collecting countries

[+Gill & Tony]

I would also second Australia, but would suggest heading South if you are starting from Sydney. Going North there are a lot of unspoilt areas, but they are sandwiched between places which are, IMHO, over commercialized.

 

Heading South, once you are past Wollongong and heading towards Kiama (about 1 1/2 hours by car) you start to hit small towns with less commercialism and more unspoilt places between them. Once past Nowra there is only the Milton/Uladulla area on the highway for the next hour and a half, up to Batemans Bay. Then it is largely unspoilt all the way along the coast almost as far as Melbourne. There are a lot of small towns, but none of the high-rise monstrosities like the Gold Coast. There are also lots of unspoilt places to see off the highway - Seven Mile Beach, Jervis Bay if you are into SCUBA, Sussex Inlet, Guerrilla Bay has some of the oldest rocks in the world, Eden was the centre of the whaling industry and has an interesting museum.

 

If you avoid Melbourne and head into the Mornington Peninsula you can catch the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff, see Bell's Beach (one of the world's great surfing beaches) and then drive the Great Ocean Road (rated one of the most scenic in Australia).

 

After the Great Ocean Road, continue to Adelaide past the Coorong and the famous pink lakes.

 

Obviously, it depends how long you have. The whole trip could be done in 5 days with some time to explore, but if you allowed 10 days you could really get to see some spectacular places. And get some caches en route.

 

If time is short, start in Melbourne and drive the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.

 

Yes, I'm biased, I live in Ulladulla and reckon the South coast beats the North coast any day.

[+Ambrosia]

I would also second Australia, but would suggest heading South if you are starting from Sydney. Going North there are a lot of unspoilt areas, but they are sandwiched between places which are, IMHO, over commercialized.

 

Heading South, once you are past Wollongong and heading towards Kiama (about 1 1/2 hours by car) you start to hit small towns with less commercialism and more unspoilt places between them. Once past Nowra there is only the Milton/Uladulla area on the highway for the next hour and a half, up to Batemans Bay. Then it is largely unspoilt all the way along the coast almost as far as Melbourne. There are a lot of small towns, but none of the high-rise monstrosities like the Gold Coast. There are also lots of unspoilt places to see off the highway - Seven Mile Beach, Jervis Bay if you are into SCUBA, Sussex Inlet, Guerrilla Bay has some of the oldest rocks in the world, Eden was the centre of the whaling industry and has an interesting museum.

 

If you avoid Melbourne and head into the Mornington Peninsula you can catch the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff, see Bell's Beach (one of the world's great surfing beaches) and then drive the Great Ocean Road (rated one of the most scenic in Australia).

 

After the Great Ocean Road, continue to Adelaide past the Coorong and the famous pink lakes.

 

Obviously, it depends how long you have. The whole trip could be done in 5 days with some time to explore, but if you allowed 10 days you could really get to see some spectacular places. And get some caches en route.

 

If time is short, start in Melbourne and drive the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.

 

Yes, I'm biased, I live in Ulladulla and reckon the South coast beats the North coast any day.

 

Lol. There's too much of Australia to see. I have been south, but it wasn't along the coast - we went to Canberra and ended up at a friend's house in Wagga Wagga. So I haven't seen those beaches. If they're nicer than further up, then I need to visit them!

 

On our trip north, we rented a little rv and really spent our time. We weren't going to take as long as we did, but we got sucked in. The kids were having such a good time. It's true that some of it is very congested and commercial, but those isolated gems really made the trip.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Ambrosia

[+Gill & Tony]

Lol. There's too much of Australia to see.

When we first moved to Australia from England, via Bermuda, we lived in Sydney and one of our first trips was to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains. We drove for nearly 2 hours each way. When we got home we looked on a map to see how far we had been and the trip was almost indistinguishable from outer Sydney. A fraction of an inch on a map of NSW.

 

Shortly after that we met up with Gill's cousin who lived near Melbourne. We agreed to meet at Eden, near the NSW/VIC border. On the Friday, after work we went home had dinner and set off. Not realising just how far it was. I mean, it's still in NSW. We arrived at the camp ground around 3am!

 

Australia is a huge place, almost exactly the same size as the contiguous 48 states, but with 5% of the population and the interior largely inhospitable.

 

I've been to every state and territory, have seen Uluru, Kata Tjuta, swum with whale sharks and dived the great barrier reef and, believe me, I haven't started to scratch the surface of this amazing place.

 

After we retired, our first real trip was the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide and back home along the Murray. Absolutely fabulous.

 

Come on down under, we are (mostly) a friendly mob!

[+EggsTheBest]

In a few weeks I'm going to a little trip to visit my friends in Belgium and Germany. Thought I can go to The Netherlands too since it's quite close and I wouldn't mind to add another country to my statistics. Germany seems like geocacher's heaven so even though I'm going to visit small not so interesting towns, there are more caches than I could imagine. In June I'm going to Italy as well and hope to grab some caches on my way, including Vatican City. My goal for this summer is to reach 50 souvenirs (have 45 so far) so these trips would be a good start before the special souvenirs that are usually released in the summer.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

In a few weeks I'm going to a little trip to visit my friends in Belgium and Germany. Thought I can go to The Netherlands too since it's quite close and I wouldn't mind to add another country to my statistics. Germany seems like geocacher's heaven so even though I'm going to visit small not so interesting towns, there are more caches than I could imagine. In June I'm going to Italy as well and hope to grab some caches on my way, including Vatican City. My goal for this summer is to reach 50 souvenirs (have 45 so far) so these trips would be a good start before the special souvenirs that are usually released in the summer.

