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Going caching in various countries


Team Ginger

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What have other cachers done?

 

I'm wondering how other cachers plan finding caches when going on tour and perhaps visiting a few countries..

Do you buy the europe maps? - do you have to?

If your GPS can only store, let's say 500 caches, how will you select from the bulk? - especially if you are not perfectly sure exactly where you will be in each country..

 

We won't be taking a laptop on tour... so I am considering tagging the iPad along, but not sure if that's a great idea... which data card do you get? Surely one can't buy one in each country? ..roaming?? expensive???

 

I'm putting the question out there to hopefully get some ideas from you guys..

 

I wouldn't want to print out a whole wack of listings? That won't work for us either?

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Hi Ginger - let me tell you what I generally do. It works for me but might not work for you.

 

1. I will research the area / city / route that I will be visiting. City easiest, area a bit more difficult and route most difficult. I will select a number of caches and will then read through the ones that I think I want to do. My selection is normally EC's, events, traditionals, multi and then puzzles in order of preference. I will then prioritize them in terms of interest factor followed by distance and time factors based on must do to would be nice to do. :unsure:

 

2. Selection can either be done via GSAK or manually. I find manually works better as I can look at the map and then choose which ones to select. At the same time I can read up about the caches. Once selected I will download to my iTouch using the Apple geocaching app and save the details for off-line paperless caching. I will also download to my Galaxy Tab [larger memory but poor app for off-line use.] I will also make sure that download "extra" caches just in case I get the opportunity to find more and/or do not get the opportunity to visit an Internet Cafè where I can download more caches. Both iTouch and Galaxy have Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it is not necessary buy data cards - although that can be done. I do so in South Africa and Australia as the costs are reasonable. Europe, Middle East, USA and Canada tends to be much better to make use of WiFi facilities which are available at most coffee shops in malls, etc.

 

3. Once I have done all the above and I feel I am "ready to go" I will then download all the cache waypoints to my GPSr. I will generally download many more waypoints than I will ever be able to find as I might just pass by a cache and the GPSr will tell you that there is a cache nearby. I moght look for it even though I don't have the paperless description. [Adds another dimension to caching - find a cache "blind" and unprepared for it.]

 

4. Maps are freely available on the internet and I will only upload to the GPSr that maps or map segments that I will be using. ie: I do not load the entire Australia when I will only be in 1 or 2 states. The same applies when I visit SA - only the regions where I will be. Europe maps are HUGE - so you will need to select carefully which ones to load.

 

Finally, I do not use the GPS function of the Galaxy Tab for caching -especially overseas as it uses a lot of data and can become expensive. My GPSr is an eTrex Vista HCx with and additional 4GB microSD card added. I find that the storage capacity is more than enough for my needs provided I select my maps carefully.

 

Good luck with the planning of the trip. I find that the planning is almost as good as the caching experience once there as you have done all the reading and research before the hunt. Once you find the cache it just affirms what you already know about the place/area.

 

Keep us posted on your plans and teh trip.

 

Happy caching.

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I'm probably a dinosaur but I've never bought other maps. Just got a general idea of where the caches are (used to use the Google maps app in GSAK but the new Maps Beta is just as good), maybe even printed a hard copy of the map (at various resolutions depending on the nr of caches) and then just followed my nose on a white GPS screen and never had a problem. Because I have a very old Magellan I also had to upload the cache descriptions to an iPod (also a GSAK app - like the fact that it's so small and in any case in my backpack) if I needed them. As Cincol also suggested - a bit of homework is needed but then it's pretty straight forward. If you have browsing capability it is in general much cheaper to buy a SIM card in the country where you travel (or these days many hotels or even coffee shops will give you free internet access). Enjoy!

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Cincol -

I will also make sure that download "extra" caches just in case I get the opportunity to find more and/or do not get the opportunity to visit an Internet Cafè where I can download more caches. Both iTouch and Galaxy have Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities so it is not necessary buy data cards - although that can be done. I do so in South Africa and Australia as the costs are reasonable. Europe, Middle East, USA and Canada tends to be much better to make use of WiFi facilities which are available at most coffee shops in malls, etc.

 

Hesemati -

If you have browsing capability it is in general much cheaper to buy a SIM card in the country where you travel (or these days many hotels or even coffee shops will give you free internet access). Enjoy!

 

 

Aha! that's something I didn't think of... the fact that there should be wi-fi internet in the hotels... this will certainly be something I'll investigate! I could just check the area's caches for the next few days as we go along if not sure of exactly where we will be..

 

I tend to always select more caches in an area than we would be able to do... fact is that we will be on tour and we will only do one or two caches in every city and only if they are "right there" where we are.

The caches are just sooooo many! I'll have to do some serious filtering.

 

I guess knowing exactly where we'll sleep over and what sightseeing is planned, this should help me narrow it down.

I would just hate to be just a few metres away from a cache and not doing it because of 'not even knowing it's there' and I had no way of searching for caches either online or in some database..

 

..I will have to enquire whether the wi-fi is free in the hotels we'll visit though... else that could still be expensive!

 

I am thinking of also buying a better card for the GPS to possibly store more caches on it - that was a good idea too, thanks!

 

Thanks to everyone for the help so far! :smile:

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Sorry to jump in here, but you have made me curious: What about if you use a Blackberry? Would the gps app and maps work even without roaming?

 

If I might add : I went over to Maputo in Moz recently just for the afternoon from where we were staying close to Hectorspruit, and tried my luck with my BB.

 

Obviously I lost my normal phone signal just over the border , BB maps went dead about 5km in but I could use Cacheberry (now Cachesense) right on the coast in Moz.

 

Worm

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We'll visit 7 countries in central Europe (no UK). It's going to be awesome!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

We'll be part of a tour group for sections of the total trip, so we'll try to find a cache wherever we can get away from the group - I would definitely want to find at least one cache in every country (or city if I can help it) :)

 

So I need to go prepared (and make things as easy as I can for myself while there)!!!

 

I usually prep caches along a route for any trip we make, filtering out the ones that will take too much time (especially if we don't have much time at each stop) and then I also print the maps to give me a general idea of what is where... and then I usually divide the caches in sections to be able to reload the gps with the right maps and caches for the next section of the trip.

 

It works well, but now I'll be in foreign territory and without a laptop. ..and possibly partly without an online connection...

 

There are sooooo many caches in the popular tourist areas which we'll visit. Another aspect making the filtering difficult, is that we'll need to probably be in a fairly 'walkable' distance from the caches we'll find - don't mind walking, but don't need to get lost or be late anywhere either.

 

Would be the worst to miss a 1/1 cache, 3 metres from where we had lunch, you know!!! :-)

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