Travel Bug Hotel

[+braggclan]

Hi, we as a family just started Geocaching and planning to find a few more next weekend.  On our planned route, I've spotted a travel bug hotel and read up about them but it's given me more questions.

 

1.  If we wanted to send out a travel bug of our own into the world, does it have to start life in one of our own caches or can we drop it into somebody else's cache?

 

2. Can you only place travel bugs into bug hotels, or can you also use other large enough caches too?

 

3.  Do you have to take something from a cache in order to put another item in? (e.g. a travel bug?)

[RuideAlmeida]

7 minutes ago, braggclan said:

1. Drop trackables on any cache big enough to hold them... yours or not.

 

2. Any cache big enough and on Events also... when they return.

 

3.  Doing the opposite is considered good etiquette. Only take something when leaving other, but sometimes if you can help the mission of a given trackable, please feel free to Retrieve it even without any Drop.

 

[Darwin473]

Be aware that with TB's, sometimes they are listed in the cache page but are not physically there. This can be because someone picked it up but hasn't logged it yet, or because it has gone missing. If you have time, have a look at the TB's page and see if it has already been noted. If it hasn't, or hasn't in a while, it is nice to add a note letting the owner know that you didn't see it in the cache.

 

Sometimes there can be a TB there which isn't listed in the cache. This may be because someone dropped it in and hasn't logged it yet. If you pick that one up, include in your log that you picked up the TB (using the TB's name or reference number from the TB's page, which normally starts with "TB..."). Please don't post a TB's secret code (the one printed on the TB itself) in your logs or in photos.

 

If you haven't already, read this page for more information.

[+niraD]

35 minutes ago, braggclan said:

3.  Do you have to take something from a cache in order to put another item in? (e.g. a travel bug?)

As RuideAlmeida indicated, for trade items, it works the other way around. When I started geocaching, I learned the phrase, "Trade up, trade even, or don't trade." That means that you should leave something at least as valuable as what you take when trading.

 

But that's for trade items. Trackables like travel bugs and geocoins aren't trade items. If you can help it on its mission, then feel free to take it. You don't have to leave anything in exchange.

 

And you never have to take anything if you want to leave something in a cache. Assuming that there is room for whatever you leave, of course.

[+frostengel]

33 minutes ago, braggclan said:

3.  Do you have to take something from a cache in order to put another item in? (e.g. a travel bug?)

 

Hi braggclan,

 

I don't agree with RuideAlmeida's post completely. What he says (only take something if you leave something of at least the same value) only works for normal trading stuff. The trade items belong to the owner of the cache and you can exchange it for something else.

But with trackables that's something else as they belong to the trackable owner and not the cache owner. You can take those out whenever you want without putting any other trackable in. Later you drop that trackable at any other cache without retrieving one in reverse.

 

Sometimes cache owners - especially those of TB hotels - claim that you are only allowed to exchange trackables in a 1 to 1 ratio or that at all times one trackable must remain in the cache but that's not right as they deal with foreign property here.

 

So please take them and don't keep them too long. That helps the trackable and the trackable's owner most and that's what is important for these things!

 

Jochen

[+cerberus1]

1 hour ago, braggclan said:

Hi, we as a family just started Geocaching and planning to find a few more next weekend.  On our planned route, I've spotted a travel bug hotel and read up about them but it's given me more questions.

1.  If we wanted to send out a travel bug of our own into the world, does it have to start life in one of our own caches or can we drop it into somebody else's cache?

2. Can you only place travel bugs into bug hotels, or can you also use other large enough caches too?

3.  Do you have to take something from a cache in order to put another item in? (e.g. a travel bug?)

 

You can keep it on your person and "Visit" it to caches (a personal mileage tracker) if you'd like.

Any cache can call itself a "TB hotel".

It's sometimes different in some areas, but we stay clear of "TB hotels".  These are where we see the most trackables lost. 

 -  Look at the watchlist, and if a few on it,  go elsewhere.   Heaven for hoarders...

There's a lot of basic, helpful information in the Help Center.         Have you read  Geocaching 101 ? 

There's a link to the Help Center (on all subjects in this hobby...) there as well.

 

Trackables are not swag.  You don't need to "swap" anything for them. 

If this is mentioned on a cache page, we notify a Reviewer, as it wasn't published with that wording (and not allowed).