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collecting countries


terratin

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I just got back from a trip traveling around South-East Asia, and got 5 countries:

 

  • Singapore
  • Cambodia
  • Vietnam
  • Malaysia
  • Indonesia

 

Highlights of the trip were:

 

The 5 caches in the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, especially this one GC2T5NR Ta Nei - Temple of Butterflies.

 

The cache in the Singapore Airport, GC1HA96.

 

The three caches in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, especially this one GC2HMY3 TI TOP - Island & Beach.

 

Finding the 5 caches on the remote Gili Islands in Indonesia, especially this one that was "guarded" by dozens and dozens of baby turtles! GC3KFN8 Turtle Sanctuary gili meno

 

I also enjoyed hosting 5 events in the 5 countries, and meeting the local geocachers and other fellow travellers. It really was an amazing trip.

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We have pretty well finalised out big trip to Europe next year and we may be getting 15 new countries. The flights aren't confirmed yet, but we hope to fly Sydney to Venice via Singapore (1) and get the cache in T3.

 

3 nights in Venice, Italy (2) and then through Croatia (3) to Split and Dubrovnik and on to Montenegro (4).

 

Back up the coast to Ljubljana, Slovenia (5) and Budapest, Hungary (6). We then get a river cruise via Austria (7), Germany (8) to Amsterdam, Netherlands (9).

 

Then we hire a car and drive through Belgium (10) with a detour through Germany and France (11) to Luxembourg (12) caching in 5 countries in 1 day.

 

Then Luxembourg through France to Switzerland (13) where we spend a week, including a day in Liechtenstein (14).

 

We fly back to Sydney via an overnight stay in either Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Bangkok (15).

 

We will be caching in 22 of 26 cantons of Switzerland.

 

Looking forward to this trip as it takes me to places I haven't seen in 50 years, plus 5 countries I've never visited. Gill has only been to France (and not these parts of France) so it will all be new to her.

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We have pretty well finalised out big trip to Europe next year and we may be getting 15 new countries. The flights aren't confirmed yet, but we hope to fly Sydney to Venice via Singapore (1) and get the cache in T3.

 

3 nights in Venice, Italy (2) and then through Croatia (3) to Split and Dubrovnik and on to Montenegro (4).

 

Back up the coast to Ljubljana, Slovenia (5) and Budapest, Hungary (6). We then get a river cruise via Austria (7), Germany (8) to Amsterdam, Netherlands (9).

 

Then we hire a car and drive through Belgium (10) with a detour through Germany and France (11) to Luxembourg (12) caching in 5 countries in 1 day.

 

Then Luxembourg through France to Switzerland (13) where we spend a week, including a day in Liechtenstein (14).

 

We fly back to Sydney via an overnight stay in either Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Bangkok (15).

 

We will be caching in 22 of 26 cantons of Switzerland.

 

Looking forward to this trip as it takes me to places I haven't seen in 50 years, plus 5 countries I've never visited. Gill has only been to France (and not these parts of France) so it will all be new to her.

 

Wow!! Very nice plan indeed... you are very ambitious! :)

 

I just came back from Mexico & Canada - 1 new country for me (Canada) that is the 21st where I've geocached in, and my 30th visited state over my entire life. List is growing. :)

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We have pretty well finalised out big trip to Europe next year and we may be getting 15 new countries. The flights aren't confirmed yet, but we hope to fly Sydney to Venice via Singapore (1) and get the cache in T3.

 

3 nights in Venice, Italy (2) and then through Croatia (3) to Split and Dubrovnik and on to Montenegro (4).

 

Back up the coast to Ljubljana, Slovenia (5) and Budapest, Hungary (6). We then get a river cruise via Austria (7), Germany (8) to Amsterdam, Netherlands (9).

 

Then we hire a car and drive through Belgium (10) with a detour through Germany and France (11) to Luxembourg (12) caching in 5 countries in 1 day.

 

Then Luxembourg through France to Switzerland (13) where we spend a week, including a day in Liechtenstein (14).

 

We fly back to Sydney via an overnight stay in either Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Bangkok (15).

 

We will be caching in 22 of 26 cantons of Switzerland.

 

Looking forward to this trip as it takes me to places I haven't seen in 50 years, plus 5 countries I've never visited. Gill has only been to France (and not these parts of France) so it will all be new to her.

 

Wow!! Very nice plan indeed... you are very ambitious! :)

 

I just came back from Mexico & Canada - 1 new country for me (Canada) that is the 21st where I've geocached in, and my 30th visited state over my entire life. List is growing. :)

 

That's very close to my stats. I also have 21 countries (and doesn't include Canada or Mexico even though I live in the US) and 28 states.

 

I recently got a voucher for a future flight on the airline I flew on to Rome a few weeks ago (due to a fault in the seat I was in) and have been toying with the idea of using it to fly somewhere for long weekend and try to pick up several new states. If I have two full days with a rental car there are a couple of destination cities which the voucher would cover where I could get 3-4 states. If I were in Europe I could easily get 4-5 countries.

