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collecting countries


terratin

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On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 0:16 PM, Arnàutil said:

In one month we will be flying to Amman to visit Jordan - that will be, hopefully, the 34th country where I will have found a geocache! Can't wait to discover this country! :lol:

Try and get out to Petra while there - it's an amazing place, and the oldest cache in Jordan is there (a bit of hike to get to, it's at the far end and several hundred feet up.  We made it during a half day visit, but couldn't see as much of the other sights as we like.  It's a good excuse to go back.).

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We just arrived home from our two month trip that included a Caribbean Cruise.  We added 4 new countries - Aruba, Caracao, Bonaire, Cayman Islands (including an event put on by a local that happened to be the day we were there) - but missed Jamaca when we could not find either of the two caches close to the dock.  A real bummer.

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Worst bagging a new country ever!

Plan was to take a train from Edinburgh to Milton Keyes, drive with shared car full of fellow cachers to Southampton, fly to Alderney, stay in a sea fort for a few days, same way back a few days later. Easy.

 

But then it started to snow a bit in Scotland. And that's not good. No surface travel available at all. So I got a refund for my train ticket and booked a flight (only slightly more expensive) to London Gatwick. Due to railworks and this being last minute I could not get a hotel in Southampton, nor get there by rail. So I took a bus into London, then tube to another station, then train to Milton Keynes as planned and stayed there for the night. Then drove down with the fellow cachers and arrived on the island without any problems.

Flight back: flight was cancelled due to tech and we all got another night on the island courtesy of the airline. Next morning my plane left pretty much together with my booked train from Milton Keynes. Meh! Found that flying is cheaper than rebooking a train from Southampton (the other cachers were still on the island due to the tiny planes serving it), and now I'll be back home earlier than the original trip by plane, car and train. Glad that the airline will pay for this at least.

 

Btw, just booked a very cheap weekend on Jersey at the end of September. Country 42 visited, 43 coming up then.

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On 3/10/2018 at 8:09 AM, terratin said:

Worst bagging a new country ever!

Plan was to take a train from Edinburgh to Milton Keyes, drive with shared car full of fellow cachers to Southampton, fly to Alderney, stay in a sea fort for a few days, same way back a few days later. Easy.

 

But then it started to snow a bit in Scotland. And that's not good. No surface travel available at all. So I got a refund for my train ticket and booked a flight (only slightly more expensive) to London Gatwick. Due to railworks and this being last minute I could not get a hotel in Southampton, nor get there by rail. So I took a bus into London, then tube to another station, then train to Milton Keynes as planned and stayed there for the night. Then drove down with the fellow cachers and arrived on the island without any problems.

Flight back: flight was cancelled due to tech and we all got another night on the island courtesy of the airline. Next morning my plane left pretty much together with my booked train from Milton Keynes. Meh! Found that flying is cheaper than rebooking a train from Southampton (the other cachers were still on the island due to the tiny planes serving it), and now I'll be back home earlier than the original trip by plane, car and train. Glad that the airline will pay for this at least.

 

Btw, just booked a very cheap weekend on Jersey at the end of September. Country 42 visited, 43 coming up then.

I hear Alderney is nice; in fact, someone just got a virtual published down there that looks interesting.  Perhaps you're familiar with it. :anibad:

(Congratulations, by the way!)

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On 3/10/2018 at 8:09 AM, terratin said:

Worst bagging a new country ever!

Plan was to take a train from Edinburgh to Milton Keyes, drive with shared car full of fellow cachers to Southampton, fly to Alderney, stay in a sea fort for a few days, same way back a few days later. Easy.

 

But then it started to snow a bit in Scotland. And that's not good. No surface travel available at all. So I got a refund for my train ticket and booked a flight (only slightly more expensive) to London Gatwick. Due to railworks and this being last minute I could not get a hotel in Southampton, nor get there by rail. So I took a bus into London, then tube to another station, then train to Milton Keynes as planned and stayed there for the night. Then drove down with the fellow cachers and arrived on the island without any problems.

