collecting countries

[+mrcanoehead224]

On 3/29/2023 at 12:36 AM, geodarts said:

Our first long trip later this year will be to the Yukon, not quite a new country but close enough. It’s the first international trip in a while — we had to cancel Pitcairn Island after I had a serious accident and then Covid hit.  We are driving, camping, and taking things slowly so my noncaching spouse might be willing to stop here and there.   
 

The last time we crossed into Canada the border crossing took quite a while because the Canadian official could not understand why we were planning to go to Writing on Stone park to see rock art.  Perhaps they will better understand Gertie’s Can Can revue in Dawson City. 

 

You'll have to share with us your Yukon adventures. I'm in Calgary and am planning a multi week road trip in 2025 through Yukon right up to Tuktoyaktuk (Arctic Ocean). Hiking, geology and culture are our goals.

 

You must not have crossed at Coutts then, they would have been very familiar with it. Writing-on-Stone is probably my second favourite place in the world, I've been going there occasionally for over 40 years. To sit in the hoodoos at sunset and look across the river valley, across the Medicine Line to the Sweet Grass Hills is a pretty spectacular experience.

[+Gill & Tony]

Back in 2014 we did the traditional cruise up the Inside Passage and took a shore excursion to Carcross in the Yukon.  I spoke to our coach driver and asked if we would be stopping at Carcross desert.  He had planned a slow drive-past, but I persuaded him to stop just long enough to let me take a photo.   There's an earthcache there (GC2G4WW) and I needed a photo.  He stopped and everyone on board was amazed to see a desert there.  I think it became a regular stop.

 

Emerald Lake was beautiful, and a second earthcache.

 

I would love to go back and see more of the Yukon.  A one-day tour just doesn't do it justice.

[+MNTA]

3 hours ago, mrcanoehead224 said:

You'll have to share with us your Yukon adventures. I'm in Calgary and am planning a multi week road trip in 2025 through Yukon right up to Tuktoyaktuk (Arctic Ocean). Hiking, geology and culture are our goals.

 

 

This is one of my bucket list trips. 5000 miles round trip for me (Portland). The last 500 miles up and 500 miles down the Dempster Highway on gravel load. Amazing Scenery. Can't wait and totally jealous. Do share!

 

Need to find a crazy co-pilot and the time to do it. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by MNTA

[+terratin]

5 hours ago, MNTA said:

 

This is one of my bucket list trips. 5000 miles round trip for me (Portland). The last 500 miles up and 500 miles down the Dempster Highway on gravel load. Amazing Scenery. Can't wait and totally jealous. Do share!

 

Need to find a crazy co-pilot and the time to do it. 

500 miles on gravel? Wow! I felt unsure about the 30 or so km of gravel towards Potters Pond. I can't even imagine 500 miles!

[+MNTA]

8 hours ago, terratin said:

500 miles on gravel? Wow! I felt unsure about the 30 or so km of gravel towards Potters Pond. I can't even imagine 500 miles!

Glad you did Potters Pond beautiful area It is my favorite oldie.

 

Actually it is 500 miles up from Dawson City and 500 miles back 1000 miles at least 2 days each direction. Just clicked on their website I love. Or 887km X 2.

 

 

 

 

 

[+colleda]

23 hours ago, Gill & Tony said:

Back in 2014 we did the traditional cruise up the Inside Passage and took a shore excursion to Carcross in the Yukon.  I spoke to our coach driver and asked if we would be stopping at Carcross desert.  He had planned a slow drive-past, but I persuaded him to stop just long enough to let me take a photo.   There's an earthcache there (GC2G4WW) and I needed a photo.  He stopped and everyone on board was amazed to see a desert there.  I think it became a regular stop.

 

Emerald Lake was beautiful, and a second earthcache.

 

I would love to go back and see more of the Yukon.  A one-day tour just doesn't do it justice.

From which port was the excusion?

[+Gill & Tony]

2 hours ago, colleda said:

From which port was the excusion?

Skagway.

 

It was a coach up to Carcross and a ride back on the White Pass and Yukon railway.

 

There was another trip to somewhere which sounded Yukon, but didn't actually go there.  Yukon Bridge or something like that.  If you are planning to go, make sure it is the Carcross trip.

[+Michaelcycle]

23 hours ago, MNTA said:

Glad you did Potters Pond beautiful area It is my favorite oldie.

 

Actually it is 500 miles up from Dawson City and 500 miles back 1000 miles at least 2 days each direction. Just clicked on their website I love. Or 887km X 2.