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We have pretty well finalised out big trip to Europe next year and we may be getting 15 new countries. The flights aren't confirmed yet, but we hope to fly Sydney to Venice via Singapore (1) and get the cache in T3.

 

3 nights in Venice, Italy (2) and then through Croatia (3) to Split and Dubrovnik and on to Montenegro (4).

 

Back up the coast to Ljubljana, Slovenia (5) and Budapest, Hungary (6). We then get a river cruise via Austria (7), Germany (8) to Amsterdam, Netherlands (9).

 

Then we hire a car and drive through Belgium (10) with a detour through Germany and France (11) to Luxembourg (12) caching in 5 countries in 1 day.

 

Then Luxembourg through France to Switzerland (13) where we spend a week, including a day in Liechtenstein (14).

 

We fly back to Sydney via an overnight stay in either Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Bangkok (15).

 

We will be caching in 22 of 26 cantons of Switzerland.

 

Looking forward to this trip as it takes me to places I haven't seen in 50 years, plus 5 countries I've never visited. Gill has only been to France (and not these parts of France) so it will all be new to her.

 

Wow!! Very nice plan indeed... you are very ambitious! :)

 

I just came back from Mexico & Canada - 1 new country for me (Canada) that is the 21st where I've geocached in, and my 30th visited state over my entire life. List is growing. :)

Everything from leaving Sydney to arriving in Amsterdam is an organised tour with a major tour company. Amsterdam through leaving Switzerland is on our own. I'm moderately nervous about two weeks driving on the "wrong" side of the road in countries where I don't speak the language, but I'm sure we will cope.

 

I have 7 countries so far so this may take us to 22. My biggest regret is that I didn't know about caching when we did our Baltic cruise an a South American trip.

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Everything from leaving Sydney to arriving in Amsterdam is an organised tour with a major tour company. Amsterdam through leaving Switzerland is on our own. I'm moderately nervous about two weeks driving on the "wrong" side of the road in countries where I don't speak the language, but I'm sure we will cope.

 

No need to be nervous. Make sure you drive on the RIGHT side of the road (it's you guys driving on the wrong side) :lol:

If your visit to Belgium includes Bruges, leave your car at the (paid) trainstation parkinglot and walk or take the free bus to city center. If going to Brussels try not to drive during "rush hour" (nobody is "rushing" anyway), follow the "P" signs to get rid of the car as soon as possible and avoid driving there as much as possible (except if you're the during a weekend).

 

In a few months time we'll return the favor and will drive on the wrong side of the road (TAS and VIC). I can almost see he windshield wipers go when making turns the first two days.

 

I have 7 countries so far so this may take us to 22. My biggest regret is that I didn't know about caching when we did our Baltic cruise an a South American trip.

 

We missed several countries (and US states) too. We were not caching when in NSW and QLD but have founds in WA and NT, so we'll double our "down under" score B)

 

I hope you will have enough time to spend in all these countries and will not just drive through (If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium).

 

 

If we could only find the time to drive 200 Km to add Luxemburg to our list, so close, yet so far away.

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The object of the last week or so is to show Gill Switzerland. When I was a child my grandmother's nephew married a Swiss girl and they lived in Horn on Lake Constance. We spent holidays with them and I know that area well (or, at least, used to).

 

Unfortunately this does mean that Belgium is just a pass through, stopping only to pick up a couple of P&Gs in rest areas plus the virtual at Spa. That day includes a detour through Germany and France to Luxembourg - 5 countries in a day. We do spend two nights in each of Luxembourg, Lauterbrunnen, Vaduz and Zurich so it isn't all a rush.

 

I'm not worried about the actual driving, we did a couple of weeks driving in Alaska and Canada last year. I'm more worried that if something goes wrong or we get stopped by non-English-speaking police then the language barrier may be a problem.

 

200 Km doesn't seem a lot for an Aussie, why not take your better half there for a weekend. You can always pretend that it isn't really about caching

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Unfortunately this does mean that Belgium is just a pass through, stopping only to pick up a couple of P&Gs in rest areas plus the virtual at Spa. That day includes a detour through Germany and France to Luxembourg - 5 countries in a day. We do spend two nights in each of Luxembourg, Lauterbrunnen, Vaduz and Zurich so it isn't all a rush.

 

Too bad you can't visit GC40. One of the oldesr caches in the world (P&G) placed 7/7/2000, and nice coords too N50 00.000 E5 00.000

You're missing out on Bruges too which is to bad traveling half around the world. But then again, you can't "do" Australia in one trip either. Priorities and stuff...

 

I'm not worried about the actual driving, we did a couple of weeks driving in Alaska and Canada last year. I'm more worried that if something goes wrong or we get stopped by non-English-speaking police then the language barrier may be a problem.

 

You can hardly compare Alaska and Canada to driving in Europe (or Belgian rushhour and cities). We drove Alaska in an RV, easy peasy... Canada.. same stuff. Try cities, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona :ph34r:

 

No worries for police, chances are you'll never have to talk to them.

After 30+ years of travel we only had one police encounter (between Denham and Monkey Mia, WA). That's what happens if your shining your headlights away from the road to spot roos and wallabies. :lol: After an alcohol test we were on our way again.

