collecting countries

7.3k · January 10, 2015

Now I'm probably on some sort of watchlist. So are you, VP.

4.5k · January 10, 2015

I'm not scared of the North Koreans. I'm already up to Service Pack 3 on my Windows XP!

7.3k · January 10, 2015

I'm not scared of the North Koreans. I'm already up to Service Pack 3 on my Windows XP!

Ah! :laughing:

2.1k · January 10, 2015

Yiha, we decided on our main vacation destination. It's going to be Vietnam, probably early October. This should give us enough time to plan properly. I'm also wondering if it's worth it to sneak a few days of Laos into this trip.

14k · January 10, 2015

In the uncomfortable-loopholes department, I understand that if you visit Iguazu Falls from the Argentina side, it's possible to "sneak" into Brazil to see the falls from that side too. Without a visa, that is, Brazil is really nosey and expensive with their visas. I've seen nothing written down that says this is legal, but some people do it. Probably because, as I understand it, locals get free passage within X distance of the border.

I had the chance, but not the nerve.

...but I did once sneak over the invisible line into a foreign country - a fairly uptight one - where there were no officials in sight, and even snacked on the vegetation in one of that country's national parks before making one last gesture of respect, then wandering back. I made sure to turn off the GPS' track logging feature beforehand.

I've "snuck" into countries twice - once by boat, and once I just stepped over the (visible) line. Both were quick, just to do it. So silly, such a rebel.

I've done some kayaking up in the Thousand Islands area where the border zig-zags on the St. Lawrence river between Canada and the U.S. I don't think I ever got that close but it would have been pretty easy to cross over and back. While on the Canadian side on another trip I was down at a Marina and saw a immigration "checkpoint" where it looked like private boaters could self-register entry into Canada.

The only other time I made a quick border crossing and back between two countries was for a 3 hour visit into Zimbabwe to view Victoria Falls from the ZIm side (in the dry season there was very little water going over the falls on the Zambia side). I didn't cross specifically to go geocaching in Zimbabwe but I did find one and ironically during the week I was in Zambia I never got the opportunity to find a cache.

January 10, 2015

Since we in Russia are quite limited in our ability to travel, I don't expect much from year 2015. Most probably (90%) I will visit Latvia and maybe some of the neighbouring countries, Estonia or Lithuania. Have some chances to be in Spain in March. Very weak chances for going to Ukraine, but if I manage to get there I will surely go further and visit Poland. There's always a chance to visit Turkey once again. And I stongly hope to win my chance to go to Ireland in the end of the year. If the situation is getting worse the list will be shorter.

January 11, 2015

Travel is my passion, and I've managed to visit 69 countries in my life.... however I've only been geocaching for 2 months so I haven't got many on my geocaching map :blink:

Really REALLY wish I had stumbled on geocaching earlier! In those two months I've managed a couple of countries, and I guess I now have a reason to revisit places I've already been

Edited January 11, 2015 by TwoNomadicBrits

2.1k · January 11, 2015

Hello TwoNomadicBrits!

I know what you mean with having discovered Geocaching a bit too late. But hey, you're doing great with caching in different countries!

January 11, 2015

Since we in Russia are quite limited in our ability to travel, I don't expect much from year 2015. Most probably (90%) I will visit Latvia and maybe some of the neighbouring countries, Estonia or Lithuania. Have some chances to be in Spain in March. Very weak chances for going to Ukraine, but if I manage to get there I will surely go further and visit Poland. There's always a chance to visit Turkey once again. And I stongly hope to win my chance to go to Ireland in the end of the year. If the situation is getting worse the list will be shorter.

If you get to go to Ireland please send me a message if you need any help

January 12, 2015

PS. The cost of the tickets from Barcelona to Budapest in the dates 21-28 January is... EUR 55 (two-way). Amazing!

Flights are very cheap right now. I can fly from JFK to Copenhagen, R/T for $429. It's only $460 r/t to moscow. I paid more than that last years for a r/t flight from NY to Austin, Texas.

