The Official Travel Bug Obituary....

May 23, 2012

I put my very first TB out there in the world and it's definitely gone from the cache, but no one logged it or anything. I've emailed everyone who found the cache and most have replied to say it wasn't there. I have it narrowed down to the first three people who logged the cache, but they haven't replied yet to tell me if it was in the cache or gone from the cache. I realize someone who didn't log the cache could have found it, but it's a pretty well hidden cache, so only a geocacher would have seen it. THe cache is A Belle's Isle View, in Windsor Ontario. Any suggestions, other than what I've already done, to locate my Pathtag Collector TB?

In MY opinion there's nothing more you can do.

It may magically re-appear one day, but if it doesn't,you should make a replacement for it.

Release the replacement, then you can enjoy watching it travel again.

It's advised that you wait an entire year before you do this though.

May 23, 2012

Would it be wrong to just make up some new tags? Either professional custom tags worth the same number our some diy replacements and revive the tag? Your miles traveled may be wrong but you'd be back in the game...

it's perfectly acceptable to make a new one.

it should be missing for a year or longer before you do this though.

May 23, 2012

Well, after more than a year missing, I guess it's time to admit the sad fact that the family that picked up my wee sheep, Peaty, has tossed him in the toybox to be smashed in with the McDonald's Happy Meal toys and broken Matchbox cards. Repeated emails have been ignored. He's been out since January 2006, and has logged over 17,000 miles. His flockmate Boggy has won the race by default, although he hasn't made it to Ireland, either. He's in the UK, and has been for nearly 5 years, but hasn't made it to the Emerald Isle. So, so close.

Guess I'll have to find a new excuse to return to Ireland.

Raise a pint to Peatey if you will~

Little Bo O'Peep

Make a replacement for Peety with the same tracking number.

It's just not right to not put him back in the race.

you never know, he just may WIN !

May 24, 2012

How about shortest distance before going MIA? A whopping 11 miles for one of my geocoins! Probably more vulnerable to being 'souvenired' than a regular TB.

Shortest distance was 0km for my son's travelbug The Kozzy Bug-gy that we placed last august. Path5inder found it a few days after we placed it and he has not been logged since.

May 28, 2012

Found two at a garage sale this weekend. I think the place was ownedby hoarders cause there was a bunch of misc. crap. Ibought every nic.nack that looked like it could have been from a geocache. Putting everything back into circulation, TBs are going to China with me next week

May 28, 2012

Found two at a garage sale this weekend. I think the place was ownedby hoarders cause there was a bunch of misc. crap. Ibought every nic.nack that looked like it could have been from a geocache. Putting everything back into circulation, TBs are going to China with me next week

good job...i love seeing the missing trackables get backin the game.

August 6, 2012

Oh that is low...

One of my geocoins was missing for a year in the hands of a cacher. He then "dropped" it into a cache. The next person who found the cache said it wasn't there. Oh well. RIP.

August 7, 2012

Our workaround for the MIA/stolen geocoins is to now only send out a proxy. We photocopy the real coin - front and back - glue the 2 sides to cardstock and then laminate it with heavy grade laminate. You can cut it into whatever size you want then. That way the real coin stays safe with us forever. If/when the proxy disappears - we will just make another one and get it back out in circulation. We have lost too many TB's to put out the real thing anymore. You could also do this with the TB tags - make a proxy tag.

August 13, 2012

Our workaround for the MIA/stolen geocoins is to now only send out a proxy. We photocopy the real coin - front and back - glue the 2 sides to cardstock and then laminate it with heavy grade laminate. You can cut it into whatever size you want then. That way the real coin stays safe with us forever. If/when the proxy disappears - we will just make another one and get it back out in circulation. We have lost too many TB's to put out the real thing anymore. You could also do this with the TB tags - make a proxy tag.

August 13, 2012

We have done this as well for a Geocoin we felt was too personal to risk. Glad we did too as we have had to re-launch it twice so far. I take the real coin with me to events though just so people know it exist!