 

BTW, if you have car navigation make sure you check laws on having speedcamera locations on them. It's illegal in F, CH and D(?).

 

200 Km doesn't seem a lot for an Aussie, why not take your better half there for a weekend. You can always pretend that it isn't really about caching

 

It's just that it's beyond the one day trip distance. We used to be close to Luxemburg for a few days every wither (cross country skiing) but it's been years since there was enough snow to do so (global warming....). For now, it's all about our Aussie trip, we only need to make reservations on a few boattrips before they're fully booked.

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I'm not worried about the actual driving, we did a couple of weeks driving in Alaska and Canada last year. I'm more worried that if something goes wrong or we get stopped by non-English-speaking police then the language barrier may be a problem.

 

That happened to me in Rome. I was seen finding a cache in a very high muggle area by a plain clothes policeman and then questioned for about 15 minutes about the plastic baggies with sheets of paper full of names and dates. Neither of the police spoke English and I don't speak Italian. Something that I think may have helped would have been one of those "What is Geocaching?" brochures printed in Italian. You might want to print a few off in the various languages that will be used in the places you'll be visiting.

 

Of course, I wasn't doing anything wrong by geocaching in Rome, but I couldn't easily explain that to them.

 

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We racked up countries 27 and 28 over the last two weeks: Denmark and Sweden. We did a bicycling tour of Zealand and also biked two days in Sweden. We also spent some days exploring Copenhagen and Stockholm. The weather was great, the biking was marvelous, the food was surprisingly good and the people were delightful (we even made it to an event as we pedaled back to Copenhagen on the last day of the tour.) Oh, and the geocaching was pretty good.

OpenFietsMap loaded in my GPSr with a handlebar mount worked like a charm as it has in many other countries!

 

1634c494-755d-4ec1-b240-b0e2e1c0e19d.jpg

 

The North Zealand coastline from the top of the Nakkehoved lighthouse

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I'm not worried about the actual driving, we did a couple of weeks driving in Alaska and Canada last year. I'm more worried that if something goes wrong or we get stopped by non-English-speaking police then the language barrier may be a problem.

 

That happened to me in Rome. I was seen finding a cache in a very high muggle area by a plain clothes policeman and then questioned for about 15 minutes about the plastic baggies with sheets of paper full of names and dates. Neither of the police spoke English and I don't speak Italian. Something that I think may have helped would have been one of those "What is Geocaching?" brochures printed in Italian. You might want to print a few off in the various languages that will be used in the places you'll be visiting.

 

Of course, I wasn't doing anything wrong by geocaching in Rome, but I couldn't easily explain that to them.

I've already thought of that, but thanks for reminding me.

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Unfortunately this does mean that Belgium is just a pass through, stopping only to pick up a couple of P&Gs in rest areas plus the virtual at Spa. That day includes a detour through Germany and France to Luxembourg - 5 countries in a day. We do spend two nights in each of Luxembourg, Lauterbrunnen, Vaduz and Zurich so it isn't all a rush.

 

Too bad you can't visit GC40. One of the oldest caches in the world (P&G) placed 7/7/2000, and nice coords too N50 00.000 E5 00.000

You're missing out on Bruges too which is to bad traveling half around the world. But then again, you can't "do" Australia in one trip either. Priorities and stuff...

 

Weighing a few P&G's in motorway rest areas plus the virtual at Spa in one hand and GC40 in the other I have completely redesigned our route to Luxembourg. We are now going via GC40 and Thionville to Apach then just touching Germany and into Luxembourg. Thanks for bringing that cache to my attention.

 

This new route takes us on the E19 around Antwerp and Brussels. I hope they won't be bottlenecks. It will be late morning on a Saturday so I expect it should be clear.

 

I'm not worried about the actual driving, we did a couple of weeks driving in Alaska and Canada last year. I'm more worried that if something goes wrong or we get stopped by non-English-speaking police then the language barrier may be a problem.

 

You can hardly compare Alaska and Canada to driving in Europe (or Belgian rushhour and cities). We drove Alaska in an RV, easy peasy... Canada.. same stuff. Try cities, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona :ph34r:

 

No worries for police, chances are you'll never have to talk to them.

After 30+ years of travel we only had one police encounter (between Denham and Monkey Mia, WA). That's what happens if your shining your headlights away from the road to spot roos and wallabies. :lol: After an alcohol test we were on our way again.

 

BTW, if you have car navigation make sure you check laws on having speedcamera locations on them. It's illegal in F, CH and D(?).

 

I did all my driver training in London and commuted in Sydney for 10 years, so cities don't bother me. I'm planning to get a translation app for the phone so that may help a bit.

 

I'm getting the Garmin Europe maps sometime next year and my GPS has the ability to turn speed camera locations off, assuming they are included. Hopefully that will be enough.

 

You mentioned earlier about going to Australia and having fun with windscreen wipers when trying to indicate. In Australia we get cars with both configurations. Some have indicators on the right and some on the left. If you have a word with the hire company you may be able to book one the way you want.