 

Just so you know, you won't get a souvenir for finding a cache in Vatican City, but Rome is a wonderful city for geocaching. I'm not at all interested in the promotional souvenirs GS releases in August and haven't counted how many regional souvenirs I have. Living in the States where there is one for each State I have quite a few though.

 

A few weeks ago I added Mexico and Cuba as new countries. I had a layover in Panama City twice but not enough time to get out and find a cache there. In June I'll be going to Dublin for 5 days and can add Ireland as my 24th country. I've got a one day meeting in Paris on the way home but have found caches on three previous visits to France. There's still a remote chance that I might go to Greece (Chania, Crete) in a couple of weeks but I doubt that's going to happen. I don't have any other trips planned for the rest of the year.

 

 

[+on4bam]

Lol. There's too much of Australia to see.

 

We've only visited three times.

East coast Sydney to Cairns (July/August visit), although nice views along the route was not our best visit. Great Barrier Reef may be Unesco world heritage but West coast Ningaloo Reef beats it hands down. We did see many birds though (but no 'roos).

Perth to Exmouth (July/August visit) had great ocean views, is more deserted and the highlight was swimming with whalesharks. Rottnest was great too. We also visited the red center Alice Springs - Uluru with sunset and sunrise overlooking the rock + sunset flight over Uluru and the Olgas.

Last October/November we visited Tasmania, not honeymoon material but great rainforest walking tracks and lots of wallabies around. Great for discovering the UK's prison history. We also visited Melbourne, Grampians and Great Ocean Road. A lot of hiking opportunities in the Grampians and great views (and earthcaches) along the GOR. Many koala's to see in/near Cape Otway.

Of course, it all depends what people want to do.

[+usyoopers]

We will be visiting Scotland in June, I've got my bookmark list started!

[+The Leprechauns]

I would second Australia. It's a fun place to visit. And it has the prettiest beaches that I've ever seen. Go up the coast above Sydney, and pop into all the beaches going north. Gorgeous, and with some nice caches. Some of the beaches are very quiet too, you may see only a few people, or none at all.

Guess whose daughter will be studying for a semester abroad at a University on the coast above Sydney?

 

I am planning to visit her because, you know, she will get homesick I need to increase my countries count. Our draft game plan is to drive south along the coast to Sydney and back, so the "Easterly Extreme" cache mentioned in your post is definitely a possibility for our "caches we both found" list.

[+cheech gang]

I would second Australia. It's a fun place to visit. And it has the prettiest beaches that I've ever seen. Go up the coast above Sydney, and pop into all the beaches going north. Gorgeous, and with some nice caches. Some of the beaches are very quiet too, you may see only a few people, or none at all.

Guess whose daughter will be studying for a semester abroad at a University on the coast above Sydney?

 

I am planning to visit her because, you know, she will get homesick I need to increase my countries count. Our draft game plan is to drive south along the coast to Sydney and back, so the "Easterly Extreme" cache mentioned in your post is definitely a possibility for our "caches we both found" list.

 

Although I have found caches in 41 countries, I have never been to Australia. I am waiting for teleportation to be perfected.

[+OwenfromKC]

My international travels are leisure and not work related but I am happy to add at least one new country a year. I also went to Cuba this year in February in a tourist capacity and a US citizen. Cuba loves to have US visitors, it is the US government that has the problem. I went through Cancun also. The process is the same as flying to Mexico. You get on the plane, they hand you a temp visa, you fill it out, land, go through immigration and enjoy your trip.

 

I did a lot of research before hand and the US allows 12 reasons for visiting Cuba. For the 'reason for your visit' section: reason # 8 (Support for Cuban people) and # 11 (Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or information materials) are the only ones that do not require a third party facilitator/sponsor such as a humanitarian group.

 

I have seen some people post a short video on youtube to show they are sharing of information for educational purposes. I talked to people and took pictures. I wrote #8 and everything I took with me I left. I also took fishing gear for adults, and bubbles and glow sticks for kids that I gave away while walking on the malecon. I also took clothes and shoes that were nice but I didn't use and left them at the casa. They are really happy to receive these instead of the typical afterthought toiletries. I left with only the clothes I was wearing, my underwear (which I didn't leave), one souvenir T and a bottle of rum. I feel I supported the Cuban people with the best of intentions.

 

I found 10 caches without a gps using OSM maps and offline caches. I also had all my POIs loaded and traveled all over Havana using my phone without cell signal. The gps function still worked great. All in all a memorable trip.