A couple of business related trips came up last week, and confidence level on actually going to them is high. Although still in the U.S. my boss told me that he wants me to attend and present at a workshop out in Portland, Oregon in March. I know finding caches in another part of the country might not seem like much for those in Europe but Portland is over 2200 miles from New York, over twice as far as it is from Barcelona to Budapest. Plus, I have not yet cached in Oregon and can find the Original Stash plaque and the very old GC12 and GC16.

The other trip is actually closer but could mean a new country. There's a conference/workshop that I have been told by my bosses boss that I ought to attend in Ottawa, Canada. It's only about a 4.5 hours drive but since I started geocaching in 2007 I haven't crossed the border into Canada. I've been to about 24 other countries, but not the one nearest me.

Depends on where you are going. The tickets I just bought for Hilo cost more than twice that. However, I prefer Hawai'i to Moscow at this time of year.

January 12, 2015

If you get to go to Ireland please send me a message if you need any help

Go raibh maith agat. I will keep this in mind. I'm subscribed to Geocaching Ireland group in Facebook and will let them know too if I succeed with my plans.

BTW - and I'm addressing not only Irish cachers but all cachers who are going to visit Russia - please feel free to contact me if you are going to add Russia to your "collection" and have plans to visit Moscow. Whether you have any questions about your future staying/travel, or wish to pass/exchange trackables, or think about a meet-and-greet event, or wish to have a geocaching walk in the downtown focusing history/architecture/anything (e.g. Moscow Graffiti tour), please don't hesitate and drop me a message.

January 12, 2015

I live in NZ - we get to geocache in Perth, Aus, in April. Pretty excited about that! :lol: Hopefully we might add an island or two later on in the year.

January 12, 2015

So, I've just made up a plan for a 5 countries in a day tour. Next month I'll have to drive from Bonn (Germany) to Trier (Germany) and back 1 or 2 days later anyway. So why not take a detour through 4 other countries on the way back?

The plan is to start in Trier, then cross the border to France in order to log GC4MTIJ. After that I'll quickly drive back to Germany and enter Luxembourg a few minutes later (the French make you pay for using their highways), drive through Luxemburg and log GC3N37D. After that I'll drive through Belgium and log GC28ZQR on that route. Then I'll drive into a corner of the Netherlands in order to log GC579GP and then cross the border to Germany a few minutes later. From there I'll drive to Bonn and log some simple cache like GC4WNRE.

This whole trip will take 240 miles driving distance from cache to cache. According to google maps that'll take 4 hours and 40 minutes. If I were to log a cache in Trier first I'd be able to log caches in 5 different countries with driving only 175 miles (or 3.5 hours of driving time).

Sounds like a good plan, but I'll have to see whether I'll be compatible with my family's plans (it's a family visit).

But it's good that I can also collect some countries by just driving a few hundred miles, since I can't afford plane tickets to overseas. And from my home location it's only a 1-hour drive to Denmark.

I'll have to find out whether there's a 5 countries in a day challenge cache, I'm sure the is! According to the logs of some of my chosen caches others have already taken similar tours through these 5 countries. There's even a 10 countries (Germany and all of its 9 neighboring countries) within 24 hours challenge which is crazy but feasible.

January 12, 2015

Great - I've just found a challenge which is located by the route that I'll take on my way back home: GC47YEC!

14k · January 12, 2015

PS. The cost of the tickets from Barcelona to Budapest in the dates 21-28 January is... EUR 55 (two-way). Amazing!

Flights are very cheap right now. I can fly from JFK to Copenhagen, R/T for $429. It's only $460 r/t to moscow. I paid more than that last years for a r/t flight from NY to Austin, Texas.

A couple of business related trips came up last week, and confidence level on actually going to them is high. Although still in the U.S. my boss told me that he wants me to attend and present at a workshop out in Portland, Oregon in March. I know finding caches in another part of the country might not seem like much for those in Europe but Portland is over 2200 miles from New York, over twice as far as it is from Barcelona to Budapest. Plus, I have not yet cached in Oregon and can find the Original Stash plaque and the very old GC12 and GC16.