August 14, 2012

Love the proxy idea for coins (and maybe bugs, too!) I launched a TB this spring and it made it all of 1 mile from original drop and went MIA! Only about half of our launched TB have been actually travelling, most are MIA....Makes 8 year old geoson very sad :sad:

22k · August 15, 2012

Love the proxy idea for coins (and maybe bugs, too!) I launched a TB this spring and it made it all of 1 mile from original drop and went MIA! Only about half of our launched TB have been actually travelling, most are MIA....Makes 8 year old geoson very sad

I am absolutely, completely, BEYOND BELIEF supportive of any traveler that you can replace, coin or TB.

Good luck with everyone else.

August 18, 2012

Well, it's been a year since I released my first TB, and it appears it could now be gone. After two months without activity I decided to check on the cache it was in, and this recent log was there:

Clever!!!! Thanks for the awesome cache! Fun! No trackables though. TFTC!

Oh well. It hasn't been long, so hopefully it will pop up soon enough. I don't mind it going missing anyway, it has gone further than I ever thought it would, especially for my first TB.

August 26, 2012

Took this from another thread: thought it would be useful....

I said it before, and I'll say it again: "If you want your bug to survive, make it ugly....... "

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with you. Being ugly, didn't help Rusty Spike. He just got unlucky enough to fall into the hands of a onetime wonder cacher.

I've definitely decided though, that if your bug is cute, drill a freaking hole right through the middle of it. That wil tend to discourage some from taking it as a free toy for their kids to play with. For the life of me, I can't imagine what that guy is doing with Rusty Spike now. No emails returned ever. I even offered to pay for postage to have it mailed back to me.

I'm thinking about getting another rusty spike and sending out the copy tag.

Funny, I came to the same conclusion with my latest traveller coin, a dime with a hole in it! Hope it works...

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=0f4c598a-89b7-4f76-a890-c50640bdb725

September 13, 2012

some one should make a map of where travel bugs have gone missing and that way we can identify areas to avoid

September 13, 2012

Some locations may be bad, but for me my heart sinks when I look at the profile and see my TB as the first one they have logged or it was one of there first caches. My wife's first TB taken by a cacher who had never seen one before and the cache that she picked him up from was her last cache as well. Going on a year. MIA. The first of several that we have which are stalled out. But I still like TB'a and occasionally start a new one for an event I am attending.

September 27, 2012

I have two TB's in my inventory that were lost last May when my cache bag was stolen. I'm wondering how I should go about getting them out of my inventory, any ideas? I've email Groundspeak, but it went unanswered. I don't want to drop them in a cache online since I don't have them physically anymore. The owner of one is non responsive and the other has no point of contact. What should I do?

8.6k · September 27, 2012

I have two TB's in my inventory that were lost last May when my cache bag was stolen. I'm wondering how I should go about getting them out of my inventory, any ideas? I've email Groundspeak, but it went unanswered. I don't want to drop them in a cache online since I don't have them physically anymore. The owner of one is non responsive and the other has no point of contact. What should I do?

Try sending an email to Eartha, our Moderator. Include links to the two trackables and explain what has happened. She's very helpful for sorting out such problems.

MrsB

October 17, 2012

How about shortest distance before going MIA? A whopping 11 miles for one of my geocoins! Probably more vulnerable to being 'souvenired' than a regular TB.

Shortest distance was 0km for my son's travelbug The Kozzy Bug-gy that we placed last august. Path5inder found it a few days after we placed it and he has not been logged since.

In addition to shortest distance, you at least got "a few days" so I can beat that with a few hours. We placed one in the Niagara Falls area. Someone took it a few hours later and it was never heard from again!

October 17, 2012

We lost a travel bug / coin to a guy that has admitted he still has it, but he just won't do anything with it. He has logged many many finds since he stole our bug two years ago AND he falsely promised to snail mail it back to us. I wish there was a governing body to turn him into. Jerk.

October 30, 2012

How about shortest distance before going MIA? A whopping 11 miles for one of my geocoins! Probably more vulnerable to being 'souvenired' than a regular TB.

Shortest distance was 0km for my son's travelbug The Kozzy Bug-gy that we placed last august. Path5inder found it a few days after we placed it and he has not been logged since.

