My First Travel Bug - What Should It's Mission Be?

[+Forest Ninjas]

I received my first trackable in the post this morning , it's a Cache Movers travel bug (photo below).

 

 

I was thinking of getting it to try and visit all of the cities in the UK, 66 I believe. As my first trackable I didn't want to set it on too big a mission (i.e. all continents, or specific places aroudn the world, but at the same time I didn't want it to just go to one place in this country and come straight back, I think my idea is somwhere nicely in the middle of those two extremes.

 

What do people think?

 

Are there any things people think I should bare in mind with the idea I have mentioned?

 

Also, is it actually a travel bug, or a geocoin, as I've found sites saying it's one, and other sites that say it's the other.

[+The Blorenges]

Well...

 

I'd say it's a travel bug tag. Are you going to attach some item to it, or just let it travel as it is?

 

As for visiting the 66 UK cities, I'd say that's a worthy mission but it will take a very log time. Sometimes TBs get lost, take rests, disappear for months/years on end, go off on their own excursions etc.

If you just give it a vague mission "to visit all the UK cities" it'll get picked up by someone heading towards Truro, get dropped half way there, then picked up by someone going to Winchester, who'll take it to a field near Yeovil, then it'll get diverted to Wales etc etc etc...

 

I think it's better to set a very specific route to maybe 4 cities to start with. Make it clear on the TB's page in which order you want the cities visited and attach a tag naming those cities so that cachers can immediately see where your tag is heading. When it gets to the first city on your list you can ask the cacher to cross that city off the tag. Make the fourth city somewhere relatively near to you so that when it gets there you can go and collect it, and attach a new tag with the next city route.

 

That would be my idea anyway.

 

Good luck with it - I hope it'll travel well for you.

 

MrsB

[+SailinOn]

I've found that I enjoy seeing my bug move more than I care about the mission. One day, I'll have a ton of them out there, and I should have one being moved on a regular basis. Until then, I tend to keep it about as complicated as "Get me to the West Coast."

[+kunarion]

Are there any things people think I should bare in mind with the idea I have mentioned?

 

Also, is it actually a travel bug, or a geocoin, as I've found sites saying it's one, and other sites that say it's the other.

Attach a laminated info sheet (you can print one from the menu in your coin's page). It can say "I want to visit all UK cities", and you may update the page for the specific city to visit next. Or you can list them on the sheet.

 

Your Trackable is a Geocoin. If it were a Travel Bug, it would have "Travel Bug" imprinted on it, a dogtag shape and distinctive barcode "bug" image.

[+Forest Ninjas]

Thank you all for your input!

 

I think setting it off to a certain county or two, with numbered cities would make it easier!

[+Team Triggerfinger]

I like your idea of a mission. Here in the USA, I send nearly all of my trackables with a mission of being placed in a cache in all 50 states. As they reach a new state, I edit the trackable listing to show which states have already been accomplished.

 

I even have a geocoin touring Germany with a goal of visiting all 16 states there. I'm nearly halfway done with that one.

 

Good luck with your trackable.

[+fotimyr]

Visiting all 66 cities in the UK sounds like a fun goal, and slightly more exciting than "just let me travel". The latter is fair enough though.

I have nine trackables released so far. The ones with interesting goals are

 

• Travel from Norway to Shimokawa, Japan. (TB48EH7)
  
• Travel from Norway to the Alfa Romeo Museo Storico in Arese, Italy. (TB49F0X)
  
• Visit all EU countries. (TB4RAJ5)
  
• Go to Poland, visit caches and pay tribute to the WWII Polish Independent Highland Brigade. (TB4H1R2)
  

 

The rest are just vagabonds with little or no particular purpose in life. The cheapest and simplest TB is actually the one who have travelled furthest and visited the most caches

Word of advise though: TBs can take some pretty extreme detours and be stuck for months in the wrong caches. It's just how it is.

 

Good luck!

[+Forest Ninjas]

Thanks for the support guys!

 

All being well I will release it in a cache in the next week or so.

 

I've worked out the first 6 cities for it to visit, but I'm going to try and plan the whole journey before I let it embark on its mission.

[+power69]

I received my first trackable in the post this morning , it's a Cache Movers travel bug (photo below).

 

 

I was thinking of getting it to try and visit all of the cities in the UK, 66 I believe. As my first trackable I didn't want to set it on too big a mission (i.e. all continents, or specific places aroudn the world, but at the same time I didn't want it to just go to one place in this country and come straight back, I think my idea is somwhere nicely in the middle of those two extremes.

 

What do people think?

 

Are there any things people think I should bare in mind with the idea I have mentioned?

 

Also, is it actually a travel bug, or a geocoin, as I've found sites saying it's one, and other sites that say it's the other.

specific mission traveler usually last longer than move from cache to cache travelers.

[+power69]

Well...

 

I'd say it's a travel bug tag.

its a geocoin. it has its own icon. tb have generic bug icon.

[+The Blorenges]

Well...

 

I'd say it's a travel bug tag.

its a geocoin. it has its own icon. tb have generic bug icon.

 

I'll take your word for it... but I've never thought of them as geocoins!

 

What about all those Cachekinz tag things? Do you consider them to be coins too? They don't have the generic bug icon either.

 

MrsB