 

 

 

 

 

PCS in 1972 resulted in me driving from Baltimore to Anchorage (in a Corvair.) The ALCAN in those days was over 1,100 miles of gravel road. My windshield was cracked by mile 7. When I got to Anchorage I was told my orders had changed so I had to drive 360 miles back north to Fairbanks.

If I were going today I would check out the caches at the south end of Lake Kluane (beautiful area.)

 

[+colleda]

19 hours ago, Gill & Tony said:

Skagway.

 

It was a coach up to Carcross and a ride back on the White Pass and Yukon railway.

 

There was another trip to somewhere which sounded Yukon, but didn't actually go there.  Yukon Bridge or something like that.  If you are planning to go, make sure it is the Carcross trip.

Looks like I may be doing the same trip this June. I have previously done the return by train to White pass but did not know about the desert. Friends we are cruising with have organised a coach tour to White Pass but I don't yet know the details. I'm just tagging along with three others (muggles) as I've done the Inside Passage cruise twice before. Another time in Skagway my late wife and I did the Grizzly Falls zip line tour. Fantastic.

 

[+colleda]

Just remembered. Got this one in Aug 2016. It's only had 20 finds since 2014. A memorable bucket list experience.

THE Alaskan Experience! Traditional Geocache

GC5BHEG

 

[+terratin]

Ethical discussion on collecting countries.

I realized a few days ago that it's still possible to visit Russia: Go to Gdansk, take bus to Kaliningrad. Well, it's not that simple. Depending on your home country you need an invitation, insurance and visa, or you need to actually talk to the Russian ambassador to get this visa. In some countries it's not possible anymore at all. But it would theoretically be possible here. How you actually get rouble for your stay is a completely different matter as creditcards might not work. But it's possible. On that note, there are buses from Austria to Ukraine. Just saying.

Discuss

[+baer2006]

1 hour ago, terratin said:

Ethical discussion on collecting countries.

I realized a few days ago that it's still possible to visit Russia: Go to Gdansk, take bus to Kaliningrad. Well, it's not that simple. Depending on your home country you need an invitation, insurance and visa, or you need to actually talk to the Russian ambassador to get this visa. In some countries it's not possible anymore at all. But it would theoretically be possible here. How you actually get rouble for your stay is a completely different matter as creditcards might not work. But it's possible. On that note, there are buses from Austria to Ukraine. Just saying.

Discuss

I don't see it as an ethical problem, if you as a geocacher jump through all the legal hoops to grab a cache in Russia (or any other autocratic country, whose government wages a war against an internal or external "enemy"). If you keep the amount of money spent in that country to an absolute minimum, it won't make a practical difference. I really don't think, that the Russian government will use visits of geocachers for propaganda purposes (but if  they do, I would indeed have a big ethical issue with caching in Russia).

 

Ethics aside, I definitely wouldn't visit Russia now. Not only because of all the hassle with crossing the border, but also because I wouldn't feel safe there as a foreign citizen. And who knows how the situation develops? Like, you're in Russia, and out of a fit Putin decides to close the borders right now - you're trapped.

[geoawareUSA9]

Let's please focus on the topic of this thread, which is the geocaching aspect of visiting different countries.

 

If there are practical aspects of visiting a country to find geocaches there, that's fine. But I can foresee the current discussion derailing into a discussion on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Let's please not.

 

Thanks!

[+Goldenwattle]

On 1/20/2023 at 3:52 PM, funkymunkyzone said:

That is, ignoring those where I just visited an airport in transit, like Panama.

I was in transit in Copenhagen, but had three hours between planes, so out I went and found three nearby caches, giving me finds in Denmark. One inside an airport exit corridor, one at the airport railway station, and the third in the airport car park. I made it back with still an hour's wait left, and another country.

[+baer2006]

1 hour ago, geoawareUSA9 said:

Let's please focus on the topic of this thread, which is the geocaching aspect of visiting different countries.

 

If there are practical aspects of visiting a country to find geocaches there, that's fine. But I can foresee the current discussion derailing into a discussion on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Let's please not.

 

Thanks!

Fair enough .

 

So ... back to topic ... umm ... in September, I'm going on a family vacation to the island of Kos, Greece. I'm planning a day trip to Bodrum, Turkey (only 30 minutes by boat) to get Turkey as my 20th "caching country" (not a lot, I know, compared to the globetrotters ...). Or not, if the various traveler reports on the web describing not-so-pleasant experiences for that trip (very long waiting times in the passport control queues) make my wife and me cancel the idea .

[+colleda]

5 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Fair enough .