Flight back: flight was cancelled due to tech and we all got another night on the island courtesy of the airline. Next morning my plane left pretty much together with my booked train from Milton Keynes. Meh! Found that flying is cheaper than rebooking a train from Southampton (the other cachers were still on the island due to the tiny planes serving it), and now I'll be back home earlier than the original trip by plane, car and train. Glad that the airline will pay for this at least.

 

Btw, just booked a very cheap weekend on Jersey at the end of September. Country 42 visited, 43 coming up then.

I haven't traveled to a new country specifically to go geocaching (other than taking a 15-20 minute train to cross the border from Denmark to Sweden) but in general adding a new country is becoming more difficult just due to having previously visited the country.  I'm mostly resorted to choosing a layover airport that I haven't been to on the way to some places I've already been.  

One of the itineraries I'm considering for a trip to Kenya (which will *hopefully* happen next month) is flying on Qatar airlines with a layover in Doha.   It looks like I could schedule a trip with about a 10 hour layover during the day.  Since you previously lived there (if I recall correctly) how practical would it be to do a 10 hour layover there and find a couple of caches?   I had considered a layover in Oslo on the way home from Kenya but now it looks like I'll be going to Belgium in August and a layover in Oslo would be more practical for that trip.

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5 hours ago, hzoi said:

I hear Alderney is nice; in fact, someone just got a virtual published down there that looks interesting.  Perhaps you're familiar with it. :anibad:

(Congratulations, by the way!)

Oh? I must have missed this virtual. Bugger, now I have to return *smiles* Yes, I started this walk, simply because it existed, and then I suddenly knew what to do with the dreaded Virtual that refused to find a good home somewhere. I talked to the guys in the tourist information about it, and they said there are just a few people doing this hike every year (such a shame) but they are aware of geocaching and were equally exciting that possibly a handful of cachers will be doing it each year.

Alderney is absolutely fantastic, certainly in winter/early spring. The skies are so dramatic, forts, sea forts, bunkers and other defence works every few meters (probably one of the most defended places anywhere), and the quality of caches is very good overall. So glad I went. Oh, and do look up Fort Clonque! That's where we stayed.

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3 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I haven't traveled to a new country specifically to go geocaching (other than taking a 15-20 minute train to cross the border from Denmark to Sweden) but in general adding a new country is becoming more difficult just due to having previously visited the country.  I'm mostly resorted to choosing a layover airport that I haven't been to on the way to some places I've already been.  

One of the itineraries I'm considering for a trip to Kenya (which will *hopefully* happen next month) is flying on Qatar airlines with a layover in Doha.   It looks like I could schedule a trip with about a 10 hour layover during the day.  Since you previously lived there (if I recall correctly) how practical would it be to do a 10 hour layover there and find a couple of caches?   I had considered a layover in Oslo on the way home from Kenya but now it looks like I'll be going to Belgium in August and a layover in Oslo would be more practical for that trip.

I've made it my rule to only 'bag' a new country if I've stayed there at least for a day and have tasted the local food. Thus I don't nip over a border or do a stopover just to get a new country as I still don't know anything about that country. But yes, why not. I mean, I have so many personal cache rules that most people will think I'm crazy ;)

4 hours ago, Arnàutil said:

Jordan was a great trip. One more country, that makes 34 for me. :)

Petra and Wadi Rum were outstanding.

Now aiming for Malta in one or two months!

Oh wow, Jordan is so fantastic! Have you eaten their national dish? Lamb with rice and fermented yoghurt. It's delicious! And both Petra and Wadi Rum are so amazing to visit. Envious! Malta! If you're into historical sites then there are some really amazing places to visit, both on Malta and Gozo.

 

I'm coming down to London tomorrow (I just came back from the south. Meh!) for a visa interview at the US Embassy, bringing with me about 250 pages of evidence that I don't intend to stay in the US after my trip to Utah in May *sigh* I spent most of today printing and checking and double checking that I really have everything that I might need. But at least there is a pile of new EarthCaches and Virtuals that I can start finding afterwards. Downside: I have to go by train as the embassy will be keeping my passport, and I currently don't have another valid form of ID. Note to self: get an ID card.

