Jump to content

collecting countries


terratin

Recommended Posts

Brussels, and Spa.

 

Depending on the time you have:

 

In Brussels:

GC42JCM traditional

GC4X3EZ traditional

GC7F9C traditional

 

Spa Francorchamps:

GCG0GQ Virtual

 

If you have a car and have the time there's GC40 (oldest on mainland Europe, 2nd oldest European cache)

Link to comment

Brussels, and Spa.

 

Depending on the time you have:

 

In Brussels:

GC42JCM traditional

GC4X3EZ traditional

GC7F9C traditional

 

Spa Francorchamps:

GCG0GQ Virtual

 

If you have a car and have the time there's GC40 (oldest on mainland Europe, 2nd oldest European cache)

 

Thanks! I'll make sure those are on the list!

Link to comment

Talking about GC40, I've been looking at it on Google Earth and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to park close by. Can we park on the side of the road or do we need to park in the nearby town an walk up to it?

 

A friend found GC40 last week and parked a bit further away because his RV was a bit wide to park close by but for a normal car it should be no problem to park at the side of the road near the cache. If you need more info, I can ask him. I should really go find this one myself, it's just 1.5 hours away ;)

BTW, take a look at the coordinates of GC40, they are also "special".

Link to comment

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.

 

If you are into oldies, then you should go for Brussels#1: GC3FBE, if into populars, go to the Atomium GC1EG4C, and if you have some time to visit the most beautiful city in the world (Bruges, where I happen to live) then you should go for THE cache: GC4XMCM (1.700 favo points and counting)

 

I hope you enjoy our country !!

Link to comment

Talking about GC40, I've been looking at it on Google Earth and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to park close by. Can we park on the side of the road or do we need to park in the nearby town an walk up to it?

 

I just checked...

You can park a car @50m on the other side of the road. After heavy rain it might be very muddy, you can also park about 150m away at the start of a foresttrack where there's a bit more space but it will be very muddy in case of rain too.

 

As for Ibar's comments, if you can spare the time Bruges is a must see (all of it not just the cache in the center of town), you might also enjoy Ghent and Antwerp. Plenty to do and see (time permitting) and lots of great caches. B)

Link to comment

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.

 

If you are into oldies, then you should go for Brussels#1: GC3FBE, if into populars, go to the Atomium GC1EG4C, and if you have some time to visit the most beautiful city in the world (Bruges, where I happen to live) then you should go for THE cache: GC4XMCM (1.700 favo points and counting)

 

I hope you enjoy our country !!

 

I DNF'd Brussels#1. I got to GZ just before the park closed and was asked to leave. I assume Bruges is where "Blanche de Bruges" is made. It's one of my favorite white style beers.

Link to comment

Talking about GC40, I've been looking at it on Google Earth and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to park close by. Can we park on the side of the road or do we need to park in the nearby town an walk up to it?

 

I just checked...

You can park a car @50m on the other side of the road. After heavy rain it might be very muddy, you can also park about 150m away at the start of a foresttrack where there's a bit more space but it will be very muddy in case of rain too.

 

As for Ibar's comments, if you can spare the time Bruges is a must see (all of it not just the cache in the center of town), you might also enjoy Ghent and Antwerp. Plenty to do and see (time permitting) and lots of great caches. B)

Unfortunately we are just passing through Belgium, en route from Amsterdam to Luxembourg - hoping for 5 countries in a day. We finish a river cruise in Amsterdam and our trip ends up with 8 days in Switzerland.

 

The trip should give me 14 new countries.

Link to comment

Unfortunately we are just passing through Belgium, en route from Amsterdam to Luxembourg - hoping for 5 countries in a day. We finish a river cruise in Amsterdam and our trip ends up with 8 days in Switzerland.

 

The trip should give me 14 new countries.

 

Yup, I know you're just "rushing through" (If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium :ph34r: ) The comment I made was more directed towards fuzzybear3.

 

If purely for tourism I would never try to "do it all" in one go, we've spend 3 holidays in Oz (4 weeks each) and still want to visit again (Perth-Adelaide, Canberra and Darwin). Of course, that's not always possible.

Link to comment

Country #30 done, just got my cache in Ecuador last night in Quito. Next stop: India in October. I haven't looked too much in detail but one of the 2 EC's in the Taj Mahal are the most likely option :)

Of course there are two EC's at the Taj after I visit it. :rolleyes::P

Apparently a tough place to hide and maintain a traditional cache. Both the one you found and the earlier one I found are archived.