 

I'll be off to configure my new route to Luxembourg...

 

Cheers

 

Tony

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This new route takes us on the E19 around Antwerp and Brussels. I hope they won't be bottlenecks. It will be late morning on a Saturday so I expect it should be clear.

 

Should be OK unless there's an accident somewhere.

 

I did all my driver training in London and commuted in Sydney for 10 years, so cities don't bother me.

 

Haven't driven in London (yet) as we take the high speed train right into center from here but I have driven the M25. That was no problem either. Sydney wasn't that busy when we were there driving North in the morning.

 

I'm getting the Garmin Europe maps sometime next year and my GPS has the ability to turn speed camera locations off, assuming they are included. Hopefully that will be enough.

 

Don't assume speed indicated on the GPS maps is correct. I just got a new Nuvi and already found plenty of errors (90Km/h where it's actually 70Km/h). I'm not sure switching off is enough in some countries but I doubt that police would actually check.

 

You mentioned earlier about going to Australia and having fun with windscreen wipers when trying to indicate. In Australia we get cars with both configurations. Some have indicators on the right and some on the left. If you have a word with the hire company you may be able to book one the way you want.

 

It's all in the fun of traveling, it happened in S. Africa, Malta and on our two previous trips to Oz. After 2 days I'm used to it just having the same happen when we get back home. Most dangerous thing is the first morning leaving the hotel parking lot and remembering to drive on the "other" side :lol: Having a local car makes that easier but driving our own (left hand drive) car in Scotland we had to stay alert all the time.

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I just got back from a trip traveling around South-East Asia, and got 5 countries:

 

  • Singapore
  • Cambodia
  • Vietnam
  • Malaysia
  • Indonesia

 

Highlights of the trip were:

 

The 5 caches in the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, especially this one GC2T5NR Ta Nei - Temple of Butterflies.

 

The cache in the Singapore Airport, GC1HA96.

 

The three caches in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, especially this one GC2HMY3 TI TOP - Island & Beach.

 

Finding the 5 caches on the remote Gili Islands in Indonesia, especially this one that was "guarded" by dozens and dozens of baby turtles! GC3KFN8 Turtle Sanctuary gili meno

 

I also enjoyed hosting 5 events in the 5 countries, and meeting the local geocachers and other fellow travellers. It really was an amazing trip.

 

Ah, good memories :)

 

Sounds like you had an amazing trip there! And I have to second Ta Nei, that's one of my favorite caches ever. Felt like Indiana Jones :)

I always thought that for so many caches, the ones in Singapore are actually somewhat lame. But a lot better than no caches of course! And ne-xt time make sure you see some more of Malaysia than just JB :P

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I just got back from a trip traveling around South-East Asia, and got 5 countries:

 

  • Singapore
  • Cambodia
  • Vietnam
  • Malaysia
  • Indonesia

 

Highlights of the trip were:

 

The 5 caches in the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, especially this one GC2T5NR Ta Nei - Temple of Butterflies.

 

The cache in the Singapore Airport, GC1HA96.

 

The three caches in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, especially this one GC2HMY3 TI TOP - Island & Beach.

 

Finding the 5 caches on the remote Gili Islands in Indonesia, especially this one that was "guarded" by dozens and dozens of baby turtles! GC3KFN8 Turtle Sanctuary gili meno

 

I also enjoyed hosting 5 events in the 5 countries, and meeting the local geocachers and other fellow travellers. It really was an amazing trip.

 

Ah, good memories :)

 

Sounds like you had an amazing trip there! And I have to second Ta Nei, that's one of my favorite caches ever. Felt like Indiana Jones :)

I always thought that for so many caches, the ones in Singapore are actually somewhat lame. But a lot better than no caches of course! And ne-xt time make sure you see some more of Malaysia than just JB :P

 

Next time you go to Singapore take a bum boat to Palau Ubin and rent a mountain bike. There are some interesting caches there Lady God, GCWX62 for example. Getting chased by wild boar and watching out for the Equatorial Spitting Cobra as you search in the jungle add to the excitement.

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Well guys, I successfully geocached yesterday in my 38th country- Monaco- which also was my 60th visited country overall. Huzzah! Even won all of 40 cents at the Monte Carlo casino! B) Also had some nice poolside/wandering in Nice the day prior while a storm with hurricane-force winds battered the Netherlands, so think that was the best timed weekend getaway ever.

 

Funny thing I noticed reading up on the country post visit, I've now visited the two smallest countries on Earth (Vatican City and Monaco). The next two are Niue and Tuvalu, so that's probably not happening in awhile.

 

Also, they're not countries, but last month while traveling for work I got 3 geocaches in Arizona for a new state- hooray! It's also looking like work is sending me to New Mexico in December, which would be my 20th US state I've geocached in.

 

Unfortunately, between having cleared out my nearby radius and trying to finish a PhD thesis this next year, I'm not sure if the new country number is going to budge. :( I still have a long line of five unvisited countries stretching south from Finland- maybe I'll backpack through there after I submit but before I defend (as you have this awkward several week gap there at my university). Definitely won't have time between now and then to do so.

