Travelbug (Visited)

[+joacer]

I just started a few TB's and see some people are taking them for a visit, To me this misses the point of a travel bug, pick it and drop it don’t just log it at a cache, like cheating on the mileage the bug gets. What does anyone else think of this?

[+The Blorenges]

I think it's a useful feature if used with some consideration.

 

e.g.

 

(i) The TB's mission is to go and visit famous landmarks. We take it to Trafalagar Square, London, and take photos. Oh dear. The nearest suitable container that will hold a TB is 1.5miles away... but there's a nano on the corner of the square. I know - We'll give it a visit there!

 

(ii) I have a TB in my bag. It wants lots of miles because it's in a race. I'm going to Edinburgh, Scotland on business for two days. Not a lot of time to do caches in the city but I find a couple near work. Oh dear. They're micros so I couldn't leave the TB there - But I can give it a visit to show it was there, then bring it back south again to drop it off.

 

(iii) This TB wants to travel to France. I'm going to Paris in 6 weeks, so I can take it with me then. But that's quite a long time for me to hold a TB with no activity... I know - I can take it to a few local caches to visit. That'll keep it moving, give it a few extra miles and the owner will know it hasn't been forgotten about.

 

Have I convinced you yet that it's a worthwhile feature?

 

MrsB

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

<nevermind>

 

Regarding the question of "What does anyone else think of this?" will get you a lot of varied responses.

 

There are a number of threads regarding "visits".

 

Each has their own opinion as to whether it's good or bad.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+stijnhommes]

People are bound to abuse any feature. I only log a visit for a travel bug when I have actually visited a cache while the bug was with me. If I left it at home or when I can't find the cache in question, it doesn't count.

[+dprovan]

I just started a few TB's and see some people are taking them for a visit, To me this misses the point of a travel bug, pick it and drop it don’t just log it at a cache, like cheating on the mileage the bug gets. What does anyone else think of this?

I admit, I think like you do, so I don't care for the practice much, either. I always drop a bug pretty much as soon as I can, but sometimes I can't find a large enough cache or want to drop it in a different direction than I'm going that day, so once in a while I'll log a visit in order to show that the TB really was in an interestingly different location even if I didn't leave it there.

 

Other people think lots of visits are the cat's pajamas, but try to put up with it. Make it very clear in your TB's page that you'd rather not have visits and stress that your priority is more people seeing the TB rather than the TB seeing more caches. Some people might notice, but live with the fact that many won't.

[+E_ZIG_A]

I like to take Travelbugs with me when I Geocache and will visit them into interesting caches, take their photo, write a story, etc. I do this to get some distance up on those bugs, add to their story (because don't forget, once you release a travel bug, you are asking other people to add their spin to your bugs story and that is out of your control and I think part of the fun!). I also like to try and drop those travel bugs somewhere along the path to reaching their destination, or in a cache that will accommodate the bug or in a cache that I feel is 'safe' for the bug or even just in an interesting cache and in the meantime, rather than have nothing happen I log visits for that bug, which shows the owner it is still in the game.

[Bench Mark]

I think it's a useful feature if used with some consideration.

 

e.g.

 

(i) The TB's mission is to go and visit famous landmarks. We take it to Trafalagar Square, London, and take photos. Oh dear. The nearest suitable container that will hold a TB is 1.5miles away... but there's a nano on the corner of the square. I know - We'll give it a visit there!

 

(ii) I have a TB in my bag. It wants lots of miles because it's in a race. I'm going to Edinburgh, Scotland on business for two days. Not a lot of time to do caches in the city but I find a couple near work. Oh dear. They're micros so I couldn't leave the TB there - But I can give it a visit to show it was there, then bring it back south again to drop it off.

 

(iii) This TB wants to travel to France. I'm going to Paris in 6 weeks, so I can take it with me then. But that's quite a long time for me to hold a TB with no activity... I know - I can take it to a few local caches to visit. That'll keep it moving, give it a few extra miles and the owner will know it hasn't been forgotten about.