 

Not really a place that needs a cache to get people to visit :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Country #30 done, just got my cache in Ecuador last night in Quito. Next stop: India in October. I haven't looked too much in detail but one of the 2 EC's in the Taj Mahal are the most likely option :)

Of course there are two EC's at the Taj after I visit it. :rolleyes::P

Apparently a tough place to hide and maintain a traditional cache. Both the one you found and the earlier one I found are archived.

 

Not really a place that needs a cache to get people to visit :rolleyes:

 

Well, you can always do like this guy did in the Taj Mahal GC43RCJ

 

"Found it Found it 26/Aug/2016

I could not find one. So I put a new filmbox under a stone, where I think, the box should be.

The hint is still valid.

You can have look beside the park to Taj Mahal, but this 200 Rupies entree fee are OK and worth. It is a nice park and when I was there, at least 10 people worked in the park..

Thank for showing this location!

corona"

 

I should remember that strategy whenever going to a country with very few caches <_<

Link to comment

 

Well, you can always do like this guy did in the Taj Mahal GC43RCJ

 

"Found it Found it 26/Aug/2016

I could not find one. So I put a new filmbox under a stone, where I think, the box should be.

The hint is still valid.

You can have look beside the park to Taj Mahal, but this 200 Rupies entree fee are OK and worth. It is a nice park and when I was there, at least 10 people worked in the park..

Thank for showing this location!

corona"

 

I should remember that strategy whenever going to a country with very few caches <_<

 

I remember that Cache well. I had to make two trips to that park across from the Taj to find that cache.

On the first trip I immediately aroused the suspicion of the locals as I spent to much time at the wrong tree trying to find the cache.

 

I went through all the logs and finally found a good spoiler photo. We had our driver take us over early the next morning great views of the Taj and not many people. I soon had the cache in hand.

 

There are monkeys in the area so the cache is well hidden and had to be pried out of it hidey hole.

 

At that time there was another cache that was on Taj property. It was located in a remote area on the grounds where apparently all the grounds keepers would urinate.

I didn't even look for that one but dozens of cachers posted fotologs.

Edited by FunnyNose
Link to comment

 

Well, you can always do like this guy did in the Taj Mahal GC43RCJ

 

"Found it Found it 26/Aug/2016

I could not find one. So I put a new filmbox under a stone, where I think, the box should be.

The hint is still valid.

You can have look beside the park to Taj Mahal, but this 200 Rupies entree fee are OK and worth. It is a nice park and when I was there, at least 10 people worked in the park..

Thank for showing this location!

corona"

 

I should remember that strategy whenever going to a country with very few caches <_<

 

I remember that Cache well. I had to make two trips to that park across from the Taj to find that cache.

On the first trip I immediately aroused the suspicion of the locals as I spent to much time at the wrong tree trying to find the cache.

 

I went through all the logs and finally found a good spoiler photo. We had our driver take us over early the next morning great views of the Taj and not many people. I soon had the cache in hand.

 

There are monkeys in the area so the cache is well hidden and had to be pried out of it hidey hole.

 

At that time there was another cache that was on Taj property. It was located in a remote area on the grounds where apparently all the grounds keepers would urinate.

I didn't even look for that one but dozens of cachers posted fotologs.

We missed the cache at the Black Taj, because the park was closed when we were in the area. We went the next morning to the cache at the Taj itself, and it was quick and easy at that time.

Link to comment

In ten days I'm leaving on a trip to add Country #6 to my list - Australia! I'm spending six days on a driving trip along the coast from Brisbane to Sydney and back, and then three days in the Brisbane/ Sunshine Coast area. Any recommendations for "can't miss" caches would be much appreciated, as I'm spending the next week preparing my bookmark lists for offline caching.

Link to comment

In ten days I'm leaving on a trip to add Country #6 to my list - Australia! I'm spending six days on a driving trip along the coast from Brisbane to Sydney and back, and then three days in the Brisbane/ Sunshine Coast area. Any recommendations for "can't miss" caches would be much appreciated, as I'm spending the next week preparing my bookmark lists for offline caching.

 

There is a decent chance that I'll be going to Australia (Brisbane) next June as well. I may be getting 2-3 new countries before that, but it would also be my 5th continent.

 

 

Link to comment

In ten days I'm leaving on a trip to add Country #6 to my list - Australia! I'm spending six days on a driving trip along the coast from Brisbane to Sydney and back, and then three days in the Brisbane/ Sunshine Coast area. Any recommendations for "can't miss" caches would be much appreciated, as I'm spending the next week preparing my bookmark lists for offline caching.