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Wow, was there ever a topic that makes me jealous! :P

 

Anyway, some posters expressed their worries with possible questioning by foreign police. I would suggest making some sort of brochure with explanation of what geocaching is, in several languages. Just hand it over, and you should be fine! Could be a valuable tool for caching abroad.

 

Maybe a nice collaborative effort? I could help with the Dutch part.

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Wow, was there ever a topic that makes me jealous! :P

 

Anyway, some posters expressed their worries with possible questioning by foreign police. I would suggest making some sort of brochure with explanation of what geocaching is, in several languages. Just hand it over, and you should be fine! Could be a valuable tool for caching abroad.

 

Maybe a nice collaborative effort? I could help with the Dutch part.

 

That was me and it was because I *was* questioned by foreign police. In my case the police were in Rome, Italy and didn't speak English and I don't speak Italian. I suggested either in this thread or it may have been elsewhere that I thought the situation would be been a lot easier if I would have had a brochure in Italian.

 

There are brochures in several languages but they're somewhat hard to find. Here's one in Dutch.

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I'm setting up a vacation trip to Helsinki + Baltic countries for September. That would be 4 new countries for me (for a total of 25). I'm also exploring the possibility to add Minsk to the end of the route and then return to Barcelona from there. Anyone has been to Belarus, and can tell me more about the visa? Looks like it would cost me 45$, but I don't know if I will have trouble obtaining it.

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Well actually 59 because Kosovo is not recognised yet

 

Oops. I am NOT allowed to discuss this country! blink.gif

 

That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

 

 

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Well actually 59 because Kosovo is not recognised yet

 

Oops. I am NOT allowed to discuss this country! blink.gif

 

That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

 

I rather think that the post above refers to the closure of another thread by a moderator.

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Well actually 59 because Kosovo is not recognised yet

 

Oops. I am NOT allowed to discuss this country! blink.gif

 

That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

 

 

Apparently moun10bike's response from some time ago was...

We generally try to stick to the Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications published by the United Nations Statistics Division. This list does not yet recognize Kosovo as a country.

Continuing in the vein of not discussing the "K" country, I am left wondering why, for example, "Bouvet Island" appears on the list of geocaching countries, but does *not* appear on that UN list? There may be others, but that one stood out to me, since it is a barren uninhabited ice-covered sub-antarctic rock belonging to Norway with no caches on it.

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Well actually 59 because Kosovo is not recognised yet

 

Oops. I am NOT allowed to discuss this country! blink.gif

 

That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

 

 

Apparently moun10bike's response from some time ago was...

We generally try to stick to the Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications published by the United Nations Statistics Division. This list does not yet recognize Kosovo as a country.

Continuing in the vein of not discussing the "K" country, I am left wondering why, for example, "Bouvet Island" appears on the list of geocaching countries, but does *not* appear on that UN list? There may be others, but that one stood out to me, since it is a barren uninhabited ice-covered sub-antarctic rock belonging to Norway with no caches on it.

 

The Moun10Bike quote came from this thread. The OP from that thread more or less asked the same question as you did. It's still open and you might be interested the last post (which I wrote).

 

From what I understand the list of Geocaching countries/territories is derived from the UN list. The UN list is close, but not exactly the same, as the ISO-3166 standard.

 

There are a few other anomalies between the GS list and the UN list.

 

Saint Pierre and Miquelon (just off coast near Newfoundland) is treated as a separate territory, thought some think it should be included as part of France.

 

Netherland Antilles dissolved in 2010 but the island of Saint Martin (which consists of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten) has caches listed as Netherland Antilles or Saint Martin (and the caches in SInt Maarten part of the lsland are listed as Saint Martin). Somehow, caches on Saba (one of the other countries from the dissolution of Netherland Antilles) are also listed as Saba, and all of them were placed prior to 2010.

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Well actually 59 because Kosovo is not recognised yet

 

Oops. I am NOT allowed to discuss this country! blink.gif

 

That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

 

 

Apparently moun10bike's response from some time ago was...

We generally try to stick to the Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications published by the United Nations Statistics Division. This list does not yet recognize Kosovo as a country.

Continuing in the vein of not discussing the "K" country, I am left wondering why, for example, "Bouvet Island" appears on the list of geocaching countries, but does *not* appear on that UN list? There may be others, but that one stood out to me, since it is a barren uninhabited ice-covered sub-antarctic rock belonging to Norway with no caches on it.

 

The Moun10Bike quote came from this thread. The OP from that thread more or less asked the same question as you did. It's still open and you might be interested the last post (which I wrote).

 

From what I understand the list of Geocaching countries/territories is derived from the UN list. The UN list is close, but not exactly the same, as the ISO-3166 standard.

 

There are a few other anomalies between the GS list and the UN list.

 

Saint Pierre and Miquelon (just off coast near Newfoundland) is treated as a separate territory, thought some think it should be included as part of France.