Edited May 2, 2016 by OwenfromKC

[+Ibar]

Hi,

 

After being stuck at 25 countries since last November I finally added last week a new one to the list: Brazil, and including a new continent :-)

 

Now, I need your help for #27: Turkey

 

End of May I have a 9 HOUR layover in IST (Istanbul Airport), of course more than enough time to cache around. I plan to go for GC4NYR,but just having one shot looks a bit risky to me, so I'd rather aim for 3-4 caches in order to ensure finding one. Any ideas?

 

Thanks in advance

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Hi,

 

After being stuck at 25 countries since last November I finally added last week a new one to the list: Brazil, and including a new continent :-)

 

Now, I need your help for #27: Turkey

 

End of May I have a 9 HOUR layover in IST (Istanbul Airport), of course more than enough time to cache around. I plan to go for GC4NYR,but just having one shot looks a bit risky to me, so I'd rather aim for 3-4 caches in order to ensure finding one. Any ideas?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Congrats on Brazil and the new continent. I still haven't haven't made it to South America. My recent stop in Panama was close but I only had a short layover.

 

I had a nine hour layover in Istanbul a few years ago on the way back from Ethiopia. It was quite easy to get on a train into the city and spend a few hours. The M1 train runs from the airport to the Askaray station. From there you can walk (that's what I did) to Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque and the Sultan Ahmet park. There are several caches in that area including traditionals, a letter box, an earth cache, and a Wherigo. From the Askaray station it's a very short walk to the T1 light rail which you could take you to the same area or even take you over to the Asian side (Turkey is one of the few countries in the world on two continents). Of course, how much time you actually have will depend on when those 9 hours occur. If you arrive at 10:00PM then your options are going to very limited. If you arrive sometime in the morning or even late afternoon you'll have more than enough time to take the train into the city and back.

 

I don't know what the visa requirements are for a resident in the EU but if you need a tourist visa it can be purchased (around $25US) prior to going through immigration.

[+funkymunkyzone]

Just finishing up the planning for a spur of the moment South America trip that will give me 4 new countries (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay), a new continent and the last Ape cache (which might also end up being my #9000). Will take me through to 63 countries (64 if you respect the people of Kosovo). Looking forward to it.

[+colleda]

I would second Australia. It's a fun place to visit. And it has the prettiest beaches that I've ever seen. Go up the coast above Sydney, and pop into all the beaches going north. Gorgeous, and with some nice caches. Some of the beaches are very quiet too, you may see only a few people, or none at all.

Guess whose daughter will be studying for a semester abroad at a University on the coast above Sydney?

 

I am planning to visit her because, you know, she will get homesick I need to increase my countries count. Our draft game plan is to drive south along the coast to Sydney and back, so the "Easterly Extreme" cache mentioned in your post is definitely a possibility for our "caches we both found" list.

 

Although I have found caches in 41 countries, I have never been to Australia. I am waiting for teleportation to be perfected.

You can teleport using in an Airbus 380. That's how we get to the US of A.

[+Ambrosia]

I would second Australia. It's a fun place to visit. And it has the prettiest beaches that I've ever seen. Go up the coast above Sydney, and pop into all the beaches going north. Gorgeous, and with some nice caches. Some of the beaches are very quiet too, you may see only a few people, or none at all.

Guess whose daughter will be studying for a semester abroad at a University on the coast above Sydney?

 

I am planning to visit her because, you know, she will get homesick I need to increase my countries count. Our draft game plan is to drive south along the coast to Sydney and back, so the "Easterly Extreme" cache mentioned in your post is definitely a possibility for our "caches we both found" list.

 

Ha, that's like me visiting all41 in Australia. His whole family managed to visit him throughout the year that he was there. It was great for him, because he got to go to some vacation spots (like New Zealand) that he wouldn't have on his own.

 

That's really cool that she's studying over there. It will be a life changing experience for her. Water Lily was determined to go to some college over there but then life got in the way. She considers it a second home.

 

Let us know how your trip goes. I'm jealous, I want to go back again. At the end of our last trip we were already discussing what we didn't do and what we wanted to do in the future. So many options! I want to go all the way up the north coast - we had to stop at a water crossing last time where it gets to be ute territory. I also want to visit Uluru. But we have family south of Perth so that's probably where we would go if we went again.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I also did a lot of research before going to Cuba as well and found a couple of differences or clarifications that others might consider if they want to got to Cuba to find a cache.

My international travels are leisure and not work related but I am happy to add at least one new country a year. I also went to Cuba this year in February in a tourist capacity and a US citizen. Cuba loves to have US visitors, it is the US government that has the problem. I went through Cancun also. The process is the same as flying to Mexico. You get on the plane, they hand you a temp visa, you fill it out, land, go through immigration and enjoy your trip.

 

Things can get confusing because technically, U.S. citizens are not allowed to travel to Cuba strictly as a tourist. Practically, Cuban immigration and the Cuban people don't care if a U.S. citizen travels to Cuba as a tourist and U.S. Immigration doesn't care either. Prior to the recent changes in policy, one had to petition the U.S. Treasury department to obtain a license to travel under one of the specific 12 OFAC categories mentioned below. Now, one can "obtain" a general license simply by self-declaring that one qualifies under one of the categories. There is no paperwork involved between the traveler and the U.S. government. A simple "yes, I qualify under one of these categories is sufficient."

