cache on the list. If one is flying internationally, there may be passport control and customs to go through when leaving the airport. Some countries levy an "airport" tax (Costa Rica, for example) that has to be paid before going through security. In some cases, a cache may be a couple of miles away, but if it's near an airport hotel or long term parking, there may be frequent shuttle buses that'll quickly take you to the cache and back. I've been through airports where a 3 hour layover wouldn't be long enough to leave the airport, walk a short distance to the cache, and the back to my departure gate in time.

 

Whenever I travel I tend to want longer layovers. To me, a layover of even an hour or less can add a lot of stress. If I'm going through an airport in a State or Country I've never visited I might prefer several hours, though if that country requires a Visa I'm probably not going to leave the airport anyway. I'll be flying on Friday from JFK to Zurich and will have a 22 hour layover (plenty of time to do some caching) but I'm a bit concerned about the short layover in Nairobi, Kenya on the way to Dar es Salaam. The last time I traveled through Nairobi I pretty much sprinted from gate to gate, only to find my flight was delayed a half hour. I'll probably see about as much of Kenya as I did the last time.

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Whenever I travel I tend to want longer layovers. To me, a layover of even an hour or less can add a lot of stress. . . . The last time I traveled through Nairobi I pretty much sprinted from gate to gate, only to find my flight was delayed a half hour. I'll probably see about as much of Kenya as I did the last time.

 

Been there, done that.

 

Well, haven't been THERE. But done that. Thanks to a flight delay, I once had 12 minutes to make a connection in Atlanta. Thankfully it was a weeknight after the business rush, so it wasn't as bad of a sprint as it could have been. Made it a good couple minutes before the door closed, which gave me a chance to catch my breath and stop sweating a little.

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Whenever I travel I tend to want longer layovers. To me, a layover of even an hour or less can add a lot of stress. . . . The last time I traveled through Nairobi I pretty much sprinted from gate to gate, only to find my flight was delayed a half hour. I'll probably see about as much of Kenya as I did the last time.

 

Been there, done that.

 

Well, haven't been THERE. But done that. Thanks to a flight delay, I once had 12 minutes to make a connection in Atlanta. Thankfully it was a weeknight after the business rush, so it wasn't as bad of a sprint as it could have been. Made it a good couple minutes before the door closed, which gave me a chance to catch my breath and stop sweating a little.

 

I also did that recently. I had a 50 minute layover scheduled in Philadelphia on the way to Denver. My flight out of Ithaca left about an hour late. Of course, flights from Ithaca arrive at the "commuter plane" terminal, which requires getting on a shuttle bus to the main terminal. I was the second to last person to get on the plane but I made it.

 

I'm almost hoping that I would miss the connection in Nairobi, but it appears that I won't even change planes. There are plenty of flights the next day but I'd have to get a transit visa ($50) and stay in a transit hotel ($~80) but there's an earthcache a short walk from the transit hotel.

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I found this one in Genoa, Italy. Genoa is a small airport and this is an easy and fast grab.....not the prettiest, but it gets you the smiley. "Genova GC2E92H"

 

This is a fun one at the Europort (technically for Basel, Switzerland, but it is located in France....servicing CH, France and Germany). Duty Free EAP - GC1R9QK

 

I will echo the comments about Copenhagen Airport. If one has time, you can snag a half dozen super fast (although I did DNF the one in the walk-way).

 

I can attest that the virtual (GC2RKGZ) at Heathrow is alive and well...at least it was when I was there....but the final is hidden in an area with major CITO karma available (beer bottles, old car parts and girlie mags scattered about) and gps was poor at GZ ...unfortunate as there was a traditional probably no more than 1000 feet away from the final that was very nice, but appears to have gone missing although owner has stated he will revive - (Fly Drive Arrive GC2P9CQ.) But saying a cache is at Heathrow is akin to saying a cache is in downtown Chicago.......definitely can be a walk or more likely a drive to get from one point of LHR to another.

 

San Francisco has a few around it....but SFO is not really an airport you can walk from easily. There is a train (BART) that one can take from SFO to the first stop at Millbrae (5 minutes if that). Two caches there: GCRR9F and GCGC58....plus a few others in walking distance. GCBC09 is the closest Bug Hotel, with GCP52D right next to it. GC2DC01 is probably the closest to SFO (we own it), but with a major freeway in between it and the airport, it is similar to the Newark airport cache (which I did manage to get thanks to having a rental car).

 

This one is very close to Oakland Alameda Airport....but a bit of a walk, especially with luggage (depends upon your layover and legs). GC2J0TG.

 

I have found a few in Bahrain...but not this one. It appears to be almost on the airport, but because I did not actually grab this one as it was place after my last visit there, I can't attest to the ease of grabbing it: GC36JFT

 

I have passed by this one in taxi from Aberdeen, UK airport a few times just never had the chance to grab. Some logs do mention grabbing it walking, so appears it can be done (like Genoa, ABZ is very small so easy in-and-out). GCWBBJ

 

My two cents for the FRA travel bug hotel....it can be done (I did) and getting back through customs was actually not too bad for me. On the downside, when I got it....despite the inventory of 20-30 trackables, none were there. Oh well, still counted and I dropped our fist geocoin there. Although, despite having logged 100,000 mile through FRA...I have yet to get the virtual there :)

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Thanks for those. I had a few of those already, I added a few others.

 

On Oakland Airport -- I think I'll add GC2EH8W instead, as it appears to be much closer to the terminal. From the Google Street View, it looks like there's a bike path from the terminal area that joins with the bike path around the edge of the golf course.

 

And yeah, based on this log, I don't think I'll be adding your cache near SFO, sorry. :laughing:

 

This goal of one year streaking is getting rough...I'm in SF Airport on a 2.5 hour layover...gotta get my one, so I leave the airport to get this one that is ONLY .07 away....if I could fly over the freeway...ended up walking 7.5 miles to get this and get back to the airport...with 17 minutes to spare....

 

Poor coastiegirl! At least she made her flight...

 

edit: And yeah, getting RWY 42 is tricky, you pretty much have to be flying Lufthansa within Europe. We got it before a flight from Frankfurt to Copenhagen.

Edited by hzoi
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