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hzoi

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Anyone knows how much time is needed to get out of the customs area at Oslo Gardamoen, to any of the caches and back inside again? I have a 90 minute layover there in early August. If I don't have to pick up my luggage it might be enough to at least do one of them.

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Anyone knows how much time is needed to get out of the customs area at Oslo Gardamoen, to any of the caches and back inside again? I have a 90 minute layover there in early August. If I don't have to pick up my luggage it might be enough to at least do one of them.

 

I had a longer layover than that in Oslo and chose *not* to risk going for the nearest cache but that was a couple of years ago. If I recall getting through security and immigrations/customs was very painless but it's hard to predict how much time that will take. BTW, Oslo Gardamoen is a *very* nice airport and has some of the friendliest people working in the airport I've ever seen. It looks like there are a bunch of caches now close to the terminal that were not there when I transited through. There's a TB hotel right outside the terminal. You might get lucky and have an early arrival but 90 minutes would be cutting it really close to getting back to the gate for the boarding time.

 

 

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Anyone knows how much time is needed to get out of the customs area at Oslo Gardamoen, to any of the caches and back inside again? I have a 90 minute layover there in early August. If I don't have to pick up my luggage it might be enough to at least do one of them.

Tempting. That bug hotel would be a great candidate (and is added to my list). I think I'd want a little more cushion, though, especially as August is likely to be tourist season. Any chance you can change your flights to get a slightly longer layover?

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Anyone knows how much time is needed to get out of the customs area at Oslo Gardamoen, to any of the caches and back inside again? I have a 90 minute layover there in early August. If I don't have to pick up my luggage it might be enough to at least do one of them.

Tempting. That bug hotel would be a great candidate (and is added to my list). I think I'd want a little more cushion, though, especially as August is likely to be tourist season. Any chance you can change your flights to get a slightly longer layover?

 

Thanks guys. I know it's very little time. I don't personally think I have enough time and I might have to pick up my luggage and check it in again - something you get with inter-norwegian flights (not sure if also true for coming from Svalbard). On the flight out I only have 50 minutes, which apparently is enough for the luggage routine if I have to do it. So no idea. I don't expect a much earlier arrival or delay though. Lets just see.

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Anyone knows how much time is needed to get out of the customs area at Oslo Gardamoen, to any of the caches and back inside again? I have a 90 minute layover there in early August. If I don't have to pick up my luggage it might be enough to at least do one of them.

Tempting. That bug hotel would be a great candidate (and is added to my list). I think I'd want a little more cushion, though, especially as August is likely to be tourist season. Any chance you can change your flights to get a slightly longer layover?

 

Thanks guys. I know it's very little time. I don't personally think I have enough time and I might have to pick up my luggage and check it in again - something you get with inter-norwegian flights (not sure if also true for coming from Svalbard). On the flight out I only have 50 minutes, which apparently is enough for the luggage routine if I have to do it. So no idea. I don't expect a much earlier arrival or delay though. Lets just see.

 

Although travel booking sites will let you book a layover of 50 minutes or less, I rarely would do it, especially for an international flight. I just don't want the stress worrying if I'm going to make a connection. I'd much rather have a 3 hour layover (even if it didn't include finding a cache during the layover) than any time less than an hour. If there was an opportunity to cache in a new country I might even consider flying the next day and paying for a hotel.

 

 

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Anyone knows how much time is needed to get out of the customs area at Oslo Gardamoen, to any of the caches and back inside again? I have a 90 minute layover there in early August. If I don't have to pick up my luggage it might be enough to at least do one of them.

Tempting. That bug hotel would be a great candidate (and is added to my list). I think I'd want a little more cushion, though, especially as August is likely to be tourist season. Any chance you can change your flights to get a slightly longer layover?

 

Thanks guys. I know it's very little time. I don't personally think I have enough time and I might have to pick up my luggage and check it in again - something you get with inter-norwegian flights (not sure if also true for coming from Svalbard). On the flight out I only have 50 minutes, which apparently is enough for the luggage routine if I have to do it. So no idea. I don't expect a much earlier arrival or delay though. Lets just see.

 

Although travel booking sites will let you book a layover of 50 minutes or less, I rarely would do it, especially for an international flight. I just don't want the stress worrying if I'm going to make a connection. I'd much rather have a 3 hour layover (even if it didn't include finding a cache during the layover) than any time less than an hour. If there was an opportunity to cache in a new country I might even consider flying the next day and paying for a hotel.