 

In order to enter Cuba you need a "tourist card" or tourist visa. There are several ways to obtain one. Currently there are two ways to get to Cuba (by air). You can fly direct from a U.S. city through a Charter company. In this case, the Charter company provides the tourist card (you just need to fill it out), often on the plane en-route to Cuba and the cost of the tourist card (~20$US) is bundled into the charter company fare. I chose not to use a Charter company as they often are more expensive and use charter carriers that have less than reliable records for on-time departures and restrictions on baggage weight (with exorbitant fees if you exceed it). The other option is to schedule a flight on your own from some other country. There are flights to Havana from Cancun, Mexico City, Panama City, Bahamas, Aruba and I even Toronto. You just need to book a separate flight to one of these cities then book a separate flight to Havana. A tourist visa can be obtained prior to checking in at the last airport before checking in. In fact, I was asked to show my tourist card by an airline representative at the beginning of the checkin line. I actually got my tourist card from a web site in the UK. It was a simple online form which included an affidavit ("yes, I qualify under one of the OFAC categories"). It as a bit more expensive than obtaining one at the airport but I liked having the piece of mind of having the tourist card prior to leaving the U.S.

 

Where things can get complicated is if one needs to travel under one of the categories which requires a "sponsor". I'm going to write a second post about that and how being a geocacher actually became an issue.

 

I did a lot of research before hand and the US allows 12 reasons for visiting Cuba. For the 'reason for your visit' section: reason # 8 (Support for Cuban people) and # 11 (Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or information materials) are the only ones that do not require a third party facilitator/sponsor such as a humanitarian group.

 

I have seen some people post a short video on youtube to show they are sharing of information for educational purposes. I talked to people and took pictures. I wrote #8 and everything I took with me I left. I also took fishing gear for adults, and bubbles and glow sticks for kids that I gave away while walking on the malecon. I also took clothes and shoes that were nice but I didn't use and left them at the casa. They are really happy to receive these instead of the typical afterthought toiletries. I left with only the clothes I was wearing, my underwear (which I didn't leave), one souvenir T and a bottle of rum. I feel I supported the Cuban people with the best of intentions.

 

I found 10 caches without a gps using OSM maps and offline caches. I also had all my POIs loaded and traveled all over Havana using my phone without cell signal. The gps function still worked great. All in all a memorable trip.

 

I didn't bring any rum back but I did bring back a box of Cuba cigars (you're allowed to bring back $100 worth of cigars). I only found one cache in Cuba and DNFd another. I used the new geocaching app with offline lists. That worked well except for one thing. The offline lists contain all the info you'll need except any photos the CO might have uploaded to help cachers find their geocache without a GPS. For the cache that I DNFd the photo the CO provided would have made the difference between a find and a DNF.

 

 

[+OwenfromKC]

I also did a lot of research before going to Cuba as well and found a couple of differences or clarifications that others might consider if they want to got to Cuba to find a cache.

My international travels are leisure and not work related but I am happy to add at least one new country a year. I also went to Cuba this year in February in a tourist capacity and a US citizen. Cuba loves to have US visitors, it is the US government that has the problem. I went through Cancun also. The process is the same as flying to Mexico. You get on the plane, they hand you a temp visa, you fill it out, land, go through immigration and enjoy your trip.

 

Things can get confusing because technically, U.S. citizens are not allowed to travel to Cuba strictly as a tourist. Practically, Cuban immigration and the Cuban people don't care if a U.S. citizen travels to Cuba as a tourist and U.S. Immigration doesn't care either. Prior to the recent changes in policy, one had to petition the U.S. Treasury department to obtain a license to travel under one of the specific 12 OFAC categories mentioned below. Now, one can "obtain" a general license simply by self-declaring that one qualifies under one of the categories. There is no paperwork involved between the traveler and the U.S. government. A simple "yes, I qualify under one of these categories is sufficient."

 

In order to enter Cuba you need a "tourist card" or tourist visa. There are several ways to obtain one. Currently there are two ways to get to Cuba (by air). You can fly direct from a U.S. city through a Charter company. In this case, the Charter company provides the tourist card (you just need to fill it out), often on the plane en-route to Cuba and the cost of the tourist card (~20$US) is bundled into the charter company fare. I chose not to use a Charter company as they often are more expensive and use charter carriers that have less than reliable records for on-time departures and restrictions on baggage weight (with exorbitant fees if you exceed it). The other option is to schedule a flight on your own from some other country. There are flights to Havana from Cancun, Mexico City, Panama City, Bahamas, Aruba and I even Toronto. You just need to book a separate flight to one of these cities then book a separate flight to Havana. A tourist visa can be obtained prior to checking in at the last airport before checking in. In fact, I was asked to show my tourist card by an airline representative at the beginning of the checkin line. I actually got my tourist card from a web site in the UK. It was a simple online form which included an affidavit ("yes, I qualify under one of the OFAC categories"). It as a bit more expensive than obtaining one at the airport but I liked having the piece of mind of having the tourist card prior to leaving the U.S.