Utah, it was a very tough decision, but I'll be visiting Zion, Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef. Plus maybe a day in Snow Canyon, Kolob Section of Zion and Escalante Petrified Forest or thereabouts. And I could theoretically get 7 of my 9 missing Jasmer months there.

Edited by terratin
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12 hours ago, terratin said:
16 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I haven't traveled to a new country specifically to go geocaching (other than taking a 15-20 minute train to cross the border from Denmark to Sweden) but in general adding a new country is becoming more difficult just due to having previously visited the country.  I'm mostly resorted to choosing a layover airport that I haven't been to on the way to some places I've already been.  

One of the itineraries I'm considering for a trip to Kenya (which will *hopefully* happen next month) is flying on Qatar airlines with a layover in Doha.   It looks like I could schedule a trip with about a 10 hour layover during the day.  Since you previously lived there (if I recall correctly) how practical would it be to do a 10 hour layover there and find a couple of caches?   I had considered a layover in Oslo on the way home from Kenya but now it looks like I'll be going to Belgium in August and a layover in Oslo would be more practical for that trip.

I've made it my rule to only 'bag' a new country if I've stayed there at least for a day and have tasted the local food. Thus I don't nip over a border or do a stopover just to get a new country as I still don't know anything about that country. But yes, why not. I mean, I have so many personal cache rules that most people will think I'm crazy ;)

It's not quite as easy for those of us in the US to bag new countries, considering we've only got three on the entire continent.  When I took the train from Denmark to Sweden I was there for about three hours, had lunch, and found four caches.  Spending 3 hours in just one city of a country doesn't even give a taste of what the country is like but if someone asked if I have ever been to Sweden I'd have to say yes.  Getting a stamp (or a visa) i my passport and sleeping in a bed in the country would, for me, be enough to say I've visited a country but in the context of geocaching and this thread there are a few others I've "collected"  due to finding at least one cache in the country.  

In the case of Doha,  it looks like there are a couple of caches close to the airport but I'd rather go into the city, walk around Souq Waqif and find this one.  At least one of the logs mentions finding it while on a flight delay.  

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1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 When I took the train from Denmark to Sweden I was there for about three hours, had lunch, and found four caches.  Spending 3 hours in just one city of a country doesn't even give a taste of what the country is like but if someone asked if I have ever been to Sweden I'd have to say yes.  Getting a stamp (or a visa) i my passport and sleeping in a bed in the country would, for me, be enough to say I've visited a country but in the context of geocaching and this thread there are a few others I've "collected"  due to finding at least one cache in the country. 

While in the UAE we drove into Oman, or better an Omani enclave in the UAE. There was only one cache there (a virtual) so I have Oman in my list of countries with founds. I  don't consider it having visited the country but it was the best we could do given we couldn't cross the border with our rental car for a real find. There's no real border crossing to enter the enclave as inside that part of Oman there's another part of the UAE B)

As for stamps in our passports, they are hard to come by these days as we can drive across Europe almost without any border checkpoints and even before the "Schengen agreement " we were waived through at border control most of the time (worst we ever had was holding up our ID while slowly driving past customs (even in the 60's and 70's).

 

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22 hours ago, on4bam said:

While in the UAE we drove into Oman, or better an Omani enclave in the UAE. There was only one cache there (a virtual) so I have Oman in my list of countries with founds. I  don't consider it having visited the country but it was the best we could do given we couldn't cross the border with our rental car for a real find. There's no real border crossing to enter the enclave as inside that part of Oman there's another part of the UAE B)

As for stamps in our passports, they are hard to come by these days as we can drive across Europe almost without any border checkpoints and even before the "Schengen agreement " we were waived through at border control most of the time (worst we ever had was holding up our ID while slowly driving past customs (even in the 60's and 70's).

I hadn't really thought about stamps in passports for those already in Europe.  I have a fair number of them because for most of the European countries I've entered, I'm coming from the U.S.  Since most of the souvenirs that GS is creating are for various promotions I wouldn't mind seeing the country/region souvenirs changed to "passport stamps" and treated separately.  There are still a lot of countries/regions without a souvenir but I kind of like the idea of getting a "stamp" for every new country one finds a cache.  