 

Netherland Antilles dissolved in 2010 but the island of Saint Martin (which consists of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten) has caches listed as Netherland Antilles or Saint Martin (and the caches in SInt Maarten part of the lsland are listed as Saint Martin). Somehow, caches on Saba (one of the other countries from the dissolution of Netherland Antilles) are also listed as Saba, and all of them were placed prior to 2010.

 

I am confused by the part of your statement I bolded. You seem to be saying that caches on the island of St Martin are listed as St Martin or Netherlands Antilles but that the caches on the Sint Maarten part that island are listed as St Martin.

 

At any rate, the last part of that statement is incorrect. Look at GC1QF1D

 

(That cache WAS initially listed as St Martin but as I intimated in this thread some time back that has since been changed.)

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Ok, recently I added Wales and Manchester area to our caching map (I know it's not displayed as country) and we're currently planning a longer vacation in SE Asia. The trip might end up as Singapore and Indonesia. Then we're moving away from the Middle East, unfortunately.

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Ok, recently I added Wales and Manchester area to our caching map (I know it's not displayed as country) and we're currently planning a longer vacation in SE Asia. The trip might end up as Singapore and Indonesia. Then we're moving away from the Middle East, unfortunately.

 

Found all the caches in Qatar, did ya? Where you moving to this time?

 

 

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Ok, recently I added Wales and Manchester area to our caching map (I know it's not displayed as country) and we're currently planning a longer vacation in SE Asia. The trip might end up as Singapore and Indonesia. Then we're moving away from the Middle East, unfortunately.

 

Found all the caches in Qatar, did ya? Where you moving to this time?

 

Still under negotiation. Probably can tell more early on next week :anitongue: It's not going to be extremely exotic :P

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Ok, recently I added Wales and Manchester area to our caching map (I know it's not displayed as country) and we're currently planning a longer vacation in SE Asia. The trip might end up as Singapore and Indonesia. Then we're moving away from the Middle East, unfortunately.

 

Found all the caches in Qatar, did ya? Where you moving to this time?

 

Still under negotiation. Probably can tell more early on next week :anitongue: It's not going to be extremely exotic :P

 

The problem with extremely exotic is that it's more difficult to travel to other locations, than it is to live in someplace mundane (but with good access to a large international airport).

 

I just met a couple of people about an hour ago from South Korea that are interested in having me help them with a project they're working on. As I'm basically doing the same thing for another organization in China, and will be traveling there in November, there's a good chance I might extend my trip a few days and stop in Seoul for a couple of days. I checked on the map and this university is just north of the city in an area with few caches so I'll probably be looking to stay someone more central. If anyone that has cached in Seoul has any suggestions, let me know.

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Ok, recently I added Wales and Manchester area to our caching map (I know it's not displayed as country) and we're currently planning a longer vacation in SE Asia. The trip might end up as Singapore and Indonesia. Then we're moving away from the Middle East, unfortunately.

 

Found all the caches in Qatar, did ya? Where you moving to this time?

 

Still under negotiation. Probably can tell more early on next week :anitongue: It's not going to be extremely exotic :P

 

The problem with extremely exotic is that it's more difficult to travel to other locations, than it is to live in someplace mundane (but with good access to a large international airport).

 

I just met a couple of people about an hour ago from South Korea that are interested in having me help them with a project they're working on. As I'm basically doing the same thing for another organization in China, and will be traveling there in November, there's a good chance I might extend my trip a few days and stop in Seoul for a couple of days. I checked on the map and this university is just north of the city in an area with few caches so I'll probably be looking to stay someone more central. If anyone that has cached in Seoul has any suggestions, let me know.

Well, if you're flying in or out of Incheon, you have several caches right there. There was a nice TB hotel there, but apparently it was archived today -- hopefully it will be revived, as there is a painful shortage of non-micros in the country.

 

Most Korean caches are micros, from my experience. But there are a ton of them. The only thing that limited my caching in Korea was my usual guilt about letting geocaching hijack everyone else's vacation.

 

New Yorker has a few regular caches around Seoul.

 

If you're looking for a nice place to stay, I can highly recommend the Shilla. It is quite nice. (Read: opulent.) I don't even want to now what our friends paid for it, though they said they did get a ridiculouly low rate that the hotel asked them not to advertise.

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Ok, recently I added Wales and Manchester area to our caching map (I know it's not displayed as country) and we're currently planning a longer vacation in SE Asia. The trip might end up as Singapore and Indonesia. Then we're moving away from the Middle East, unfortunately.

 

Found all the caches in Qatar, did ya? Where you moving to this time?

 

Still under negotiation. Probably can tell more early on next week :anitongue: It's not going to be extremely exotic :P

 

The problem with extremely exotic is that it's more difficult to travel to other locations, than it is to live in someplace mundane (but with good access to a large international airport).

 

I just met a couple of people about an hour ago from South Korea that are interested in having me help them with a project they're working on. As I'm basically doing the same thing for another organization in China, and will be traveling there in November, there's a good chance I might extend my trip a few days and stop in Seoul for a couple of days. I checked on the map and this university is just north of the city in an area with few caches so I'll probably be looking to stay someone more central. If anyone that has cached in Seoul has any suggestions, let me know.