 

Where things can get complicated is if one needs to travel under one of the categories which requires a "sponsor". I'm going to write a second post about that and how being a geocacher actually became an issue.

 

I did a lot of research before hand and the US allows 12 reasons for visiting Cuba. For the 'reason for your visit' section: reason # 8 (Support for Cuban people) and # 11 (Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or information materials) are the only ones that do not require a third party facilitator/sponsor such as a humanitarian group.

 

I have seen some people post a short video on youtube to show they are sharing of information for educational purposes. I talked to people and took pictures. I wrote #8 and everything I took with me I left. I also took fishing gear for adults, and bubbles and glow sticks for kids that I gave away while walking on the malecon. I also took clothes and shoes that were nice but I didn't use and left them at the casa. They are really happy to receive these instead of the typical afterthought toiletries. I left with only the clothes I was wearing, my underwear (which I didn't leave), one souvenir T and a bottle of rum. I feel I supported the Cuban people with the best of intentions.

 

I found 10 caches without a gps using OSM maps and offline caches. I also had all my POIs loaded and traveled all over Havana using my phone without cell signal. The gps function still worked great. All in all a memorable trip.

 

I didn't bring any rum back but I did bring back a box of Cuba cigars (you're allowed to bring back $100 worth of cigars). I only found one cache in Cuba and DNFd another. I used the new geocaching app with offline lists. That worked well except for one thing. The offline lists contain all the info you'll need except any photos the CO might have uploaded to help cachers find their geocache without a GPS. For the cache that I DNFd the photo the CO provided would have made the difference between a find and a DNF.

 

All very good points. Thanks for sharing. I am curious of other's experiences. It is what ever you are comfortable with and willing to do. Not saying I didn't get nervous at times but it all worked out. I would never do a trip like this with my kids or my girlfriend but the opportunity happened for me when they couldn't so off I went solo.

 

I planned on Cuba but could have stayed in Mexico if it didn't work out. My Aunt and Uncle are retired and have a winter home near Tulum so that was my back up plan. (The aforementioned opportunity for the trip is that they forgot a 3 month supply of medicine in the US and I was available.) I did my research but did not purchase anything until I was there. I didn't buy my Cuba ticket until I got to Mexico. When you try from the US there are legalities and it is much more expensive. If I remember correctly I found only 3 flights daily from Cancun to Havana. Air Mexico at 12p, Volaris(?) at 2p and Air Cubana at 4p. Air Mexico was the cheapest at the gate but I discovered it was also $100 cheaper online than what I was quoted in person. I bought it online but remember my IP address was in Mexico and everything was in Spanish. The website assumes you are Mexican so it is cheaper than if you checked from US IP. A Mexican VPN is hard to find for free.

 

I had a list of casa particulars in the Vedado area I wanted and just walked up and knocked for availability and the third one I was in. (On the visa destination I just wrote 'casa maria'). It doesn't sound organized but I was...really. I thought I needed $25 CUCs for my visa fee to leave which I was warned about, however, it is included in your airline ticket cost now. So I ended up with some Cuban money for souvenirs also. Always better safe than sorry.

 

I actually had the cab drop me at GC29YPG. See my pic on the cache page. I got my first Cuban cache before I had a place to stay. Ha!

 

I used an android app that has : and 4 letters for caching in Cuba. It features static maps for offline caches that are increasingly zoomed in with the closest ones being satellite images. Very handy when not having a gps to your point of needing a pic.

 

I hope some of this helps anyone else planning on going there. I do urge everyone to do as much research before hand if going it alone without a group and pre-planned itinerary that is done for you. I read and watched a lot of youtube. Like I said in the other post, I had my own POIs and things I wanted to do that I had researched.

 

NYPaddleCacher - It looks like we both got the clock tower, GC55GVK. I look forward to your next posting and your geo-issue.

[Glory Hunters]

Obviously after the wedding

 

We are looking to go somewhere east from Europe (that is, Asia or Oceania) and my [future wife] girlfriend would like somewhere with nice weather and beaches. I thought of a combined trip Philippines/Australia, or even Somewhere+Seychelles for example. Will keep looking. But of course I'll obtain at least another new country

[+mmmPIZZA]

I've had the pleasure of caching in all the countries I've visited. I've found caches in 10 countries and next month, it will be 11 when I add Denmark to my list!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I've had the pleasure of caching in all the countries I've visited. I've found caches in 10 countries and next month, it will be 11 when I add Denmark to my list!

 

There are a few countries that I have visited where I didn't find a cache. Kenya, Zambia, Norway, and ironically, Canada are on that list. I'll be adding Ireland to my countries list in two weeks.

[+mmmPIZZA]

I've had the pleasure of caching in all the countries I've visited. I've found caches in 10 countries and next month, it will be 11 when I add Denmark to my list!

 

There are a few countries that I have visited where I didn't find a cache. Kenya, Zambia, Norway, and ironically, Canada are on that list. I'll be adding Ireland to my countries list in two weeks.