After going through immigration in Cuba there were a few people in the customs line (they scan every carry-on bag when coming *into* the country) that were comparing their Cuban passport stamps.  Some were so faint that they were hardly legible.  I must have had immigration agents with new ink pads because mine were clear and bright pink.  

A layover in UAE is a good possibility and even though I've been there before (and found a cache) there's something to be said for flying on Emirates, especially for a 13 hour flight.  Flying on Etihad is another option, which would mean a layover in Abu Dabi and I kind of like that one just so I could say that I've been to Addis Ababa, Dubai, and Abu Dabi.  

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18 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

A layover in UAE is a good possibility and even though I've been there before (and found a cache) there's something to be said for flying on Emirates, especially for a 13 hour flight.  Flying on Etihad is another option, which would mean a layover in Abu Dabi and I kind of like that one just so I could say that I've been to Addis Ababa, Dubai, and Abu Dabi.  

Choosing Etihad or Emirates is a no-brainer... When we visited UAE we didn't have a choice and flew Ethihad 777 to Abu Dhabi, legroom was awful. Then there was a 1 hour something busride to Dubai. We flew Emirates BRU-DXB-BRU (B777)  twice and wouldn't go on anything else now. Even the difference between Qantas A380 and Emirates is big enough to consider when taking code share flights. DXB-MEL on Qantas wasn't as good as MEL-DXB 15 hours or AKL-DXB 17 hours (all A380).

On April 19th Emirates will bring their A380 for a one off flight to BRU, I think may spotters will take the opportunity to see it. I think the only A380 visiting BRU was a Lufthansa flight years ago to promote the A380 (lots of press present). It could only be seen from the roof of the parkingbuilding.

 

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5 hours ago, on4bam said:

Choosing Etihad or Emirates is a no-brainer... When we visited UAE we didn't have a choice and flew Ethihad 777 to Abu Dhabi, legroom was awful. Then there was a 1 hour something busride to Dubai. We flew Emirates BRU-DXB-BRU (B777)  twice and wouldn't go on anything else now. Even the difference between Qantas A380 and Emirates is big enough to consider when taking code share flights. DXB-MEL on Qantas wasn't as good as MEL-DXB 15 hours or AKL-DXB 17 hours (all A380).

On April 19th Emirates will bring their A380 for a one off flight to BRU, I think may spotters will take the opportunity to see it. I think the only A380 visiting BRU was a Lufthansa flight years ago to promote the A380 (lots of press present). It could only be seen from the roof of the parkingbuilding.

 

Thanks for the info.   I really didn't know much about Etihad other than I know their first class (which I couldn't afford) is supposed to be especially luxurious.  I've flown on the Emirates A380 a few times, from JFK to/from DBX and from JFK to/from MXP (Milan).

I found out a bit more about that visit to Belgium in August.  It'll be near the end of the month and I'll be going to Hasselt for about a week.  I'm thinking of possibly spending a few more days and taking the train from Brussels to/from Luxembourg.   I max out my vacation allowance (that I can carry over to the next year) every year and right now I need to take 14 days of vacation before October or I'll lose it.

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42 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I found out a bit more about that visit to Belgium in August.  It'll be near the end of the month and I'll be going to Hasselt for about a week.  I'm thinking of possibly spending a few more days and taking the train from Brussels to/from Luxembourg.   I max out my vacation allowance (that I can carry over to the next year) every year and right now I need to take 14 days of vacation before October or I'll lose it.

Hasselt is a nice little town. We've been caching there a few times but it's out of our "daytrip radius". We normally stay in a B&B for a few times. There's a "fly-in" weekend (aero Kiewit) near the end of August in Kiewit bringing people to the area. From August 15-18 there's a big music festival and it's VERY busy in the area with road closures near the festivalgrounds. Maastricht is not far away and is worth a visit too.

If you want I can take a look at some caches nearby that are worth a visit although it looks like many have been archived since we found them.