 

If you are doing a driving trip to Australia be sure to roll up your car windows before entering the Pacific. Just a tip from the top. If not, you may need plenty of towels.

Link to comment

In ten days I'm leaving on a trip to add Country #6 to my list - Australia! I'm spending six days on a driving trip along the coast from Brisbane to Sydney and back, and then three days in the Brisbane/ Sunshine Coast area. Any recommendations for "can't miss" caches would be much appreciated, as I'm spending the next week preparing my bookmark lists for offline caching.

 

I'm not sure how much help this will be to you, as I was there last in 2008 and there weren't very many caches at the time. I'm going to post a few caches that we found (and didn't find) that were pretty cool.

 

Lane Cove Oldest cache in Australia.

 

Queens land Oldest cache in Queensland.

 

Bravo Hotel Oldest continually running cache in Queensland (never was archived like Queens land was)

 

You've probably done research already about oldest caches. I either didn't understand how to do that research in 2008, or the tools were not as easily available back then (or most likely both). I got really confused and thought that Bravo Hotel was the oldest cache in Australia and only found that one and missed out on the other two. Bravo Hotel is in a pretty neat park, with a walk that takes you through a little forest with great views of the ocean.

 

Easterly Extreme Must must must go and do this cache. Not just because it's the most easterly point of Australia, but because it's a really cool place. We went just before sunset so the sun set on us while we were there. One of the top most beautiful spots I've been to.

 

1bf403b5-2a3c-45d2-88de-a51a71fcfb1b_l.jpg

 

Surf's Up Scotty Highly recommend this one. It's at a surfing beach, you walk up on a promontory with a great view. I favorited it.

 

Open Entrance I don't know if they still do it, but when we were there, there was a group that would feed the pelicans near this cache spot. All41's (adopted) sister was the one feeding that day so we actually got to feed the pelicans and hold a pelican. They would flock there in large numbers and you can get really close to them. I just realized that I never posted my pictures. I need to do that. If there's no feeding when you're there, the cache is just alright.

Link to comment

Thanks for the awesome recommendations, Ambrosia! The first three were already on my list for the obvious "old cache" reasons, but the second three are now being added to my list. I'm especially excited to learn about "Easterly Extreme." Just by chance, I chose a hotel for one night of the roadtrip that's less than three miles from this cache. That makes the sunset experience you described jump to the top of my to-do list!

Link to comment

I've added Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro over the last 10 days. On the bus to Hungary now.

Excellent. Glad you were able to get a find in Montenegro!

I finally decided not to log a find on that archived throwdown. If it had been my only find in Montenegro I might have felt differently, fortunately it wasn't.

 

The ship has had an unexpected stop on the Hungary/Slovakia border, so if they let us off the ship I may add Slovakia unexpectedly. Got Hungary yesterday.

Link to comment

Thanks for the awesome recommendations, Ambrosia! The first three were already on my list for the obvious "old cache" reasons, but the second three are now being added to my list. I'm especially excited to learn about "Easterly Extreme." Just by chance, I chose a hotel for one night of the roadtrip that's less than three miles from this cache. That makes the sunset experience you described jump to the top of my to-do list!

 

I was also last there in 2008 and most of the (very few) caches I found are now archived. Easterly Extreme is one of 2 still standing, and it's awesome.

Link to comment

I just booked flights for a trip to Reykjavik, Iceland for November 7-11. I've got a 2 day conference on the 9th and 10th and will arriving very early in the morning on the 7th so I should have some time to play. I found a pretty good airfare that'll let me leave from my local airport (about 15 minutes from home) and will have an overnight layover in Montreal on the way home. I may *finally* be able to add Canada to my list of countries in which I've found a cache. It'll bring my total countries to 26 with 5 new countries this year. I didn't get any new countries in 2015 even though I traveled to 3 other countries.

Link to comment

In ten days I'm leaving on a trip to add Country #6 to my list - Australia! I'm spending six days on a driving trip along the coast from Brisbane to Sydney and back, and then three days in the Brisbane/ Sunshine Coast area. Any recommendations for "can't miss" caches would be much appreciated, as I'm spending the next week preparing my bookmark lists for offline caching.

 

I'm not sure how much help this will be to you, as I was there last in 2008 and there weren't very many caches at the time. I'm going to post a few caches that we found (and didn't find) that were pretty cool.