In addition to shortest distance, you at least got "a few days" so I can beat that with a few hours. We placed one in the Niagara Falls area. Someone took it a few hours later and it was never heard from again!

My very first purchase was a poppy geocoin. After activating it, I placed it in a puzzle cache in front of a neighbor's house (like 7 houses away). It was grabbed a few days later and logged by the cacher...and never moved or seen again. So it lasted for 2 days and made it 7 houses away... Grrr

November 9, 2012

Well gang, I just moved into a new house in a new neighborhood and couldn't help but look up nearby geocaches. Dang, there are some practically at my back door. I got disinterested a few years ago when I had to mark most of my trackables as missing and the last of my hides was completely stolen. Now I'm getting that bug again (no pun intended). When I find my geocaching backpack amongst the current mess of moving boxes, here we go again. I have a great place for another cache hide.

Lessons I have learned - make my travel bugs as ugly as possible. Any "cute" travelers I have sent out in the past don't last long. Also, no more geocoins. Pretty, shiney, enameled geocoins don't keep moving either. My swag will more than likely be items that come from the "goodwill" box that we are filling up as we are unpacking.

Wish me luck!

November 14, 2012

I had six trackables either hostage or MIA. I sent emails to the three I knew were hostage and all three were released. And those have gone to new caches several states away. Thanks. I have to wait longer to see if the other three MIA (gone and zero miles logged). Then I will make proxies. I just ordered 8 more trackables for 4 bucks each and will decide whether to release them or just use the numbers on other items.

December 13, 2012

I decided to release a traveling turtle tag, which would look very cute as a keychain. I dropped it in one of my safest caches and someone found the cache (second one they had ever found) and logged the TB correctly (phew) I thought it would be all ok. 5 months later, they still have it, and haven't found any other caches. Every time I visit the cache that I left it in, I sit on the grassy embankment with a camo container and weep, and passers by wonder what is wrong with the strange guy sitting on the hill with a spray painted lunchbox who is crying. RIP little turtle!

December 27, 2012

Ok, so I bought a travel bug, sent it on its way about 4 years ago, with a 'Florida and back, please

add a bead' directive. It was plodding along, ended up in a cache in Georgia. The cache owner archived it, with my little bug in it! I've tried to contact the owner, even found them on Facebook (something they had on the Geocaching profile led me there), with no reply. I'm sad, and a little ticked off. Not cool at all. Guess I'm just whining, I know there's really nothing to do about it. Thanks for listening. :unsure:

December 30, 2012

Excuse me, I need help!

I have a TB and i want it to activet but i became only the message : This TB doesnt existed in the sytem. What can I do ?

sorry my english isent good

December 30, 2012

Excuse me, I need help!

I have a TB and i want it to activet but i became only the message : This TB doesnt existed in the sytem. What can I do ?

sorry my english isent good

Do this search:

geocaching activate a tb

I couldn't give the link as it showed BushySasquatch as owner of a new TB.

The search should take you to a step-by-step page to activate your TB.

Good luck!

Edited December 30, 2012 by BushySasquatch

December 31, 2012

RIP Pork King's Old Lady. She was my TB racer that was slyly placed in an out of the way cache by a fellow racer. She didn't move the whole race, and languished in the cache for almost a full 2 years. Today I went to retriever her, only to find the cache is gone! You will be missed, you great ole' sow.

1.9k · December 31, 2012

Excuse me, I need help!

I have a TB and i want it to activet but i became only the message : This TB doesnt existed in the sytem. What can I do ?

sorry my english isent good

Also, sometimes the numbers and letters can be confusing. Check if it is an "O" or "0"; "I" or "1"; "S" or "5". Hope that helps.

January 13, 2013

Today I decided to go through my active travel bugs, tags, and geocoins to see which of them are still traveling. Over 3/4 of my active tbs are now gone or have been in the hands of the same cacher for well over 4 months (a year and a half in the worst case.) I decided to politely send emails to the 20 or so cachers who have had my tbs for over 3 months, not to be mean or point fingers, just to give them a little nudge to put the tb back out. I can understand a cache going missing, an emergency that prevents people from caching, or even losing a tb, but if the tb is lost, I just want to know about it. The occasions that frustrated me most, however, were the occasions where the tb holder has cached many times since they grabbed my tb oh, say 6 months ago, and have yet to re-release it. Oh well, I took the risk to release tbs, got my handful of smiles out of each one, and now have lots of travel codes to recycle. :anibad: Rant over!