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17 hours ago, on4bam said:
17 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I found out a bit more about that visit to Belgium in August.  It'll be near the end of the month and I'll be going to Hasselt for about a week.  I'm thinking of possibly spending a few more days and taking the train from Brussels to/from Luxembourg.   I max out my vacation allowance (that I can carry over to the next year) every year and right now I need to take 14 days of vacation before October or I'll lose it.

Hasselt is a nice little town. We've been caching there a few times but it's out of our "daytrip radius". We normally stay in a B&B for a few times. There's a "fly-in" weekend (aero Kiewit) near the end of August in Kiewit bringing people to the area. From August 15-18 there's a big music festival and it's VERY busy in the area with road closures near the festivalgrounds. Maastricht is not far away and is worth a visit too.

If you want I can take a look at some caches nearby that are worth a visit although it looks like many have been archived since we found them.

Thanks.  I'll let you know as the trip gets closer.  It looks like there's one at the university where I'll be working and one close to the hotel where I'll be staying (though I may do an airbnb for a week long trip).  It's going to be a small workshop with only about 8 people invited (and 3 live there) so hopefully there won't be any issues getting accommodations if it happens during the music festival.  I won't have a car (will be taking the train from Brussels) so I won't likely be able to visit too many places far from where I'm staying.  Something I'm considering is flying to/from London and taking Eurostar to Brussels.   

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1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

Thanks.  I'll let you know as the trip gets closer.  It looks like there's one at the university where I'll be working and one close to the hotel where I'll be staying (though I may do an airbnb for a week long trip).  It's going to be a small workshop with only about 8 people invited (and 3 live there) so hopefully there won't be any issues getting accommodations if it happens during the music festival.  I won't have a car (will be taking the train from Brussels) so I won't likely be able to visit too many places far from where I'm staying.  Something I'm considering is flying to/from London and taking Eurostar to Brussels.   

Staying at the HI? Campus is at walking distance and there's a cache (UHasselt GC4NKA4 ).

Eurostar is an easy way to get to Brussels from London, LHR to St Pancras may take a while though on the tube. There are several direct flights from JFK to BRU (unless you really want that stopover :ph34r: ). Keep an eye on belgianrail.be for info on trainschedules. There's always the possibility of social unrest affecting trainservice/public transport in general (there are strikes at least once or twice / year).

 

 

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6 hours ago, on4bam said:

Staying at the HI? Campus is at walking distance and there's a cache (UHasselt GC4NKA4 ).

Eurostar is an easy way to get to Brussels from London, LHR to St Pancras may take a while though on the tube. There are several direct flights from JFK to BRU (unless you really want that stopover :ph34r: ). Keep an eye on belgianrail.be for info on trainschedules. There's always the possibility of social unrest affecting trainservice/public transport in general (there are strikes at least once or twice / year).

 

 

The HI is one option.  I'll be checking out other options as well.

I looked a layovers as an opportunity (and not always explicitly to go geocaching) rather than an inconvenience if it means spending some time somewhere I haven't visited before.  I've never been to London (or anywhere in the UK) so I'd schedule plenty of time for ground transportation issues.  I know someone fairly well that lives in Hull and travels *a lot* and can hit him up for recommendations.  EasyJet or some other discount airline is also an option once I get to a city in Europe but taking the train to get a better view of the lay of the land has it's merits.  

Several years ago I attended a conference in Montpellier. Rather than fly from NY to Paris then to Montpellier (the quickest route)  I flew to Frankfurt, then to Marseille where I took a train to Montpellier.  On the way home I took the train to Barcelona, stayed a couple of days, and flew home from there.   The day that I departed was about 4 days after the volcano eruption in Iceland which shut down many airports in Europe but neither Frankfurt nor Marseille were affected.  However, there was also a rail strike in France (which seems to be quite common) but that ended *just* before I left the U.S. 

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36 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 I've never been to London (or anywhere in the UK) so I'd schedule plenty of time for ground transportation issues.

Since you're a regular traveler I assumed you had been in London before :wacko:

In that case London will be an excellent stopover. We used to go to London on regular intervals many years ago, most of the time over the Xmas period, but now it been a while. First years there was a "Jetfoil" (high speed boat that lifts out of the water as the speed increases) and train combination to get there, later we took our car on the train to visit Legoland UK and Windsor, the last time we went on the Eurostar. Plenty to do and see...