 

Well, I booked on the SAS website directly. they should know how their flights connect and what's possible. This is the standard connecting from Denmark to Svalbard, and they have masses more inter-norwegian flights, thus I suppose it's ok. It's not possible to book stopovers or chose later departure times on their website.

 

correction: I have the short stopover on the way back. This would not be a problem at all. If SAS messes up I'll end up on a later flight or get a free night.

Edited by terratin
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Now that virtual caches are once again a thing, we're pleased to add the first new Virtual Reward cache to our airport list.  Check out City of Neighborhoods the next time you're near Chicago Midway Airport.

For that matter, any Virtual Reward recipients who may be wondering what to do with that virtual, you'd make a traveler very happy if you got permission to place it inside an airport terminal...and if you do, please post it here or contact us so we can put it on the list.

And as usual, if you know of any good airport-friendly caches out there that we missed, let us know and we'll add it to the list.  Thanks!

Edited by hzoi
"the first," not our first - 'tain't ours
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16 hours ago, hzoi said:

Now that virtual caches are once again a thing, we're pleased to add the first new Virtual Reward cache to our airport list.  Check out City of Neighborhoods the next time you're near Chicago Midway Airport.

For that matter, any Virtual Reward recipients who may be wondering what to do with that virtual, you'd make a traveler very happy if you got permission to place it inside an airport terminal...and if you do, please post it here or contact us so we can put it on the list.

And as usual, if you know of any good airport-friendly caches out there that we missed, let us know and we'll add it to the list.  Thanks!

I grabbed one of the caches on your list Sunday morning, T2 at Helsinki airport.  I grabbed it after taking the hotel shuttle that dropped me off about 150' from the cache. Before leaving the hotel I took about a 2 mile walk near the hotel and found four others, including one by one of our regular forum participants.   The day before, after spending the night at a airport hotel in Copenhagen I took the train over to Malmo, Sweden and found one of the new virutals, a couple of traditionals and an earth cache, then went back to CPH on the train and took a different train to central Copenhagen where I found a few more.  They're not exactly airport caches but were easy to get to using ground transportation from the terminal. When I've got 4 hours or more layover I usually will check for caches that I can get to using public transportation (light rail, trains) from the airport rather than caches that are within walking distance of the terminal.  

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4 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

When I've got 4 hours or more layover I usually will check for caches that I can get to using public transportation (light rail, trains) from the airport rather than caches that are within walking distance of the terminal.

Yeah, I almost missed my flight home from Seoul doing that -- hopped on the wrong bus.  :bad:

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3 hours ago, hzoi said:
8 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

When I've got 4 hours or more layover I usually will check for caches that I can get to using public transportation (light rail, trains) from the airport rather than caches that are within walking distance of the terminal.

Yeah, I almost missed my flight home from Seoul doing that -- hopped on the wrong bus.  :bad:

I could see how that could happen, especially if the destination on the bus/train is in a language one doesn't understand.   I'm pretty careful about making sure I've got the outbound and return trips clear.    Knowing how often the bus/train runs (and if it might stop running after a certain time of the day) is kind of useful as well.

Although it was before I started geocaching I once missed a bus from Chamonix to Geneva (about 100km) even though I was there when it stopped because it was an entirely different bus than what I rode on for the Geneva to Chamonix trip.  It wasn't just me.  There were 8 other people that made the same mistake and since the next bus was the following day (when I had a meeting) I ended up sharing a taxi with a family from Poland to get back to Geneva.  

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5 hours ago, noncentric said:

Here's one that could be added to the list.

One of the newer Virtual Reward caches, located at Baggage Claim of Sacramento Airport (SMF):   Virtual Reward - Leap

 

I've flown into Sacramento airport several times and know why someone might place a cache there.  oops, I checked that link and it doesn't show another unique sculpture at baggage claim

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12 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I've flown into Sacramento airport several times and know why someone might place a cache there.  oops, I checked that link and it doesn't show another unique sculpture at baggage claim

There are quite a few pieces of interesting art at SMF.  The one you're thinking of is probably in the other Terminal from the Virtual cache I noted.

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13 hours ago, noncentric said:

There are quite a few pieces of interesting art at SMF.  The one you're thinking of is probably in the other Terminal from the Virtual cache I noted.