The other trip is actually closer but could mean a new country. There's a conference/workshop that I have been told by my bosses boss that I ought to attend in Ottawa, Canada. It's only about a 4.5 hours drive but since I started geocaching in 2007 I haven't crossed the border into Canada. I've been to about 24 other countries, but not the one nearest me.

Depends on where you are going. The tickets I just bought for Hilo cost more than twice that. However, I prefer Hawai'i to Moscow at this time of year.

I didn't look at Hawaii but a lot of the flights from NYC to the Caribbean were quite good as well. I usually use google.com/flights or kayak.com/explore for checking airfare prices. You just put in a departure city and it displays a map of the world with prices to many of the possible destinations. If there isn't a price for some city,just zoom it a bit and it will usually show up. If I am going to, for example, Rome (currently showing a $677 r/t airfare from NYC) I can look at other cities in Europe that I might choose to fly to, then take an inexpensive RyanAir or EZJet flight, or maybe a train. The are to Copenhagen (as well as most places) has gone up a bit but it's still only $502 to Oslo.

14k · January 12, 2015

This whole trip will take 240 miles driving distance from cache to cache. According to google maps that'll take 4 hours and 40 minutes. If I were to log a cache in Trier first I'd be able to log caches in 5 different countries with driving only 175 miles (or 3.5 hours of driving time).

I live in central New York. It's about a 240 mile drive (one way) to New York City. It's about 165 miles to the Canadian border (I live really close, compared to most of the U.S). The closest city in Mexico is 1940 miles away. There are advantages to living in Europe for a country collector.

Have a good trip. I've found caches in all of those countries except Luxembourgh.

2.1k · January 12, 2015

So, I've just made up a plan for a 5 countries in a day tour. Next month I'll have to drive from Bonn (Germany) to Trier (Germany) and back 1 or 2 days later anyway. So why not take a detour through 4 other countries on the way back?

The plan is to start in Trier, then cross the border to France in order to log GC4MTIJ. After that I'll quickly drive back to Germany and enter Luxembourg a few minutes later (the French make you pay for using their highways), drive through Luxemburg and log GC3N37D. After that I'll drive through Belgium and log GC28ZQR on that route. Then I'll drive into a corner of the Netherlands in order to log GC579GP and then cross the border to Germany a few minutes later. From there I'll drive to Bonn and log some simple cache like GC4WNRE.

This whole trip will take 240 miles driving distance from cache to cache. According to google maps that'll take 4 hours and 40 minutes. If I were to log a cache in Trier first I'd be able to log caches in 5 different countries with driving only 175 miles (or 3.5 hours of driving time).

Sounds like a good plan, but I'll have to see whether I'll be compatible with my family's plans (it's a family visit).

But it's good that I can also collect some countries by just driving a few hundred miles, since I can't afford plane tickets to overseas. And from my home location it's only a 1-hour drive to Denmark.

I'll have to find out whether there's a 5 countries in a day challenge cache, I'm sure the is! According to the logs of some of my chosen caches others have already taken similar tours through these 5 countries. There's even a 10 countries (Germany and all of its 9 neighboring countries) within 24 hours challenge which is crazy but feasible.

Great plan! We did something similar a few years back, starting out from family in the southern Netherlands, then went through Belgium to Luxembough, then a quick cross to France and Germany and back to Luxembourgh for two nights. And then on to family in Germany.

January 12, 2015

Hello TwoNomadicBrits!

I know what you mean with having discovered Geocaching a bit too late. But hey, you're doing great with caching in different countries!

Hello! And thanks

It's a shame because until last year I lived in Belgium and before that Germany, so lots of opportunity for multi-country caching (I love the look of FloGH12's plan! That would have been totally doable for us 12 months ago!). Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back some day :lol: maybe when we drive back through Europe from Turkey...

1.7k · January 12, 2015

So, I've just made up a plan for a 5 countries in a day tour. Next month I'll have to drive from Bonn (Germany) to Trier (Germany) and back 1 or 2 days later anyway. So why not take a detour through 4 other countries on the way back?