 

So ... back to topic ... umm ... in September, I'm going on a family vacation to the island of Kos, Greece. I'm planning a day trip to Bodrum, Turkey (only 30 minutes by boat) to get Turkey as my 20th "caching country" (not a lot, I know, compared to the globetrotters ...). Or not, if the various traveler reports on the web describing not-so-pleasant experiences for that trip (very long waiting times in the passport control queues) make my wife and me cancel the idea .

Lovely place. Bodrum castle is worth a visit. There was a cache in there.

[+Goldenwattle]

22 hours ago, baer2006 said:

my 20th "caching country" (not a lot, I know, compared to the globetrotters

That more than my 16 countries, but I am hoping to improve that soon.

[+terratin]

38 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

That more than my 16 countries, but I am hoping to improve that soon.

Yeah, but I'm sure every country is totally something special if it's a bit more difficult. I mean, I just jump into my car, drive to St. Malo in France, take the ferry to Jersey and have a new country. And that's a high effort thing for me in Europe.

[+baer2006]

1 hour ago, terratin said:

Yeah, but I'm sure every country is totally something special if it's a bit more difficult. I mean, I just jump into my car, drive to St. Malo in France, take the ferry to Jersey and have a new country. And that's a high effort thing for me in Europe.

Yup, Central Europe is definitely the best starting point for getting lots of geocaching countries (which is why my current 19 are really not many), while @Goldenwattle's Australia must be the most difficult in that respect.

 

Anyway, I had a look at your impressive list of countries, and couldn't help noticing that you covered basically everything in Western and Central Europe ... except Switzerland. Just a coincidence, or do you have a personal grudge against the Swiss ?

[+Goldenwattle]

10 hours ago, terratin said:

Yeah, but I'm sure every country is totally something special if it's a bit more difficult. I mean, I just jump into my car, drive to St. Malo in France, take the ferry to Jersey and have a new country. And that's a high effort thing for me in Europe.

I have visited other countries, but that was before I was a geocacher, some more than once. Those being, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium , France, Germany, Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Switzerland, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei.

Several of those I have planned revisits for soon, plus some new ones.

[+terratin]

17 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Yup, Central Europe is definitely the best starting point for getting lots of geocaching countries (which is why my current 19 are really not many), while @Goldenwattle's Australia must be the most difficult in that respect.

 

Anyway, I had a look at your impressive list of countries, and couldn't help noticing that you covered basically everything in Western and Central Europe ... except Switzerland. Just a coincidence, or do you have a personal grudge against the Swiss ?

 

Oh, totally biased against Switzerland. They speak strangely. Seriously, I stood on the bridge between Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and the closest Swiss cache was so close. But I want to visit a country properly and not just grab a cache. So I'm still looking for an opportunity for this but I can't decide on what to do. Switzerland is not running away.

[+funkymunkyzone]

On 4/18/2023 at 2:44 AM, Goldenwattle said:

I was in transit in Copenhagen, but had three hours between planes, so out I went and found three nearby caches, giving me finds in Denmark. One inside an airport exit corridor, one at the airport railway station, and the third in the airport car park. I made it back with still an hour's wait left, and another country.

 

The first time I cached in Canada (not the first visit to Canada by a long shot, and have since found many caches there) was on a transit stop through Vancouver (from sunny NZ to sunny Portugal).  There was a cache near the Elephant & Castle pub a few km down the road from the terminal.  It was a snow storm at the time, but we raced out anyway, caught a bus down to the end of the island where the cache was, and then headed back to the bus stop.  The snow was really pelting down by now, like full on blizzard, everything was white including the roads, and when we got back on the bus there was just the bus driver and one airport worker on the bus having a conversation - that went something like this: "The weather is getting pretty bad, eh" "Yep" "You guys keep driving?" "No, we're shutting down, this is the last bus".  It would have been about a 3.5km trudge back to the airport through the snow!

[+Goldenwattle]

3 minutes ago, funkymunkyzone said:

 

The first time I cached in Canada (not the first visit to Canada by a long shot, and have since found many caches there) was on a transit stop through Vancouver (from sunny NZ to sunny Portugal).  There was a cache near the Elephant & Castle pub a few km down the road from the terminal.  It was a snow storm at the time, but we raced out anyway, caught a bus down to the end of the island where the cache was, and then headed back to the bus stop.  The snow was really pelting down by now, like full on blizzard, everything was white including the roads, and when we got back on the bus there was just the bus driver and one airport worker on the bus having a conversation - that went something like this: "The weather is getting pretty bad, eh" "Yep" "You guys keep driving?" "No, we're shutting down, this is the last bus".  It would have been about a 3.5km trudge back to the airport through the snow!