 

I didn't realize Sacramento had more than one terminal.  I've flown there several times (my brother lives in Sacramento) and always arrived in the terminal that has this:

 

Goggin_Samson.jpg

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Just did some early spring cleaning to clear out archived caches and (where possible) add newer hides.  I was able to trim out some placeholder archived caches (the zzz section at the bottom), since a few airports have seen new hides published since my last major update back in June.

 

As always, if anyone knows of any caches near an airport that aren't already on my list, reply here or send us a message or email.

 

(And if your airport of choice lacks a nearby cache - why not hide one to welcome travelers to your home town?)

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23 hours ago, hzoi said:

Just did some early spring cleaning to clear out archived caches and (where possible) add newer hides.  I was able to trim out some placeholder archived caches (the zzz section at the bottom), since a few airports have seen new hides published since my last major update back in June.

 

As always, if anyone knows of any caches near an airport that aren't already on my list, reply here or send us a message or email.

 

(And if your airport of choice lacks a nearby cache - why not hide one to welcome travelers to your home town?)

 

This is a great list and thanks for maintaining it.  For those interested in finding a cache or two during an airport layover, I often recommend looking further away for opportunities as well.  Many larger airports have good public ground transportation that will get you from the airport to someplace nearby that might be easier than walking from the terminal to the closest cache.  When looking at airport for potential caching opportunities check if there is a light rail or train that goes to the terminal at the airport.  For example, when I flew into Narita airport (Tokyo) I hopped on a train and the first stop was about a 10 minute ride to the town of Narita where I found a cache in Naritasan park/temple.  Yes, there were caches closer to the airport but typically the area around airports are not very scenic.  If you fly into Copenhagen there is a quick train that goes into the city and also one that goes over to Malmo, Sweden (about a 20 minute ride).  

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22 hours ago, Balaraka said:

Would be wonderful if someone set one up in Heathrow!  We have a connecting flight there in March and have not visited the UK yet - a virtual would give us a find there.

 

The London Underground is connected to the airport.  If your layover is long enough you can take the Piccadilly line and there are "TUBE" caches near several of the stops.  The one at Boston Manor or South Ealing should be doable.  

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On 2/4/2019 at 4:22 PM, DerDiedler said:

Don´t know if allready listed:

GC11PTV

TB-Hotel Stuttgart (STR)

 

It is - that's one of the first ones I added, I think.  I started the list with the ones around Germany before expanding it out, one continent at a time.  We visited it last October.  Coordinates were 50m off (on opposite side of the parking deck).  I do see the cracked container was fixed, so there's that.

 

But thanks - it's much better to be told about a cache twice than not at all!  One of the reasons I try to get folks to tell me about new airport caches is because it's a bit of a slog to go out and find them. 

 

Some day I should go back through a list of all the international airports and check for new caches.  But that is literally looking at hundreds of different geocaching maps, and I just don't have the time.  Right now I only check for new caches at a given airport if one of the caches I have bookmarked gets archived.

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Looks like the CO has turned this one into a virtual of sorts. Does the CO have a maintenance plan?

From the cache description.

You are allowed to send me a picture of the zero point
and log a FOUND.

  An attempt to absolve them from maintaining it?

 

Edited by colleda
spelling typo
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On 1/9/2020 at 10:45 PM, colleda said:

Looks like the CO has turned this none into a virtual of sorts. Does the CO have a maintenance plan?

From the cache description.

You are allowed to send me a picture of the zero point
and log a FOUND.

  An attempt to absolve them from maintaining it?

 


And it’s just had another throwdown. ☹️

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Bump - did some maintenance on the list after a year's hiatus or so.

 

As always, if you see something that should be on the list but isn't, or is on the list but shouldn't be, please let us know.

 

Also, since another round of Virtual Rewards is coming, a little plug: if you're struggling to find a spot for a virtual, why not put one at your favorite airport? B)

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Bump. I did some periodic maintenance today on the list to clear out archived caches. Some of them I was able to replace with new hides, including a few Virtual Reward 3.0 hides.

 

If you know of a cache in or near an airport, and you don't see it on our list (they're sorted by ICAO codes), please feel free to post the GC code here or message us.

 

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14 hours ago, hzoi said:

If you know of a cache in or near an airport, and you don't see it on our list (they're sorted by ICAO codes), please feel free to post the GC code here or message us.

GC9P71D is a virtual at MUC, and would fit perfectly into the list.

 

OTOH, I'm wondering about the two puzzle caches listed for MUC. When I found them many years ago, the finals were way outside the airport area, and definitely impractical to do between flights. But they they have both been moved since then, so maybe they're now better to reach from the airport.