The plan is to start in Trier, then cross the border to France in order to log GC4MTIJ. After that I'll quickly drive back to Germany and enter Luxembourg a few minutes later (the French make you pay for using their highways), drive through Luxemburg and log GC3N37D. After that I'll drive through Belgium and log GC28ZQR on that route. Then I'll drive into a corner of the Netherlands in order to log GC579GP and then cross the border to Germany a few minutes later. From there I'll drive to Bonn and log some simple cache like GC4WNRE.

This whole trip will take 240 miles driving distance from cache to cache. According to google maps that'll take 4 hours and 40 minutes. If I were to log a cache in Trier first I'd be able to log caches in 5 different countries with driving only 175 miles (or 3.5 hours of driving time).

Sounds like a good plan, but I'll have to see whether I'll be compatible with my family's plans (it's a family visit).

But it's good that I can also collect some countries by just driving a few hundred miles, since I can't afford plane tickets to overseas. And from my home location it's only a 1-hour drive to Denmark.

I'll have to find out whether there's a 5 countries in a day challenge cache, I'm sure the is! According to the logs of some of my chosen caches others have already taken similar tours through these 5 countries. There's even a 10 countries (Germany and all of its 9 neighboring countries) within 24 hours challenge which is crazy but feasible.

I did 5 countries in one day a couple of years ago - Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France including zig zagging all over the place to get the oldest in continental Europe along with caches in some other interesting spots like the 3 country border confluences.

Whereabouts is the 10 countries in a day challenge? (Is there more than one?) That has piqued my interest...

1.7k · January 12, 2015

BTW - and I'm addressing not only Irish cachers but all cachers who are going to visit Russia - please feel free to contact me if you are going to add Russia to your "collection" and have plans to visit Moscow. Whether you have any questions about your future staying/travel, or wish to pass/exchange trackables, or think about a meet-and-greet event, or wish to have a geocaching walk in the downtown focusing history/architecture/anything (e.g. Moscow Graffiti tour), please don't hesitate and drop me a message.

Hey CJ, care for a 10.5 hour drive in June up to Narva/Ivangorod on the border with Estonia?

We are thinking about nipping across the border to find GC541JT

January 12, 2015

So, I've just made up a plan for a 5 countries in a day tour. Next month I'll have to drive from Bonn (Germany) to Trier (Germany) and back 1 or 2 days later anyway. So why not take a detour through 4 other countries on the way back?

The plan is to start in Trier, then cross the border to France in order to log GC4MTIJ. After that I'll quickly drive back to Germany and enter Luxembourg a few minutes later (the French make you pay for using their highways), drive through Luxemburg and log GC3N37D. After that I'll drive through Belgium and log GC28ZQR on that route. Then I'll drive into a corner of the Netherlands in order to log GC579GP and then cross the border to Germany a few minutes later. From there I'll drive to Bonn and log some simple cache like GC4WNRE.

This whole trip will take 240 miles driving distance from cache to cache. According to google maps that'll take 4 hours and 40 minutes. If I were to log a cache in Trier first I'd be able to log caches in 5 different countries with driving only 175 miles (or 3.5 hours of driving time).

Sounds like a good plan, but I'll have to see whether I'll be compatible with my family's plans (it's a family visit).

But it's good that I can also collect some countries by just driving a few hundred miles, since I can't afford plane tickets to overseas. And from my home location it's only a 1-hour drive to Denmark.

I'll have to find out whether there's a 5 countries in a day challenge cache, I'm sure the is! According to the logs of some of my chosen caches others have already taken similar tours through these 5 countries. There's even a 10 countries (Germany and all of its 9 neighboring countries) within 24 hours challenge which is crazy but feasible.

Cool, I also managed to do 5 last August during the Mega. Left Spain, landed in Germany, then drove through Austria to Liechenstein and stepped onto Switzerland. It was kinda fun Funny note: it was already 8pm when we entered Switzerland and we had 3 DNF in a row there. I was already thinking we could not grab our 5th country!! But finally we succeeded:)

5.8k · January 14, 2015

I've "snuck" into countries twice - once by boat, and once I just stepped over the (visible) line. Both were quick, just to do it. So silly, such a rebel.