 

I went to Dublin for a day-trip with my girlfriend back in February. Had the pleasure of adding 8 caches and Ireland to my list. Dublin is a really nice place

[+Ibar]

Just took advantage of an endless layover (9 HOURS) in Istanbul to add my 27th country to the list.

 

If everything goes according to the plan, the next ones should be: Croatia in July, Poland in August, Ecuador in September and (really hard but will do my best) India in November

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Just took advantage of an endless layover (9 HOURS) in Istanbul to add my 27th country to the list.

 

If everything goes according to the plan, the next ones should be: Croatia in July, Poland in August, Ecuador in September and (really hard but will do my best) India in November

 

I had about the same amount of time in Istanbul when I added Turkey to my list. I was coming from Ethiopia and caught some kind of bug near the end of the visit so only went out for a few hours. I had an interesting meeting last week about a project that I might get involved in that could lead to several more future visits to Ethiopia. I've already found caches there but there are several possible layover cities in places I haven't visited that I could do that would give me a new country (though it's getting more difficulty to find countries in Europe I haven't visited).

 

My next trip is in two weeks to Dublin with a short visit to Paris for a meeting on the way home. Ireland will be a new country. The conference I'll be attending is going to be in Brisbane, Australia next year and I so want to go, especially because a layover in New Zealand is a very viable option.

 

 

 

[+TwoNomadicBrits]

I've had the pleasure of caching in all the countries I've visited. I've found caches in 10 countries and next month, it will be 11 when I add Denmark to my list!

 

I'm about half! I've cached in 35 'countries' recognised by GC.com but visited 76 countries as recognised by the UN.

 

Next month for Geocaching I will add Cyprus, and hopefully Jersey and Hungary for work before the year is out. The two countries mentioned there will not increase my 76 country count as I've been before, and although I've not been to Jersey before it is not a proper country oh well, at least three new Geocaching countries will be added

[+hzoi]

Next month for Geocaching I will add Cyprus, and hopefully Jersey and Hungary for work before the year is out. The two countries mentioned there will not increase my 76 country count as I've been before, and although I've not been to Jersey before it is not a proper country oh well, at least three new Geocaching countries will be added

 

Enjoy Jersey. It may not be a "country," but it's a nice place to visit. The war tunnels were an incredible visit. We also enjoyed the stone circles and other ruins.

[+TwoNomadicBrits]

Next month for Geocaching I will add Cyprus, and hopefully Jersey and Hungary for work before the year is out. The two countries mentioned there will not increase my 76 country count as I've been before, and although I've not been to Jersey before it is not a proper country oh well, at least three new Geocaching countries will be added

 

Enjoy Jersey. It may not be a "country," but it's a nice place to visit. The war tunnels were an incredible visit. We also enjoyed the stone circles and other ruins.

 

Thanks - I hope I will get some time to do a little bit of sightseeing.

 

We decided that if we ever move back to England we would try and visit some of the islands surrounding the UK... although we are going to be overseas until at least 2019 so those trips may have to wait a while

[+redsox_mark]

I added India as #28 on my country list this week, with a business trip to Mumbai.

 

Only 4 caches in the city, I found 3 of them. One was an Earthcache.

 

The highlight was "Elephant Island" yesterday.

[+colleda]

We recently returned from India and that added another country to our list but I haven't counted them. But, no souvenir for India. I think there are less than 300 caches in the whole country. We managed 2 found earth caches and one trad DNF (an unmaintained vacation cache that was being logged as a virtual and is now archived).

[+colleda]

We recently returned from India and that added another country to our list but I haven't counted them. But, no souvenir for India. I think there are less than 300 caches in the whole country. We managed 2 found earth caches and one trad DNF (an unmaintained vacation cache that was being logged as a virtual and is now archived).

Just went and counted them - 47 including England, Scotland and wales. Also Hong Kong and Macau, which are really China, So I think that our tally is 45.

Only have souvenirs for 13 as many were before playing this game.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

We recently returned from India and that added another country to our list but I haven't counted them. But, no souvenir for India. I think there are less than 300 caches in the whole country. We managed 2 found earth caches and one trad DNF (an unmaintained vacation cache that was being logged as a virtual and is now archived).

Just went and counted them - 47 including England, Scotland and wales. Also Hong Kong and Macau, which are really China, So I think that our tally is 45.

Only have souvenirs for 13 as many were before playing this game.

 

I got my 13th country based souvenir yesterday for a find in Ireland but have found caches in 24 countries. England, Scotland, and Wales are not listed as separate countries on most "official" countries lists, but Hong Kong and Macau are.

 

 

[+funkymunkyzone]

Just got back last weekend from adding my final continent (except Antarctica of course) adding 4 countries, bringing my total to 63 plus Kosovo. Thought we weren't going to get Paraguay as we had no 140USD visa... so we just took a taxi and drove in, no visas, no border checks...

 

Already got my next couple of countries lined up for September - Vietnam and Cambodia.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Just got back last weekend from adding my final continent (except Antarctica of course) adding 4 countries, bringing my total to 63 plus Kosovo.