 

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Yay, bagged another UK county by accompanying students on a field trip. Only two caches, but I saved petrol money for 5 hours of driving and will get paid for it as well. Perfect.

A some meh: a flight to the US has been rescheduled and now I have a layover of 4:20 in Seattle. Probably not enough to get into town, but I guess the best I can do is to get outside and find a cache or two outside the airport.

On the plus side: my US visa has been approved and now I can travel to the US for the coming 10 years without an ESTA. Thus whenever I see a good flight deal I might as well...

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We got country 25 after spending a few days in Lisbon. We only found 20 caches but most were Virtuals and Earthcaches. Only 3 were traditionals. Two were challenges, one letterbox and a multi. Did two Wherigos but one was missing since June 2017 (no reviewer intervention despite NM logs) but still has many founds (mentioning there's no logbook). We finally filled the July 2001 "placed" month leaving January 2002 and all months of 2000 to fill (only 2 will probably happen).

 

@terratin  Don't count on the 10 years without ESTA.. things can change quickly. We still have our old 1986 passports with US visa "valid for life" in them...

 

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On 13/03/2018 at 4:08 AM, Arnàutil said:

Jordan was a great trip. One more country, that makes 34 for me. :)

Petra and Wadi Rum were outstanding.

Now aiming for Malta in one or two months!

Wow, all this info on places we'll be visiting in October this year. Doha, Jordan, also Israel and Turkey We already have a souvenir for Turkey but the others will be a first. And, in May, we will have our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise (I think I previously mentioned that one) Can't wait.

We already have a UK souvenir but is it possible to count/record counties?

 

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16 hours ago, on4bam said:

We got country 25 after spending a few days in Lisbon. We only found 20 caches but most were Virtuals and Earthcaches. Only 3 were traditionals. Two were challenges, one letterbox and a multi. Did two Wherigos but one was missing since June 2017 (no reviewer intervention despite NM logs) but still has many founds (mentioning there's no logbook). We finally filled the July 2001 "placed" month leaving January 2002 and all months of 2000 to fill (only 2 will probably happen).

 

@terratin  Don't count on the 10 years without ESTA.. things can change quickly. We still have our old 1986 passports with US visa "valid for life" in them...

 

Congrats on adding Portugal! I really need to get an affordable flight to Lisbon somehow. it's EC-heaven down there!

The visa: yes, things might change. I had to get the visa in the first place because I visited Iran in the last 5 years. So lets see what happens. At least my trip to Utah is sorted.

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2 hours ago, terratin said:

Congrats on adding Portugal! I really need to get an affordable flight to Lisbon somehow. it's EC-heaven down there!

The visa: yes, things might change. I had to get the visa in the first place because I visited Iran in the last 5 years. So lets see what happens. At least my trip to Utah is sorted.

It looks like I'll finally be able to start planning for a trip to Kenya.  Getting agreement on the language for the project and the contract signed has taken longer then the length of the contract.  I may have found a very good itinerary though.  It was have a long (~10 hours) layover in London on the way there, a short layover in Amsterdam (may have time for a few quick caches) then an overnight layover in Lisbon on the way home for just over $1000 round trip from JFK.   I'd like to spend more time in Lisbon but it's already going to be a 12 day trip and I'll probably go back to Kenya in the fall.

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Ok, I'll join the brag festival here in this thread..  [eyeroll].

I plan on adding nine European countries to my list this summer; Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Italy. Will be visiting France too but I've already been there before [spoken with my best hoity toity voice possible].

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21 hours ago, bflentje said:

Ok, I'll join the brag festival here in this thread..  [eyeroll].

I plan on adding nine European countries to my list this summer; Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Italy. Will be visiting France too but I've already been there before [spoken with my best hoity toity voice possible].

I'm toying with the idea of doing a day trip to Luxembourg when I go to Belgium.  I have been trying to find an opportunity to go to Austria but so far I haven't been able to fit it into my work travel.  The most countries I've managed to hit in one trip is three and there are several countries on my list that I've visited 3 or more times (six times to Italy, four to France, 3 times to Germany, Ethiopia and China).