It's too bad there is not a virtual cache at Panmunjom. Would be nice to get country credit for the jaunt around the conference table.

14k · January 14, 2015

I've "snuck" into countries twice - once by boat, and once I just stepped over the (visible) line. Both were quick, just to do it. So silly, such a rebel.

It's too bad there is not a virtual cache at Panmunjom. Would be nice to get country credit for the jaunt around the conference table.

This cache may be right on the boundary between Europe and Asia: Pure Pearl

It's on a bridge over Bosporus Straight in Istanbul, one of the few transcontinental cities in the world.

2.1k · January 14, 2015

We're currently planning our first trip of this year, for a long weekend to Kuwait. It's got a confluence and we might get 5-10 caches, depending on what we want to do (most are on military bases). We won't be sneaking over the border there though :yikes:

January 17, 2015

A change of plan! Country #4 for us will be Portugal. We will be heading to Lisbon from the 15th to the 19th of February.

2.1k · January 18, 2015

Wow nice! It's on my travel wish list as well. Look at all the EarthCaches around Lisbon! I think I could easily add another 100, and see lots of interesting geology there :yikes:

January 18, 2015

Portugal is on my wishlist as well, especially considering that flights from Barcelona to Porto cost less than 20€ go and return.

In two days off to Budapest, Brastislava and Vienna. Can't wait

1.4k · January 18, 2015

So far I have Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. I'm on a cruise next week and hope to get Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

2.1k · January 18, 2015

Some nice trips coming up here

I just had a look at the caches in Kuwait that are not on military bases. That's a total of 17, though about half of them are missing and one requires a boat (and is missing as well I think). So I guess realistically we can get about 7, but that's fine with us. Plus there's a confluence and maybe potential to create an EarthCache. Lets see

1.7k · January 18, 2015

A change of plan! Country #4 for us will be Portugal. We will be heading to Lisbon from the 15th to the 19th of February.

Make sure you visit the most favourited cache in the country! :lol:

Edited January 18, 2015 by funkymunkyzone

January 19, 2015

So, a few things:

- I went to Malaga this week, but Gibraltar didn't happen. Basically because the bus system was screwy and there were no tourist bus options due to it being off season, and I wasn't in the mood to rent a car to drive three hours solo when I could just hang out with some nice folks I met in Malaga instead! So hey, saw some sun, and worked on the Spanish geocache number tho think if I ever want to try for Gibraltar again what I'd so is just rent a car and drive out there straight from Malaga airport for a weekend in that area. Alas no flights to Gibraltar itself from Amsterdam, so that's probably the best option.

- Regarding the Helsinki to St Petersburg ferry thing, yes, it's an overnight ferry in both directions- apparently this deal was worked out with the authorities for the ferry company to make more money (as there is a casino onboard etc), from Helsinki, Stockholm, and Tallinn. So if you ever want to do it you need to plan for 4 nights basically- 2 in Russia, 2 for there/back- but still beats the expense and hassle of getting a Russian visa in many cases!

- The only border I've snuck across that was of particular note was when I was a kid, and when visiting Hungarian relatives we went across to Slovakia on a dirt road while visiting the area my uncle went hunting in. We rolled some hay bales off a farmer's hill, then ran back across the border. Alas this was pre geocaching, so that's why I don't have Slovakia yet!

- Gonna book my Israel/Jordan trip this week if all's true, for a week in late March! Took awhile to find a week that didn't have a major holiday in spring, and there are elections so decided to not go that week lest my mother worry back home... and the hostel I'm eyeing in Jerusalem runs a tour midweek for 3 days/ 2 nights to Jordan that takes you all the way to Petra and Wadi Rum, so shame to miss those if already "in the area!" The big question there is if I get Palestine as well- geocaching has apparently gotten political and thinks it's a country, but there are all of 9 in Palestine (all in the West Bank), and it's not clear to me yet just how easy any of them would be to visit. Plus the whole not worrying my mother thing may come into play...