 

Have I convinced you yet that it's a worthwhile feature?

 

MrsB

 

Brilliant response

[+Cachefoxxe]

I have 3 or 4 bugs out there now. For me a visit or a move doesn't matter, it shows me that its still on the move, and in play. I also have one Personal bug on my keychain. Which I log a visit in every cache I go to. This is so I can keep track of what order I visit caches in, and see somewhat how many miles I have travelled on the hunt.

[+JandJD01]

I have wondered about this. I discovered a TB 10 days ago which wasn't logged into the cache I found it in. In fact it hadn't been logged at all for 20 months! I emailed the owner thinking he would be pleased to know it had resurfaced and asking him whether he would prefer me to drop it locally to me (I'm in UK, he's in Germany) or if he would like me to take it to Greece in 2 weeks time. I'm unsure of the protocol as this is the first one I've found.

I emailed him again a few days later as I'd made a mistake in the first mail and then 2 days ago I google translated another mail in case he wasn't understanding me. His profile shows that he's been on the website during this time, he presumably will have received email notifications of the mails AND of the TB logs yet he hasn't responded up to now.

I've been 'visiting' with this TB whilst waiting purely to keep it active.

Any comments on what I've been doing and/or advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

[+JandJD01]

PS ... I have only one trackable 'out there' myself at the moment. I know it's been picked up from where I dropped it and I have to say I'd prefer to see some 'visits' in the log than the nothing that I AM seeing ... but I'm probably being impatient

[+kunarion]

I emailed the owner thinking he would be pleased to know it had resurfaced and asking him whether he would prefer me to drop it locally to me (I'm in UK, he's in Germany) or if he would like me to take it to Greece in 2 weeks time. I'm unsure of the protocol as this is the first one I've found.

See if you can help it on its mission. But if it's been slow to move in one country, maybe try another?

 

"Profile Message" email can be tricky. Sometimes, cachers reply to the "no-reply" email they receive, sometimes email filters are acting up. Do a nice log on the TB page itself (a Note or whatever, mentioning your trip intentions), and that should be fine.

Edited August 24, 2012 by kunarion

[+dprovan]

I have wondered about this. I discovered a TB 10 days ago which wasn't logged into the cache I found it in. In fact it hadn't been logged at all for 20 months! I emailed the owner thinking he would be pleased to know it had resurfaced and asking him whether he would prefer me to drop it locally to me (I'm in UK, he's in Germany) or if he would like me to take it to Greece in 2 weeks time. I'm unsure of the protocol as this is the first one I've found.

It's great that you think a month is a long time, and I agree with you that it is, but it's well within reason in order to wait for a nice opportunity to move a long way like that. (Some people don't seem to think a month is long at all for holding a TB, although I don't understand them.)

 

You don't need to ask the owner where to drop it, as long as you're within the TB's goals.

 

And since you're holding it, anyway, having it tour some of your local caches sounds like fun, too. I think it's nice to edit the visit logs to talk about the visits, and a previous responder even said he posts pictures!

 

By the way, did you remember to have the TB visit the cache you found it in? After all, it was definitely there! Too late now if you didn't though.

[+JandJD01]

Thanks for your replies Great idea about writing a note in the bug's log. I'll do that, I HAVE made a few notes as I've logged the visits but I never thought of that. It's goal is simply to travel from cache to cache so whichever I do is helping it along. I think I will take it to Greece, it'll certainly add to the mileage and I'd like someone to take mine away like that. Do as you would be done by and all that hey!

When I grabbed it I noted where I'd found it but didn't actually visit it into the cache - never thought of it - dur! But the first one I logged it as a visitor to was only a few hundred metres away so it won't have affected the mileage. I too thought it would be nice to take pics of the visits but I've only remembered to do it once! I think it's nice for the owner though and adds to the story - AND makes it interesting for the grandchildren if they're with me.

It's Mr Navigator by the way - so he can help me navigate to/round Kefalonia - lol!

 

Thanks again