BTW, those that have been reading this thread for awhile probably remember AndromedaNNN.   She recently posted on a geocaching group on reddit about adding countries #41 and #42,  

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Yeah, I'll be in Vancouver with my family for a couple of days.  Maybe get up to Whistler.  Mostly just the novelty of going to Canada.  Flying to PDX, then driving through Seattle (seeing HQ) and then up to Vancouver.

Seoul was great fun.  I hiked in Dobongsan which was fun but -- man oh man -- Koreans are serious about their hiking and they'll blow right past you on the trail.  I got nine going up this hill and a few more in town.

Screen Shot 2018-03-31 at 2.55.35 PM.png

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Sitting on 33 countries at the moment (24 of which have been in Europe), but an upcoming cruise should expand the list by nearly a third as we're doing a Los Angeles to Miami Panama canal cruise. We've never been to any of the Central American countries before, so they'll be all new (and we're hitting up Columbia for the first time too as a bonus). So hopefully by this time next year we should be up to 42 countries visited for caching. That also includes a trip we're planning pre-Christmas to Latvia as well. Considering adding a further trip to a new country earlier in the autumn too. Perhaps Poland. 

As someone pointed out before, you don't get a lot of time to find caches on a cruise stop. Both through lack of time, and sometimes because you're on a planned excursion. So we never get "big" numbers is a place where we've stopped in a cruise port, I always aim for one and then anything on top of that is a bonus. I try not to let caching get in the way of the exploration, although in some cases the two do go hand in hand quite neatly.

  

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On 4/13/2018 at 3:09 AM, terratin said:

That's a fantastic spread of countries! That is very exciting!

And, weirdly, having taking 48 years to get to Canada in the first place, I'm going to have about five hours to kill this Wednesday in Detroit after a meeting and before a flight, so I might as well nick off Ontario, as well!  Canada twice in two weeks!

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17 hours ago, Alkhalikoi said:

And, weirdly, having taking 48 years to get to Canada in the first place, I'm going to have about five hours to kill this Wednesday in Detroit after a meeting and before a flight, so I might as well nick off Ontario, as well!  Canada twice in two weeks!

I've been to Canada quite a few times, mostly before I started geocaching.  I had an overnight layover in Montreal on the way back from Iceland about a year ago but DNFd the only cache I had time to find (I got in very late).  So even though I've found caches in 28 countries, and live about 3 hours from the border, I still haven't found a cache in Canada.  

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22 hours ago, Alkhalikoi said:

And, weirdly, having taking 48 years to get to Canada in the first place, I'm going to have about five hours to kill this Wednesday in Detroit after a meeting and before a flight, so I might as well nick off Ontario, as well!  Canada twice in two weeks!

Don't forget to take your passport.

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I've got everything booked for a trip to Kenya starting June 1st.  I have a day free after I arrive and hopefully won't be too jet lagged to go finds some caches.  There are a few parks close to my hotel that have a pretty fair number of geocaches.   I hope to get a few before I leave Nairobi on the 9th for a 3 day, 2 night safari to Masai Mara (about a 5 hour drive away).  It looks like there might be a virtual that I can hit at one of the entrance gates to Masai Mara but I don't know if they'll be taking that road.  There are several caches within the game park but I have no idea if the safari will stop near any of them.  After returning to Nairobi I'll stay over night near the airport then fly to London (via Amsterdam) where I'll stay over night and have most of the following day free before flying home in the early evening.  The trip should let me collect two new countries.

 

I'm starting to plan for a week long trip to Belgium in August.  I found an open jaw flight that would involve flying to Luxembourg City and home from Brussels for less than a r/t flight to Brussels.  I've already got finds in Belgium but Luxembourg would be a new country.   A return trip to Kenya in the fall is still tentative (but likely) and I could add at least one more country by choosing a layover city in a country I have not yet visited (that's getting harder to do).  

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We scored our first Eurocache in Hungary today at the start of our cruise to Amsterdam. We were very surprised at the amount of "Found it - Didnt Find it" logs on one of our DNFs. Here, it seems as though if you found the spot and think its missing it's ok to claim a find. Oh, well.