 

 

I am about to head to the airport after attending an annual conference that, this year, was held in Dublin. The location for the conference next year was announced a couple of weeks ago: Brisbane, Australia. There's a pretty good chance I'll be able to go and that would give me my fifth continent. Ironically, I have not yet visited South America even though it's the closest other continent to me. I don't have any specific international travel planned for the rest of the year but I found out about a conference in Iceland in November I might be able to attend.

 

 

[+FollowMeHawkMom]

The Blue Lagoon is right next to Reyjkavik airport- you could visit it even if you had a 4 hour layover IMO! (Plus it has an Earthcache, so that angle is set.) Reykjavik proper is about an hour from the airport.

 

Hi Andromeda,

Could one visit the Blue Lagoon with less than 4 hours? I have a layover next week for about 3.5 hours and wondered if there are any caches within walking distance and if walking is even advisable. Thanks! ~Lori

[+on4bam]

 

The Blue Lagoon is right next to Reyjkavik airport- you could visit it even if you had a 4 hour layover IMO! (Plus it has an Earthcache, so that angle is set.) Reykjavik proper is about an hour from the airport.

 

Hi Andromeda,

Could one visit the Blue Lagoon with less than 4 hours? I have a layover next week for about 3.5 hours and wondered if there are any caches within walking distance and if walking is even advisable. Thanks! ~Lori

 

Beware of the fact there are 2 airports, Reykjavik (RKV) and Keflavik (KEF). The Blue Lagoon is closer to Keflavik, Rejkjavik is close to the city.

[+FollowMeHawkMom]

 

The Blue Lagoon is right next to Reyjkavik airport- you could visit it even if you had a 4 hour layover IMO! (Plus it has an Earthcache, so that angle is set.) Reykjavik proper is about an hour from the airport.

 

Beware of the fact there are 2 airports, Reykjavik (RKV) and Keflavik (KEF). The Blue Lagoon is closer to Keflavik, Rejkjavik is close to the city.

 

 

Thanks for clarifying. We fly into KEF.

Edited June 18, 2016 by FollowMeHawkMom

[+Michaelcycle]

The Blue Lagoon is right next to Reyjkavik airport- you could visit it even if you had a 4 hour layover IMO! (Plus it has an Earthcache, so that angle is set.) Reykjavik proper is about an hour from the airport.

 

 

Beware of the fact there are 2 airports, Reykjavik (RKV) and Keflavik (KEF). The Blue Lagoon is closer to Keflavik, Rejkjavik is close to the city.

 

Thanks for clarifying. We fly into KEF.

 

I would not be so sure. It is about 35 minutes to the Lagoon from KEF. So there and back is 70 minutes if your transportation is waiting for you at both ends. Then you must buy your ticket and go to the lockers to get changed. When you get out I can assure you that you will want to shower. Figure another 50 minutes total for both ends. You will have to go back through security at KEF (it's not that big so that might not take too long) That really doesn't leave much time to experience the lagoon and at 50 euro minimum I wouldn't want to dip n' dash. We had a car and were there for a week so we could take our time (it actually sleeted while we were bathing, an unusual experience)

At any rate I would be very careful setting up transportation.

[+FollowMeHawkMom]

I would not be so sure. It is about 35 minutes to the Lagoon from KEF. So there and back is 70 minutes if your transportation is waiting for you at both ends. Then you must buy your ticket and go to the lockers to get changed. When you get out I can assure you that you will want to shower. Figure another 50 minutes total for both ends. You will have to go back through security at KEF (it's not that big so that might not take too long) That really doesn't leave much time to experience the lagoon and at 50 euro minimum I wouldn't want to dip n' dash. We had a car and were there for a week so we could take our time (it actually sleeted while we were bathing, an unusual experience)

At any rate I would be very careful setting up transportation.

**

 

I can see that we won't have near enough time to do the Lagoon justice, mores the pity. Does anyone know if there are geocaches within walking distance of the KEF airport, or if it's even an area to be walking in? I'm about as inexperienced a traveler as it gets, but I'd love to find a cache while I'm in Iceland

[+on4bam]

Does anyone know if there are geocaches within walking distance of the KEF airport, or if it's even an area to be walking in?

 

Just look at the map here on GC. There are two traditionals in front of the airport.

If just transferring I wouldn't go through the hassle of security, customs... Don't know if you need a visum (we didn't as we're from Europe when we visited in 2001 by ferry/car).

[+Michaelcycle]

Does anyone know if there are geocaches within walking distance of the KEF airport, or if it's even an area to be walking in?

 

Just look at the map here on GC. There are two traditionals in front of the airport.

If just transferring I wouldn't go through the hassle of security, customs... Don't know if you need a visum (we didn't as we're from Europe when we visited in 2001 by ferry/car).

 

No need for a visa (to English through French shortened from the Latin carta visa "the document has been examined") for travelers from the USA

 

We found GC1YTJ2 not far from the front door of the airport while killing time waiting for our flight home. You might want to keep an eye on that one, though, as it appears to need maintenance.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Does anyone know if there are geocaches within walking distance of the KEF airport, or if it's even an area to be walking in?

 

Just look at the map here on GC. There are two traditionals in front of the airport.