Well, if you're flying in or out of Incheon, you have several caches right there. There was a nice TB hotel there, but apparently it was archived today -- hopefully it will be revived, as there is a painful shortage of non-micros in the country.

 

Most Korean caches are micros, from my experience. But there are a ton of them. The only thing that limited my caching in Korea was my usual guilt about letting geocaching hijack everyone else's vacation.

 

New Yorker has a few regular caches around Seoul.

 

If you're looking for a nice place to stay, I can highly recommend the Shilla. It is quite nice. (Read: opulent.) I don't even want to now what our friends paid for it, though they said they did get a ridiculouly low rate that the hotel asked them not to advertise.

 

Yes, I would be flying into Incheon. It looks like it'a about a two hour non-stop flight from Beijing. I was looking at maybe staying at a hotel in the same general area, near the Myeong-Dong subway stop, as that subway line would take me close to the university I would be visiting. It's just north of Yejang-dong park where there are quite a few caches and appears to be a good area to spend a few hours geocaching. I would likely arrive on a Saturday afternoon and have all of Sunday free before meetings on Monday and flying home on Tuesday.

 

I have looked at geocaching maps of Seoul before so I know that there are quite a few power trails/cache series in the area but I'm not interested in finding a lot of caches, just a few in an area that I might enjoy walking around.

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We just booked a 5 week vacation trip to Singapore and Indonesia. Nothing too big, mainly relaxing before starting a new job and pocketing the housing allowance we get when vacating our house earlier. Then we return to spend 5 nights in a hotel to cancel our residence permit. Afterwards we'll be moving to North Wales. We've never lived in the UK before, thus it should be a unique experience, plus the landscape and history is really gorgeous, being just on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park and relatively close to Anglesey.

 

At least this trip gives us two new countries. :)

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That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

Actually, Northern Ireland is counted as one of the four provinces of Ireland (Ulster).

 

Anyhow, I'm going to Brussels in less than 24hrs, hosting an event and may take day trips to Bruges and Den Haag/Rotterdam

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Anyhow, I'm going to Brussels in less than 24hrs, hosting an event and may take day trips to Bruges and Den Haag/Rotterdam

 

When in Bruges try RV 5.08 Brugge. Even though it's a traditional, it takes some work to open the box. You'll find yourself in a high muggle area and yet it's not difficult to behave stealthy.

In Brussels there's Magna Plătĕa Bruocsellae (Fr-Nl-En). Stealth + read the hint to open it.

 

Both are in places you'll visit anyway and more than just a micro/nano in a filthy/smelly corner B)

 

If you can fit it in, visit Ghent, it's less known but is well worth a visit.

Edited by on4bam
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That's not the only country that isn't recognized by the UN, however if you find a cache in Scotland, Wales, or North Ireland it will be listed as in the UK but will color in the map where Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland are located.

 

Project-gc has a hole in the map as well.

Actually, Northern Ireland is counted as one of the four provinces of Ireland (Ulster).

 

Anyhow, I'm going to Brussels in less than 24hrs, hosting an event and may take day trips to Bruges and Den Haag/Rotterdam

 

Bruges is a wonderful city to visit. Take the quick train ride from Brussels. Rent a bike at the station. Bring your camera!

 

I was going to mention the fine Belgian beers that you could sample but I see that you will be celebrating your 13th birthday so you will have to wait a bit on that...Happy Birthday and have a great time!

Edited by Michaelcycle
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I collected my first non-US caches in June and July while on a two week bus tour of Norway. I left my GPS at home but was able to use my Iphone pretty consistently. I didn't know about saving the maps while using wireless, so I did use my global phone plan data up before the trip was finished. Nonetheless, it was worth it; as usual, I saw a lot of places I wouldn't have seen Now I find myself heading to Colombia tomorrow night, and am debating whether to load up and carry my Magellan GPS receiver or not. I definitely want to get a few caches (although it will need to be a side activity, since I am going to visit my son's in-laws). Has anyone cached in Colombia and have any tips? We will be in Bogota, Villa de Leyva, and the coffee triangle. It seems like a lot of the caches have no logs for the past couple of years.

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As well as our big European trip next year, we have booked an Asian cruise over Christmas, going to Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore. Can't wait...

 

Wow, that sounds great! I hope you have a lot of fun with that trip!

 

Our trip to Singapore and Indonesia is booked now, and our move to Wales mostly sorted. While I love being in Qatar it's also nice to move somewhere new.

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Caches are a bit thin on the ground in Brunei, so budget some time for getting to one.

 

I ended up with one find there, Mar-Cat* after a DNF elsewhere, and found transportation a challenge. Both buses and taxis are thin on the ground. It's a rich country; everybody drives their own car - or boat.

 

(* Conveniently, it's also the oldest cache in the teeny country, which helps me with a challenge...)

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Caches are a bit thin on the ground in Brunei, so budget some time for getting to one.

 

I ended up with one find there, Mar-Cat* after a DNF elsewhere, and found transportation a challenge. Both buses and taxis are thin on the ground. It's a rich country; everybody drives their own car - or boat.