 

Lane Cove Oldest cache in Australia.

 

Queens land Oldest cache in Queensland.

 

Bravo Hotel Oldest continually running cache in Queensland (never was archived like Queens land was)

 

You've probably done research already about oldest caches. I either didn't understand how to do that research in 2008, or the tools were not as easily available back then (or most likely both). I got really confused and thought that Bravo Hotel was the oldest cache in Australia and only found that one and missed out on the other two. Bravo Hotel is in a pretty neat park, with a walk that takes you through a little forest with great views of the ocean.

 

Easterly Extreme Must must must go and do this cache. Not just because it's the most easterly point of Australia, but because it's a really cool place. We went just before sunset so the sun set on us while we were there. One of the top most beautiful spots I've been to.

 

1bf403b5-2a3c-45d2-88de-a51a71fcfb1b_l.jpg

 

Surf's Up Scotty Highly recommend this one. It's at a surfing beach, you walk up on a promontory with a great view. I favorited it.

 

Open Entrance I don't know if they still do it, but when we were there, there was a group that would feed the pelicans near this cache spot. All41's (adopted) sister was the one feeding that day so we actually got to feed the pelicans and hold a pelican. They would flock there in large numbers and you can get really close to them. I just realized that I never posted my pictures. I need to do that. If there's no feeding when you're there, the cache is just alright.

The pelicans are still there being fed.

Link to comment

Two weeks ago I went for a work trip to the USA and managed to add two more states to my list (Kansas & Missouri), extending my states list to 3 :lol: I know this is nothing for you guys who live in the USA, but for me living 8000km apart is nice :)

 

For november I am about to book flights to Rome for a three-day visit, which will allow me to hopefully grab a cache in the Vatican, which would be my 28th country.

Link to comment

This year I've managed to add Vietnam as country #24 which was a fantastic place to visit and travel. I only managed to visit the southern part this time around and still came out with ~15 founds out of the ~50 in the country :D more when I'll be back in the north one day!

 

And then just a few days ago I got to revisit Copenhagen (shoutouts to terrqtin for the great letterbox at kastellet!) and managed to pop over to Malmö by bus for a few hours to add Sweden as #25 :)

Link to comment

just a few days ago I got to revisit Copenhagen (shoutouts to terrqtin for the great letterbox at kastellet!) and managed to pop over to Malmö by bus for a few hours to add Sweden as #25 :)

We took the train from Copenhagen to Malmö, but otherwise that's exactly how we got our finds in Sweden. Very convenient.

Link to comment

Thanks for the awesome recommendations, Ambrosia! The first three were already on my list for the obvious "old cache" reasons, but the second three are now being added to my list. I'm especially excited to learn about "Easterly Extreme." Just by chance, I chose a hotel for one night of the roadtrip that's less than three miles from this cache. That makes the sunset experience you described jump to the top of my to-do list!

 

I got confirmation from management that I'll be able to attend a conference in Brisbane next June. It's an annual conference that I attended in Dublin earlier this year and the 2017 edition will be in Brisbane. It's a very busy conference, and I'll most likely be presenting, so I won't have much time for geocaching during the days of the conference. I'll probably try to schedule my trip with at least a couple of days before or after the conference to play and, given how long it takes to get there I will probably want to schedule an overnight layover somewhere on the way home. If I can swing it, I'd like to spend a little time in Aukland.

 

I also got an invitation this morning to participate in a two day meeting in Barcelona (which I've visited previously) in April but it may conflict with a previous tentative invitation for a return trip to Cuba.

 

 

Link to comment

I'm now back from Europe and added 14 countries: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany (3 Bundeslander), Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Leichenstein. I missed out on Hong Kong on the way home because the airport cache there was involved in an accident and was disabled.

 

Up to 25 now.

 

Soon setting out on my next trip, hoping for Spain, Portugal and Bermuda, plus a few new US States. We fly out via Hong Kong and, just maybe....

Link to comment

I'm now back from Europe and added 14 countries: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany (3 Bundeslander), Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Leichenstein. I missed out on Hong Kong on the way home because the airport cache there was involved in an accident and was disabled.

 

Up to 25 now.

 

Soon setting out on my next trip, hoping for Spain, Portugal and Bermuda, plus a few new US States. We fly out via Hong Kong and, just maybe....

 

If you have a long layover at Hong Kong, even if the cache right by the terminal is missing, there are five more on the same island as the airport that should be reachable. Check out our airport/layover list under HGK.