February 10, 2013

Damm you stupid new people who haven't played the game before! DAMM YOU! 'The Red One' Classic Mini only wanted to beat 'The Blue One' to Italy and back! :'( I still live in hope that one day he will return!

February 15, 2013

well my first TB is gone from its first drop. i went back to the cache i dropped it in to find no cache but a single burnt piece of tub and what looks like part of my travel bug melted into an orange goop.

the whole site looks like it was party central and kids destroyed it.

waiting for CO to confirm but like i said i am pretty sure its gone and melted.

March 19, 2013

So sad this happens, just launched my first two....Always people eager to ruin things for others

March 30, 2013

We grieve for our SHAUN Travelbug.

At last in the hands of "MarSilva" (since october 2012...)

We tried to get feedback from this cacher. He is very active at geocaching.

NO response for any mail of us.

NO answer.

We are sad and disappointed.

Our Shaun was a gift from a friend and has a very personal story.

He wanted to travel some islands and not to be lost after such a short travel.

He belonged to our Shaun-familiy. We miss him.

WHAT can we do???

-----

Wir trauern um unseren SHAUN Travelbug.

Zuletzt in den Händen von "MarSilva" (dies seit Oktober 2012).

Wir taten alles uns Mögliche, um ein Feedback von diesem Cacher zu bekommen.

Immerhin war er aktiv am Cachen und Loggen...

Keine Antwort auf all unsere Mails.

Wir sind sehr traurig.

Unser Shaun war das Geschenk einer sehr lieben Freundin und hat eine sehr persönliche Geschichte.

Er wollte so gerne einige Inseln bereisn und nicht nach einer so kurzen Reise verschollen sein.

Er gehörte zu unserer Shaunfamilie. Wir vermissen ihn.

March 31, 2013

I am so sad, I put out a tb for my kids, a girl and a boy with specific goals, to go to california then to England... well the kids made it to California, but then found their way into Germany,,, and disappeared... the last known cacher that had my kids (tb called Children out and about) were Satan 666, so my poor kids are somewhere in hell........LOL they have been missing for almost 2 years

April 1, 2013

Hi I'm new to geocaching, I was cleaning out a rental house and I found 3 Groundspeak TRAVEL BUGS, AND A GEO TRAVEL BUG. *tracking number removed by moderator*. I WILL TRY TO PUT THEM BACK IN CIRCULATION

Edited April 2, 2013 by Eartha
Removed tracking numbers

3.7k · April 1, 2013

Hi I'm new to geocaching, I was cleaning out a rental house and I found 3 Groundspeak TRAVEL BUGS, AND A GEO TRAVEL BUG. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. I WILL TRY TO PUT THEM BACK IN CIRCULATION

don't post the codes!

8.8k · April 2, 2013

Hi I'm new to geocaching, I was cleaning out a rental house and I found 3 Groundspeak TRAVEL BUGS, AND A GEO TRAVEL BUG. *tracking number removed by moderator*. I WILL TRY TO PUT THEM BACK IN CIRCULATION

Hi and welcome!

Thank you for coming here. You can check the link in my signature for more information on travel bugs. We also have this pinned thread explaining how to log them. If you'd like we can help you find a cache near you to place them in, or a local event where you could drop them off.

Please don't be afraid to ask us for help if you need it.

Edit to add: I removed the secret tracking numbers from your post so nobody can virtually log it. Only those who see it in person should use those numbers.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Eartha

April 27, 2013

Just something to think about, sometimes travel bugs move on without people logging that they ever had it. I found one that, according to the website, should have been in Pennsylvania, USA. However, I found it a whole other state away. Logged and am looking forward to dropping it in its new location this weekend. Best wishes to all the lost bugs out there. May they someday show back up.