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On 1/24/2023 at 4:54 AM, baer2006 said:

GC9P71D is a virtual at MUC, and would fit perfectly into the list.

 

Perfect, thank you! I'd missed that one. I spent a lot of time looking at airports back when I first started this list, but now I usually don't go back to a given airport unless one of the existing caches on my list has been archived. For Munich, I know I haven't looked at the map in at least a year.

 

On 1/24/2023 at 4:54 AM, baer2006 said:

OTOH, I'm wondering about the two puzzle caches listed for MUC. When I found them many years ago, the finals were way outside the airport area, and definitely impractical to do between flights. But they they have both been moved since then, so maybe they're now better to reach from the airport.

 

I admit, I struggle with puzzle caches. If it's easily solved, then no problem. But for many, the language barrier is too much for me to overcome. So I usually rely on (robot translated) logs. The best ones are of course any that say, "We had a 4-hour layover at the airport, which gave us plenty of time to go looking for this cache and get back for our flight." Failing that, I look for logs that talk about finding the cache on their way to (or from) the airport.

 

That's why I resurrect this forum post now and again, so I can get feedback from folks who have found the caches on the list.

 

Which brings us to, if any recent finders of GC5PF9M or GC2ABTH have opinions on how feasible it would be to get to either of those caches from the airport terminal, I'd be glad to hear them.

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5 hours ago, hzoi said:

Which brings us to, if any recent finders of GC5PF9M or GC2ABTH have opinions on how feasible it would be to get to either of those caches from the airport terminal, I'd be glad to hear them.

GC2ABTH: I still had details about my solution. I plugged them into the new formula for the final, and it turned out that in principle you could do this as a layover cache (if you have at least 2 hours to spare, I'd say).

 

GC5PF9M: I didn't note down any details, so I couldn't calculate the current final. But in the listing, it says: "ACHTUNG !!! Aus aktuellem Anlass: Der Cache ist nur schwer vom Flughafengelände zu erreichen. Als Zwischenstop oder um die Wartezeit bis zum Anschlussflug zu verkürzen halten wir ihn für nicht geeignet." So the CO explicitly advises against attempting this as a layover cache.

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On 1/25/2023 at 5:19 PM, baer2006 said:

GC2ABTH: I still had details about my solution. I plugged them into the new formula for the final, and it turned out that in principle you could do this as a layover cache (if you have at least 2 hours to spare, I'd say).

 

GC5PF9M: I didn't note down any details, so I couldn't calculate the current final. But in the listing, it says: "ACHTUNG !!! Aus aktuellem Anlass: Der Cache ist nur schwer vom Flughafengelände zu erreichen. Als Zwischenstop oder um die Wartezeit bis zum Anschlussflug zu verkürzen halten wir ihn für nicht geeignet." So the CO explicitly advises against attempting this as a layover cache.

 

I definitely either missed the note on GC5PF9M, or it was added after I put it on my list.

 

I'm taking both off the list. Thanks!

 

On 1/27/2023 at 5:41 AM, Vooruit! said:

TGD (Podgorica) also has an airport cache: https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9PBH5_airport-podgorica-tgd.

 

Added it, thank you!

 

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Stockholm definitely looks feasible. 3.5 hours sounds like more than enough do the job. All depends how busy security is of course. There's also a virtual out there that actually can be done behind security.

 

Copenhagen has got a virtual as well, but this one is before security. Considering your layovers, I would do the Stockholm virtual and a physical cache outside as well. For Copenhagen, oh well, actually the same. Go for it.

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On 3/1/2023 at 12:58 PM, Ringrat said:

This virtual (https://coord.info/GC891DA) is a 7-minute walk from Abbotsford International Airport (YXX). Doesn't look like it's made the list yet!

 

(More BC stuff... )

 

I've been to that one. There is also a very similar virtual at Kamloops Airport (YKA), with a different fighter jet: GC9P5R2.

 

Also, I guess for anyone going to Vancouver BC (YVR), there are now two virtuals there:

GC9P653 and GC890WX, plus an Advanture Lab called YVR: Planes, Trains, and Gondolas.

The YVR TB hotel is GC9F4GZ (about 2 km. from the terminal, just off Miller Rd.)

 

Finally at Victoria airport (YYJ), there is a virtual GC9P5DJ at the NW edge of the airfield, and another TB hotel south of the airfield (GCT2N4).

 

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