- I'm also having an issue trying to figure out Easter- I get the Friday/Monday off the week post Israel trip, and before I chose my dates I thought I'd head to Morocco for it (cheap and nothing closes down for Easter), but now I'm not so sure. Pretty far and I might not appreciate it just after Israel and Jordan, you know? But then of course the problem with Easter if closer is a lot of places just shut down- Italy would be nice a few days for example, but not so much when you realize nothing would be open! Plus the new countries are getting minimal in Europe for me by now- Slovakia? Slovenia? Serbia? Bulgaria?- so yeah, not sure yet. (Was kinda toying with the idea of heading over to Jersey/Guernsey- €120 fare still!- but not sure what there is to actually do there, especially in early April.) If anyone has an idea give a shout.

1.7k · January 19, 2015

...but not sure what there is to actually do there...

Find geocaches?

2.1k · January 20, 2015

(Was kinda toying with the idea of heading over to Jersey/Guernsey- €120 fare still!- but not sure what there is to actually do there, especially in early April.) If anyone has an idea give a shout.

Lots of history there! Jersey has a castle you can go to by means of some kind of water car (at least in the past, not sure if they go in off-season). Plus lots of WW2 history around. After watching Coast on BBC the other day we decided we need to visit the Isle of Man, though I'm not sure when we'll be in Europe again.

January 27, 2015

Just came back from my central-european trip (Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna). I successfully added two countries to my list (HU and SK), which makes 19 countries now and came back with around 40 finds.

Next trip might be to Sofia - really cheap flghts from Barcelona and you can visit it during a single weekend.

14k · January 27, 2015

Just came back from my central-european trip (Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna). I successfully added two countries to my list (HU and SK), which makes 19 countries now and came back with around 40 finds.

Next trip might be to Sofia - really cheap flghts from Barcelona and you can visit it during a single weekend.

I was in a meeting yesterday discussing a project that's going on in China using a technology that I am very familiar with (I am one of the core developers). They'd like to be able to send their tech guy here to get some training and consultation but apparently the current political climate makes that very difficult. However, sending someone (specifically, me) there to spend a week or so does not have the same constraints and they basically asked, and offered to pay all expenses, for me to go their to help out. Unfortunately, I'm already working on 4 other projects and it would be unlikely that I could get away until May or June. It wouldn't be a new country for me but there's always a possibility of a layover somewhere I have not yet visit.

Confidence level for a trip to Ottawa (and adding Canada to my countries list) in May has gone way up.

January 27, 2015

I can't believe you live so close to Canada and don't have it yet!

Pleased to announce that Israel/Jordan is booked for March. As I said earlier that means Palestine is also a possibility, but I think I'll play that one by ear. It looks like there is one in Jericho, and one near Bethlehem towards the Shepherd's Fields, but I don't want to commit to anything yet until I'm there and can ask around about the situation at hand.

14k · January 27, 2015

I can't believe you live so close to Canada and don't have it yet!

I know. I've been to Canada a half dozen times or so but not since I started caching. Google maps tells me it's less than 3 hours to the border from where I live but I just haven't managed to make it there in the last 8 years. I've also been to Mexico 3 times, once since I started cache, but don't have a find there either.

A few days ago I got an email message from our finance indicating that there was $2,500 budgeted for travel on a grant that I'm working on and wondered if I was going to use it before the project is supposed to be completed in April. I didn't realize that any funds were budgeted for travel, but before I started planning a trip to Rome (where my partner on the project works), I went to confirm. Turns out that $2,500 in travel funds was initially supposed to go into the agreement but the signed contract did not include it. Carp.

January 28, 2015

I'm heading to the US next month for work so will get my first international caches then. A week in the Orlando area, three days in New York City, overnight in Washington state and then a couple of days in Indiana before heading home again.

Also trying to convince geo-hubby that a cruise to New Zealand would be a good idea later this year.