Link to comment

I'm now back from Europe and added 14 countries: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany (3 Bundeslander), Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Leichenstein. I missed out on Hong Kong on the way home because the airport cache there was involved in an accident and was disabled.

 

Up to 25 now.

 

Soon setting out on my next trip, hoping for Spain, Portugal and Bermuda, plus a few new US States. We fly out via Hong Kong and, just maybe....

 

If you have a long layover at Hong Kong, even if the cache right by the terminal is missing, there are five more on the same island as the airport that should be reachable. Check out our airport/layover list under HGK.

 

If you tickets aren't already booked I'd consider scheduling a layover long enough to find a few caches in Hong Kong, and to take the ferry over to Macau.

 

 

Link to comment

Well I have no travel planned before the end of the year so I guess I should catch up on my reporting:

 

Four countries visited since last report. We have been to Italy a number of times and cached but Venice was new to us and so worthwhile:

 

490ddbcd-9664-4ea7-a675-2569a3bd9607.jpg

 

We biked out of the Veneto and around the top of the Adriatic bringing us to Slovenia (new country cached):

 

0864d87d-ca33-4347-8580-bccbba551575.jpg

 

and then Croatia (new country cached):

 

5a689af2-b801-4e56-867a-456bb1f7f25d_l.jpg

 

Added one more country cached when we returned to Aruba last month after a 16 year absence:

 

51400c88-34d9-4802-abfd-22e27a0d6cca_l.jpg

 

So that brings us to 35 countries cached but we still have a dozen more visited pre-geocaching. Not sure when or if we will get back to those (so many places, so little time)

We are scheduled for at least one new country in 2017, way up north!

Link to comment

We'll be returning to Iceland in 2017. It seems like I am on a decaying orbit -- first visit in 2000, then in 2009, now in 2017. I should start planning for 2024 and 2030...

 

Anyway, the debate is whether to go for another country while we are there or not. Our options are limited, as we have already found caches in most of Western Europe. (I know, poor us.) As a flight to Monaco or San Marino seems unlikely, eEither Greenland or the Faeroe Islands are tempting destinations, but unless I'm missing some secret discount option, tickets are not so cheap. We may end up revisiting Ireland as well -- not a bad thing, it'd just be nice to see a new flag in the country column.

Link to comment

We'll be returning to Iceland in 2017. It seems like I am on a decaying orbit -- first visit in 2000, then in 2009, now in 2017. I should start planning for 2024 and 2030...

 

Anyway, the debate is whether to go for another country while we are there or not. Our options are limited, as we have already found caches in most of Western Europe. (I know, poor us.) As a flight to Monaco or San Marino seems unlikely, eEither Greenland or the Faeroe Islands are tempting destinations, but unless I'm missing some secret discount option, tickets are not so cheap. We may end up revisiting Ireland as well -- not a bad thing, it'd just be nice to see a new flag in the country column.

 

I had previous looked at Iceland as a possible layover airport on the way to/from Europe (Iceland Air has a nice "stopover" program where one can schedule a layover up to a week without paying more for airfare...TAP air in Portugal is another one). Then about a month and a half ago I went to a conference in Reykjavik for a few days so I was able to add Iceland this year (as well as Mexico, Cuba, and Ireland). Ironically, when scheduling my flight to Iceland I scheduled an overnight layover in Montreal so that I could *finally* add Canada to my list. My flight from Reykjavik to Montreal was delayed several hours so I didn't get there until 10:00PM or so. There was a cache right at the hotel where I stayed, but I DNFd it so I still don't have a find in Canada. Ironically ironically, there's a good chance that I'll be going to Montreal for another meeting next September and I'll most likely drive there (it's about 5 hours from home) so I should have plenty of chances for a find.

 

I don't have anything confirmed for travel next year but there are a few good possibilities. I've tentatively been invited to participate in meetings in Chania, Crete in May and for a return visit to Cuba in April. There is a very good chance that I may be attending a conference in Brisbane, Australia and if that happens I'd like to try and schedule a layover in New Zealand. I also just recently starting working on a project with a partner in Uganda. There's going to be a demo of the system I'm developing in Uganda in February and there's a slim chance I may b asked to go.

 

 

Link to comment

Back from my second big trip. Added Vatican City, Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal and Bermuda for 30 countries now.

 

Plus 9 new US states - Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and California for 11 states.

 

Interestingly, Florida is now my third highest cache count area behind Australia and the rest of the USA.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...