Still recovering from 24+ hours of planes and insides of airports.

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29 minutes ago, colleda said:

Scored our Slovenia souvenir today. Can anyone tell me what the item is illustrated over the mountain background? BTW, we found Bratislava a most pleasant and enjoyable city.

I think you mean Slovakia?

 

It looks like some sort of sword, but I'm not sure.

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7 minutes ago, Gill & Tony said:

I think you mean Slovakia?

 

It looks like some sort of sword, but I'm not sure.

you're right, that's what happens when you're jet lagged and its 3 something in the morning. Yes, i thought it looked a bit too much like a samurai sword so it had me wondering. I'm still wide awake and it's now 4.30am.

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Sunday it's off to Utah, a new US state for me (my third). On the way back I have about 3 hours in Seattle. Not enough to go to HQ, but maybe just about enough to rush out of the airport, grab a cache and a bit of fresh air, and go back in. Maybe.

 

I usually leave the departure area when flying via Amsterdam, and leaving through baggage hall, buy some Dutch goodies, and go back through security usually takes about 20-30 minutes. Not sure I'll manage in the US though.

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14 hours ago, colleda said:

Scored our Slovakia souvenir today. Can anyone tell me what the item is illustrated over the mountain background? BTW, we found Bratislava a most pleasant and enjoyable city.

That is a fujara, a musical instrument. We enjoyed bicycling into Bratislava on our 1000km trip along the Danube.

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7 hours ago, terratin said:

Sunday it's off to Utah, a new US state for me (my third). On the way back I have about 3 hours in Seattle. Not enough to go to HQ, but maybe just about enough to rush out of the airport, grab a cache and a bit of fresh air, and go back in. Maybe.

 

I usually leave the departure area when flying via Amsterdam, and leaving through baggage hall, buy some Dutch goodies, and go back through security usually takes about 20-30 minutes. Not sure I'll manage in the US though.

 

Since you're flying domestically from SLC (I assume) to Seattle and internationally back home, you might be arriving at the main terminal and most likely departing from the South satellite terminal.  There's a train in between the terminals that is on the "air side".  If you want to step out for some fresh air I believe you'll have to do it from the main terminal, come back in through security, then take the train over to the south terminal.   I saw that there's a restaurant in the south satellite terminal called "Dungeness Bay".   I've you've never had dungeness crab I highly recommend it.  I doubt that even an airport restaurant could ruin dungeness crab.  

 

I've got  a 3h40m layover at AMS on the way to Kenya and a 3h20m layover on the way back.  That's probably enough time to get out from some fresh air and maybe find a cache, but after an 8 hour flight I'll probably try to grab something to eat then find a comfortable spot before my next flight.  

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I just returned from a business trip to Salt Lake City, literally, with some added private national park visits. So Utah is now on the map. I could have easily driven over to neighbouring states (from Snow Canyon state park or maybe from Wah Wah Stash) but I had such a great time that I decided not to bother. Decided to mainly go after ECs and Virtuals, with a handfull of new Jasmer months and Benchmarks thrown into the mix. What a great trip.

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On 6/2/2018 at 12:10 AM, terratin said:

I just returned from a business trip to Salt Lake City, literally, with some added private national park visits. So Utah is now on the map. I could have easily driven over to neighbouring states (from Snow Canyon state park or maybe from Wah Wah Stash) but I had such a great time that I decided not to bother. Decided to mainly go after ECs and Virtuals, with a handfull of new Jasmer months and Benchmarks thrown into the mix. What a great trip.

 

Sounds like you had a good time.  I'm in Kenya now and was planning on going out yesterday to do some caching yesterday.  After traveling for more than 24 hours I was really exhausted and then the people organizing the training I'll be doing this week wanted to have a meeting in the afternoon so I never got out of the hotel.  I don't think I'll have the chance to get out to find a cache the rest of the week.  Next weekend I'm going on a 3 day/2 night safari and I *think* we'll be stopping at a couple of places where a cache has been placed.  If not, this will be the third African country I've visited where I couldn't get the time to find a cache.  

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