Brave in those conditions . Mine were just short walks, with fine weather.

[+funkymunkyzone]

3 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Brave in those conditions . Mine were just short walks, with fine weather.

Yeah, I don't really recommend combining blizzards and popping out while in transit.  It was a bit silly.  I've also had plenty of in-transit cache dashes in fine (ish) weather - LAX, Oslo, Frankfurt, St Johns (rented a car and visited the most easterly north american cache), Houston.  I think the Frankfurt dash may have been my first visit to Germany, but I've been back a few times and collected all the states as well.

[+terratin]

9 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

Yeah, I don't really recommend combining blizzards and popping out while in transit.  It was a bit silly.  I've also had plenty of in-transit cache dashes in fine (ish) weather - LAX, Oslo, Frankfurt, St Johns (rented a car and visited the most easterly north american cache), Houston.  I think the Frankfurt dash may have been my first visit to Germany, but I've been back a few times and collected all the states as well.

I so wish I could have done that when I had a stopover in Seattle. 4 hrs between planes and a EU passport with visa instead of an ESTA: not a good idea. Then the flight was delayed. Still not enough time. In the end I waited 9 *kitten* hours while I could have gotten into town. Argh!

[+terratin]

I decided to forget about Russia and got a better idea: inching closer to Central Asia now with Georgia in late May and Armenia in early November. Lets see if Azerbaijan is possible next year, or Saudi Arabia. So I guess there are still 4 new countries possible this year: Georgia and Albania, Estland and Slovenia

Edited April 23, 2023 by terratin

[+colleda]

11 hours ago, terratin said:

I decided to forget about Russia and got a better idea: inching closer to Central Asia now with Georgia in late May and Armenia in early November. Lets see if Azerbaijan is possible next year, or Saudi Arabia. So I guess there are still 4 new countries possible this year: Georgia and Albania, Estland and Slovenia

I had a tour of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbijan booked for April 2020. A week before departure the Covid walls went up - bummer. I'm a bit edgy about trying again due to conflict between and within those countries. I received a credit from the TA and ended up using that for Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

[+terratin]

9 hours ago, colleda said:

I had a tour of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbijan booked for April 2020. A week before departure the Covid walls went up - bummer. I'm a bit edgy about trying again due to conflict between and within those countries. I received a credit from the TA and ended up using that for Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

My big trip was to Japan. Le Sigh. I got the money for the plane ticket back eventually and all my accommodations tend to be free cancellation anyway, but it took ages to get through.

From what I see, the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been closed for ages. But you can just drive to Georgia with a rental car.

[+geodarts]

Three weeks after we return from Alaska and the Yukon we will be going to Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  While some caching will be possible, the primary focus is of course on the wildlife and Rock Art.

 

I floated an idea to my wife that we could plan the trip to include layovers that would be practical to add a couple of other countries but that did not go over so well.  
 

Ever since a major accident prevented me from going to Pitcairn Island (travel insurance came in handy) I am grateful to be able to go anywhere.  

[+Gill & Tony]

Sounds like you will be at Victoria Falls.  If so - take the plane ride.  Expensive, but worth every penny.

 

In Botswana, you will probably visit Chobe NP.  If so, there are a few areas designated for tour vehicles to stop for refreshments.  I think there is a cache at each one of these.  My find was not without problems  https://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=502f3cbc-ebf2-4b2f-8493-b3932024053d

 

 

[+Goldenwattle]

My first new country since before Covid. (Which was Papua New Guinea.)

 

ITALY

I found six caches in Italy yesterday. And am about to go out and find some more.

[+colleda]

2 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

My first new country since before Covid. (Which was Papua New Guinea.)

 

ITALY

I found six caches in Italy yesterday. And am about to go out and find some more.

I found those same six caches in Nov 2019. I spent a wonderful day wandering around that lovely town instead of heading off to Rome like most of the others on my cruise. IIRC I think I managed nine that day.

[+Goldenwattle]

4 hours ago, colleda said:

I found those same six caches in Nov 2019. I spent a wonderful day wandering around that lovely town instead of heading off to Rome like most of the others on my cruise. IIRC I think I managed nine that day.

I didn't arrive yesterday till about 3pm, after over 30 hours of travelling from Australia, so I didn't have a full day. Four planes, waits in airports and then two trains to Civitavecchia. Today I found some more caches and completed the AL. However, I was some distance from the AL bonus and weary after all the walking, so I haven't got the bonus. Also, one other cache, not far from the bonus, and the multi (had trouble with the WPs) I haven't found. The rest are now found.