14k · January 28, 2015

I'm heading to the US next month for work so will get my first international caches then. A week in the Orlando area, three days in New York City, overnight in Washington state and then a couple of days in Indiana before heading home again.

Also trying to convince geo-hubby that a cruise to New Zealand would be a good idea later this year.

If you're going Orlando for a Disney vacation (I know that you mentioned the primary reason was for work) you're only going to find virtual caches within the disney parks.

Caching in NYC can be quite a challenge with all the tall building interfering with GPS signals and blocking views to the satellites. There are some really good ones in central park though.

If you're in Indianapolis, take a stab at one of Indiana Magic Mans Shelter caches. You probably won't find it but you can add your log to the long list of DNFs.

An overnight in Washington might not give you much time but a visit to HQ is worth the stop if you have time.

I'd love to visit New Zealand some day but if a cruise is in my future it would probably be something in the Caribbean where I could visit several different island (countries).

January 28, 2015

I only started geocaching 3 days ago but I can see myself getting hooked! I've already been looking at handheld gps and walking boots in Google (don't think my wellies will cut it ongoing).

Although I'm in Europe (England) I'm not sure I'll be able to add loads of countries like some of you do. This year I'm going to Holland on holiday, so I should be able to collect there, and maybe France and Belgium on the way from the Eurotunnel. Then in October I'm off to Gran Canaria, so I'll have to see if there are any in the south of the island.

I'm going to try and collect the counties in England, as that may be a bit more realistic.

I love to read about everyone's internation experiences!

January 28, 2015

We are currently on our first visit back to the uk after starting geocaching, and this involved a couple of days spent in Northern Ireland. Obviously we were keen to grab some finds, but I am surprised that those found in Northern Ireland are showing as 'Ireland' with the Irish flag and not the United Kingdom on the stats.

We did a dash over the boarder to Southern Ireland (Eire - a separate country from the UK) to find 1 cache and add this country to the list but it seems on the Groundspeak stats we didn't need to as the other 6 we found in Northern Ireland already show as being a different country to the UK. Confusing!

Interestingly the Project GC stats that I also show on my profile page does include the Northern Ireland caches as the UK - and as the stats only update on a Friday the one we found in Eire isn't yet showing :laughing:

14k · January 28, 2015

We are currently on our first visit back to the uk after starting geocaching, and this involved a couple of days spent in Northern Ireland. Obviously we were keen to grab some finds, but I am surprised that those found in Northern Ireland are showing as 'Ireland' with the Irish flag and not the United Kingdom on the stats.

We did a dash over the boarder to Southern Ireland (Eire - a separate country from the UK) to find 1 cache and add this country to the list but it seems on the Groundspeak stats we didn't need to as the other 6 we found in Northern Ireland already show as being a different country to the UK. Confusing!

Interestingly the Project GC stats that I also show on my profile page does include the Northern Ireland caches as the UK - and as the stats only update on a Friday the one we found in Eire isn't yet showing

The Ireland vs. U.K. issue comes up frequently. Perhaps this page will help explain why you're seeing the behaviour that you do.

Compounding the issue is that the official GS countries and territories list is based on the U.N. geopolitical ontology which has it's own idea regarding what is a country and what isn't. For example, Scotland and Wales are not officially recognized as distinct countries.

January 28, 2015

We are currently on our first visit back to the uk after starting geocaching, and this involved a couple of days spent in Northern Ireland. Obviously we were keen to grab some finds, but I am surprised that those found in Northern Ireland are showing as 'Ireland' with the Irish flag and not the United Kingdom on the stats.

The Ireland vs. U.K. issue comes up frequently. Perhaps this page will help explain why you're seeing the behaviour that you do.

Compounding the issue is that the official GS countries and territories list is based on the U.N. geopolitical ontology which has it's own idea regarding what is a country and what isn't. For example, Scotland and Wales are not officially recognized as distinct countries.

Ah-ha! Thank you for the link!