If just transferring I wouldn't go through the hassle of security, customs... Don't know if you need a visum (we didn't as we're from Europe when we visited in 2001 by ferry/car).

 

No need for a visa (to English through French shortened from the Latin carta visa "the document has been examined") for travelers from the USA

 

We found GC1YTJ2 not far from the front door of the airport while killing time waiting for our flight home. You might want to keep an eye on that one, though, as it appears to need maintenance.

 

According to the travel.state.gov site a visa is not required for visits less than 90 days. At the conference I attended in Dublin last week I heard about another conference that is going to be in Reyjkavik in November. It's focusing on an area of work that would justify me requesting that I attend.

[+cheech gang]

Just now finished booking a trip to add 6 new countries to the current 41. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Serbia, Bulgaria,Romania.

[+Michaelcycle]

Just now finished booking a trip to add 6 new countries to the current 41. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Serbia, Bulgaria,Romania.

 

We got Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia last year on a bike trip. It was marvelous meeting people still exploring their political freedom. Nice countryside and all three capital cities have much to recommend them. I hope you are taking the time to really see them.

[GeotoursCAT]

Anyone coming to Barcelona?

there are many caches in the city but the best are on the countryside, away from the crowd, surrounded by nature, calm and harmony :-)

if you are willing to discover it let me know, I'm a local girl geocacher and can show you the best places to discover this land and be out the mass tourism.Don't be a tourist, become an explorer and go geocaching!!

[+Ibar]

Just back from a great vacation in Istria (Croatia) .. and added my #28 country to the list. Next stop next month Poland,long weekend with my wife to Krakow

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Does anyone know if there are geocaches within walking distance of the KEF airport, or if it's even an area to be walking in?

 

Just look at the map here on GC. There are two traditionals in front of the airport.

If just transferring I wouldn't go through the hassle of security, customs... Don't know if you need a visum (we didn't as we're from Europe when we visited in 2001 by ferry/car).

 

No need for a visa (to English through French shortened from the Latin carta visa "the document has been examined") for travelers from the USA

 

We found GC1YTJ2 not far from the front door of the airport while killing time waiting for our flight home. You might want to keep an eye on that one, though, as it appears to need maintenance.

 

According to the travel.state.gov site a visa is not required for visits less than 90 days. At the conference I attended in Dublin last week I heard about another conference that is going to be in Reyjkavik in November. It's focusing on an area of work that would justify me requesting that I attend.

 

The odds of going to Reykjavik for that conference have gone up a bit and I've found a *really* good airfare out of Toronto it I might finally be able to add Canada to my list. That would give me five new countries this year, which I wouldn't have expected given I added no *new* countries last year. Last week I had a couple of conference calls that could lead to more travel in the Spring. I've pretty much been told I'll be invited to go back to Cuba in April and although it wouldn't be a new country I can plan things a bit better to give me time to find a few more there. There's also a good possibility of attending a conference in Crete in May.

 

 

[+Ibar]

Country #29 ... done. Just spent a weekend in Cracow, a BEAUTIFUL city ... full of EC's btw Enjoyed very much our time there.

 

Next country should be Ecuador in a couple of weeks, but I have a very tigth business agenda. Hopefully I can escape when in Quito or Guayaquil and grab something. Unfortunately I'll spend mos of the time in Cuenca, which doesn't have a single cache downtown

 

We'll see ...

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Country #29 ... done. Just spent a weekend in Cracow, a BEAUTIFUL city ... full of EC's btw Enjoyed very much our time there.

 

Next country should be Ecuador in a couple of weeks, but I have a very tigth business agenda. Hopefully I can escape when in Quito or Guayaquil and grab something. Unfortunately I'll spend mos of the time in Cuenca, which doesn't have a single cache downtown

 

 

I hate it when that happens. When I was planning for my trip to Cuba last April I was originally supposed to go to a town which only had one cache. I had it on my watch list and followed the "couldn't find it. Dropped a replacement", then a couple of finds followed by another throwdown log. I was starting to plan on arriving in Havana a day early or at the end of the trip so that I'd have the opportunity to find a cache. That's become somewhat of a standard practice when I travel for business because usually, once I start my business agenda, I don't have time for much else.

 

 

[+fuzziebear3]

I'm going to Belgium in a few weeks! I get a new country/continent!

 

I don't know how well I will do there, but I really need to find at least one.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I'm going to Belgium in a few weeks! I get a new country/continent!

 

I don't know how well I will do there, but I really need to find at least one.

 

Where are you going in Belgium? When I got one in Brussels a few years ago I DNFd the first two I tried. If all my travel plans for the next year pan out I hope to get my 30th country and 5th continent while visiting Australia next June.

 

 

[+fuzziebear3]

I'm going to Belgium in a few weeks! I get a new country/continent!

 

I don't know how well I will do there, but I really need to find at least one.

 

Where are you going in Belgium? When I got one in Brussels a few years ago I DNFd the first two I tried. If all my travel plans for the next year pan out I hope to get my 30th country and 5th continent while visiting Australia next June.

 

Brussels, and Spa.