[+Goldenwattle]

4 hours ago, colleda said:

that lovely town

I agree. It's a lovely town. I read another log, where the person said they came to Civitavecchia for a more relaxing place after Rome. I found it relaxing as well.

[+Goldenwattle]

Added Greece today, with two finds (a traditional and an Earthcache), on Santorini.

[+HuggableHamster]

We had a holiday recently to continental Europe, we had been hoping to go to a MEGA in The Netherlands but it was cancelled so instead we went to Belgium to do GC40, of course when in Belgium with a hire car it’s only a short hop over to Luxembourg for a day trip, and then my set of planned caches took us very close to the German border, and then of course we were going to be going to Luxembourg City so it was only a little detour to go to France and then we got a cache on the way back to our place in Belgium and anyway that’s how we rather unintentionally did 4 countries in a day!

[+Goldenwattle]

Logged a couple of caches in France today. 

I expected to get Malta too on this trip, but the wind was too strong for the boat to dock there .

[+baer2006]

On 5/8/2023 at 10:15 PM, HuggableHamster said:

... and anyway that’s how we rather unintentionally did 4 countries in a day!

Brought to you by the nice combination of small(-ish) countries and totally open borders 😉.

[+MNTA]

5 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Logged a couple of caches in France today. 

I expected to get Malta too on this trip, but the wind was too strong for the boat to dock there .

Bummer about the weather hope you are still having a fabulous trip. 

[+terratin]

5 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Logged a couple of caches in France today. 

I expected to get Malta too on this trip, but the wind was too strong for the boat to dock there .

 

Oh no Malta is wonderful for it's amazing historical sites and geology. Sorry

I have added Estonia to my collection with 19 caches in Tallinn. Well, I did 20 but somehow managed to not fulfill the requirements for a virtual. So I deleted the log again. But really loved this short trip and could imagine spending my summer vacation in Estonia next year despite the lack of high temperatures.

[+Michaelcycle]

8 hours ago, terratin said:

 

Oh no Malta is wonderful for it's amazing historical sites and geology. Sorry

I have added Estonia to my collection with 19 caches in Tallinn. Well, I did 20 but somehow managed to not fulfill the requirements for a virtual. So I deleted the log again. But really loved this short trip and could imagine spending my summer vacation in Estonia next year despite the lack of high temperatures.

Great old town. Did you get a decent bowl of elk soup? 3 euros on 2015 and well worth it as we had just given the bicycles back after pedaling in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. We loved the vibrancy of the people, still reveling in their independence.

 

[+terratin]

Not elk soup, but lots of beets, fish, edible local herbs and berries, and soooooo much amazing bread! I have to come back just for the bread. So that's my idea for next year's summer vacation. Considering Hungary is the only warm country left in Europe I've not been to I might as well chose a chilly place

[+Goldenwattle]

On 5/16/2023 at 11:31 AM, terratin said:

Not elk soup, but lots of beets, fish, edible local herbs and berries, and soooooo much amazing bread! I have to come back just for the bread. So that's my idea for next year's summer vacation. Considering Hungary is the only warm country left in Europe I've not been to I might as well chose a chilly place

I should get Hungary this trip.

[+Goldenwattle]

I got the Vatican today. Four caches.

[+baer2006]

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

I got the Vatican today. Four caches.

Cool! I have been there with my family last year. As a German, https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC71Q8V was kind of a "must have" . And I remember that we had some trouble figuring out EC https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC71Q8V question #3 - wife, son and me looking at several of the columns and thinking "What plant imprints???". Felt like a DNF, so I specifically asked about it in my mail to the CO. But never got an answer, so logged it as found anyway.

[+Goldenwattle]

3 hours ago, baer2006 said:

"What plant imprints???"

Same here. I couldn't see any either. I logged it though. I have heard nothing from the COs for all Earth caches I have logged in Italy.

 

I did find four fossils in the marble floor of a church though in Rome.

[+terratin]

I just logged an EC in Tallinn, having to tell the owner that the answer to one of his questions was not what he was thinking the answer should be. Sometimes I can't help myself. Don't mess with geologists

[+Harry Dolphin]

My brother has cache finds in 77 countries.  He hopes to add two new countries on his next trip.

[+Goldenwattle]

Added Germany (& Bayern). Now I see that there are area souvenirs in Germany, I must try to get at least one cache each stop on my upcoming river cruise, where most stops are in Germany.

[+Goldenwattle]

Added Hungary.