I'm even more pleased then that we grabbed the real RoI cache in easy reach because it makes the stats more honest with the country count for me

2.1k · January 29, 2015

Hmpf.. looks like I won't be getting any training this year as my industry as a whole is not doing too well. Oh well.. my training plans did not really involve new countries. On the positive side I have about 44 vacation days and 11 public holidays this year with which it should be possible to plan a few trips :yikes: First one is Kuwait next month, and I'll look into a trip to Iran this spring. Main vaction will be to Vietnam unless we despair about the planning, and we'll be visiting the international EarthCache event, wherever it may be in Germany and combine it with a family visit. At least we should be able to get new states in Germany and Netherlands.

January 29, 2015

Just waiting to get paid tomorrow, then will start looking at trips to Brazil (Pernambuco, in the NE) for late July - early August. Not many caches there, but will be happy to get one.

My UK counties map is pretty poor, hardly ventured out of one corner, so that's a cheaper and easier project!

January 29, 2015

I can't believe you live so close to Canada and don't have it yet!

I know. I've been to Canada a half dozen times or so but not since I started caching. Google maps tells me it's less than 3 hours to the border from where I live but I just haven't managed to make it there in the last 8 years. I've also been to Mexico 3 times, once since I started cache, but don't have a find there either.

I have... almost 20 countries like this, ie that I went to before geocaching. Basically I studied abroad in New Zealand for a semester in 2007 and traveled around there a bit, and then did my six month trip around the world in 2009... and discovered geocaching when I was bored about being home again and wanted to explore post-trip!

TBH I think I'll get some of those sooner instead of later- I find it hard to believe that I'll never ever return to Australia/NZ or Thailand, for example- but dadgum some are gonna be hard. One doesn't often find themselves in the region of the Cook Islands and even if you do you probably opt for another island nation you haven't been to, right?

NZ is very cool though and I highly recommend it, but for what it's worth I don't know if a cruise is the best way about exploring it. So many wonderful mountains to explore!

January 29, 2015

Just wondering for those that travel with their work; what is your job? I'd probably love it in the future

1.7k · January 29, 2015

Just wondering for those that travel with their work; what is your job? I'd probably love it in the future

Aviation industry

1.7k · January 29, 2015

NZ is very cool though and I highly recommend it, but for what it's worth I don't know if a cruise is the best way about exploring it. So many wonderful mountains to explore!

No, definitely fly in and grab a car, rental or otherwise, and explore. It's the only way. You definitely miss out on all the most amazing scenery on a cruise.

14k · January 30, 2015

Just wondering for those that travel with their work; what is your job? I'd probably love it in the future

I'm a programmer analyst and systems architect. I work at a university library, specifically at the library for the Agriculture School. It's one of the biggest and most well respected Agriculture libraries in the world (the National Agriculture library near Washington DC is bigger). Much of my work is related to Agriculture research. Access to Agriculture research is especially difficult in developing countries and even many first world countries, thus much of my work involves building information systems for agriculture research that can be used in the places that need it the most. I work fairy closely with the USDA, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. and various other organizations and universities that have an Agriculture focus. I am currently working on collaborative projects with the USDA, the National Agriculture Library, and FAO. One of my most recent projects (yes, a 4th) involved a complete redesign of a system that has been described as an Agriculture Library in a box. It's basically, a small foot print computer (about 8" x 8" x 2") that has a robust search interface and about a half a million research articles stored as PDFs on an internal drive. It's designed for locations which have poor or no internet access. In fact, it's only available (due to contracts with journal publishers) to the poorest countries in the world. Many of them are in Africa so I've traveled there 6 times in the last 7 years. Our library is also heavily involved in the semantic web community, open data, and building systems for networking research scientists. We developed one of the few open source semantic web applications, and although I am one of the core developers most of my work with it relates to its use in the agriculture research community so I do a fair amount of consulting with organizations such as a consortium of Chinese Agriculture Universities and a large consortium of universities in Latin America and various other organizations. Since I'm basically a techie I'll occasionally attend, and usually present at, various technology related conferences, especially if their related to libraries or research systems.

collecting countries

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