 

(* Conveniently, it's also the oldest cache in the teeny country, which helps me with a challenge...)

I've pretty well accepted that I won't be getting one there. We will be on a shore excursion and won't have much time to spend on our own. There aren't any near the places the tour takes us to and there's nothing near the cruise ship terminal. Usually, I can go for a walk near the ship, but not here.

 

If I get one I'll be content. If not, as I keep trying (unsuccessfully) to persuade Gill - Caching isn't the point of the trip. I may come to believe that myself if I say it often enough. :D

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Caches are a bit thin on the ground in Brunei, so budget some time for getting to one.

 

I ended up with one find there, Mar-Cat* after a DNF elsewhere, and found transportation a challenge. Both buses and taxis are thin on the ground. It's a rich country; everybody drives their own car - or boat.

 

(* Conveniently, it's also the oldest cache in the teeny country, which helps me with a challenge...)

I've pretty well accepted that I won't be getting one there. We will be on a shore excursion and won't have much time to spend on our own. There aren't any near the places the tour takes us to and there's nothing near the cruise ship terminal. Usually, I can go for a walk near the ship, but not here.

 

If I get one I'll be content. If not, as I keep trying (unsuccessfully) to persuade Gill - Caching isn't the point of the trip. I may come to believe that myself if I say it often enough. :D

 

Well, if you're flying to/from Singapore it'll be easy to find a cache in that country, and you may see a bunch of butterflies.

 

 

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Caches are a bit thin on the ground in Brunei, so budget some time for getting to one.

 

I ended up with one find there, Mar-Cat* after a DNF elsewhere, and found transportation a challenge. Both buses and taxis are thin on the ground. It's a rich country; everybody drives their own car - or boat.

 

(* Conveniently, it's also the oldest cache in the teeny country, which helps me with a challenge...)

I've pretty well accepted that I won't be getting one there. We will be on a shore excursion and won't have much time to spend on our own. There aren't any near the places the tour takes us to and there's nothing near the cruise ship terminal. Usually, I can go for a walk near the ship, but not here.

 

If I get one I'll be content. If not, as I keep trying (unsuccessfully) to persuade Gill - Caching isn't the point of the trip. I may come to believe that myself if I say it often enough. :D

 

maybe try to place an earthcache there... :)

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Caches are a bit thin on the ground in Brunei, so budget some time for getting to one.

 

I ended up with one find there, Mar-Cat* after a DNF elsewhere, and found transportation a challenge. Both buses and taxis are thin on the ground. It's a rich country; everybody drives their own car - or boat.

 

(* Conveniently, it's also the oldest cache in the teeny country, which helps me with a challenge...)

I've pretty well accepted that I won't be getting one there. We will be on a shore excursion and won't have much time to spend on our own. There aren't any near the places the tour takes us to and there's nothing near the cruise ship terminal. Usually, I can go for a walk near the ship, but not here.

 

If I get one I'll be content. If not, as I keep trying (unsuccessfully) to persuade Gill - Caching isn't the point of the trip. I may come to believe that myself if I say it often enough. :D

 

Well, if you're flying to/from Singapore it'll be easy to find a cache in that country, and you may see a bunch of butterflies.

 

Can you get there from every terminal? It's on our todo list as well when we get there in two weeks time. We'll be arriving on an international flight, and then leave for Indonesia from there.

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Caches are a bit thin on the ground in Brunei, so budget some time for getting to one.

 

I ended up with one find there, Mar-Cat* after a DNF elsewhere, and found transportation a challenge. Both buses and taxis are thin on the ground. It's a rich country; everybody drives their own car - or boat.

 

(* Conveniently, it's also the oldest cache in the teeny country, which helps me with a challenge...)

I've pretty well accepted that I won't be getting one there. We will be on a shore excursion and won't have much time to spend on our own. There aren't any near the places the tour takes us to and there's nothing near the cruise ship terminal. Usually, I can go for a walk near the ship, but not here.

 

If I get one I'll be content. If not, as I keep trying (unsuccessfully) to persuade Gill - Caching isn't the point of the trip. I may come to believe that myself if I say it often enough. :D

 

Well, if you're flying to/from Singapore it'll be easy to find a cache in that country, and you may see a bunch of butterflies.

 

Can you get there from every terminal? It's on our todo list as well when we get there in two weeks time. We'll be arriving on an international flight, and then leave for Indonesia from there.

 

If I recall, the cache doesn't require you to go through passport control and there are two sets of shuttle trains between the terminals. One goes in between the the terminals on the "air" side and the other connects on the "land" side. Unlike most airports the security checkpoint is at each gate. It's a *huge* airport so even if you don't have to go out through passport control it could still take a long time to get in between terminals. The terminal maps are pretty good though and you should be able to look up the terminal your flights will be coming into and out of on a site like flightstats.com. The Butterfly Garden is in terminal 3. If you have more than a 5 hour layover there's a free tour bus (sponsored by Singapore Airlines) that goes downtown (where there are a few caches) for a "two hour tour".

 

 

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