April 27, 2013

Ok so the missus wanted to go visit all the yard sales in Lewiston, Idaho on this nice sunny day and low and behold what do I see sitting on the table? A bag with a TB and a figurine attached to it, a little green jeep and a geocaching patch. I asked where they got it and they stated they didn't know. I explained what it was and they said I could just have it (Thanks you guys)! So I looked it up and Clover from 5 years ago in an archived cache from 5 years ago. I have never brought a bug back from the yard and was wondering, do I try to contact the owner and see what he wants done with it or send it back into the wild?

Edited April 27, 2013 by AiwaSoundSystem

April 29, 2013

We released our first travel bug yesterday. The cache was logged as being found a few hours later but the cacher commented that there were no trackables present. Nobody has logged that they took our trackable. Boo Hoo I can't believe it got stolen on it's very first outing into the world :sad:

I'm just so sad for my son and his friend who's photo we added to the tag in a photo keyring. I did think about placing it into a members only cache but realizing that I can't control where it goes after that decided not to worry and be trusting of fellow cachers. Having seen how long this thread is I now know how common a problem this is.

22k · April 30, 2013

One day isn't exactly enough time to call it missing.

April 30, 2013

We released our first travel bug yesterday. The cache was logged as being found a few hours later but the cacher commented that there were no trackables present. Nobody has logged that they took our trackable. Boo Hoo I can't believe it got stolen on it's very first outing into the world

I'm just so sad for my son and his friend who's photo we added to the tag in a photo keyring. I did think about placing it into a members only cache but realizing that I can't control where it goes after that decided not to worry and be trusting of fellow cachers. Having seen how long this thread is I now know how common a problem this is.

The person may just not have seen it. I would give it some time a and see what the next cache log says. Or, you could just go check the cache yourself. But don't give up! I just located a few travelers that have been missing for five years. Will be getting them back on the move shortly :-D

April 30, 2013

We released our first travel bug yesterday. The cache was logged as being found a few hours later but the cacher commented that there were no trackables present. Nobody has logged that they took our trackable. Boo Hoo I can't believe it got stolen on it's very first outing into the world

I'm just so sad for my son and his friend who's photo we added to the tag in a photo keyring. I did think about placing it into a members only cache but realizing that I can't control where it goes after that decided not to worry and be trusting of fellow cachers. Having seen how long this thread is I now know how common a problem this is.

The person may just not have seen it. I would give it some time a and see what the next cache log says. Or, you could just go check the cache yourself. But don't give up! I just located a few travelers that have been missing for five years. Will be getting them back on the move shortly :-D

It's quite big and has 2 added keyrings and was placed in quite a small cache. The cacher mentioned that he placed a TB there himself so I'm sure he would have seen it. Yes - I may be being a premature saying it is missing but I must admit I just don't have a good feeling about it.

July 12, 2013

Sorry everyone but I will fess up to my errors. I have 2 travel bugs that have taken up residence at my house for a year. Not that I meant to do it, but I had 2 surgerys and my husband had open heart surgery. I am now getting out to do some easy ones and will put my bugs in them. So far I have found only small ones and not big enough to put a bug in it. :huh:

July 16, 2013

im mad that my travel bug lasted for a month and then just dissapears. its dissapointing.

July 23, 2013

another one bites the dust.

goodbye my precious.

See you in a year....

July 23, 2013

another one bites the dust.

goodbye my precious.

See you in a year....

AND 10 BLOOMING MINUTES LATER!!!! message 2 informing me that another one of my TB's is missing.

Goodbye TK421

August 14, 2013

Hey ..! Zeer goede post. Ik hou van het concept en de ideeën van het zijn een reis-bug. De totale post is vrij uitgebreid en interessant. Bedankt voor het aandeel.

Bezoek:

luxe vakantiehuizen | villa te huur spanje

August 19, 2013

Dankzij uw reis met ons te delen .. Dit bericht is echt heel informatief, tat zo veel leuke informatie met ons ... U deelt uw reis in deze post, ben ik ook zo blij met het krijgen van deze kans of delen ook mijn eigen bekijk hier .. Dus bedankt voor deze ...

huis te huur spanje | te huur in spanje

The Official Travel Bug Obituary....

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