Choosing Hitchiker

[NaVTroopr]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am very excited to sendy my hitchiker on his journey.

 

He is a Tikiman who I picked up in Guam as a souveneir. I worry that since he is a cool figurine that someone might steal him! Do any of you know of people who had thier hitchiker stolen?

 

FYI he stands about 6 inches tall and it the dude depicted in my avatar.

 

I'd also like to know how long it may take for him to make a trip from Washington State to Spain (and back) with the instrution I put in on his "travel bug page."

 

Thanks for your help

Rey

[+BlueDeuce]

Lost, stolen, forgotten.

 

DO NOT release anything you are not willing to part with forever.

 

Make sure to read Snoogans' Tb Longevity Clinic

 

How long will it take to reach your goal? Anywhere from three days to never.

 

Good luck!

Edited December 11, 2004 by BlueDeuce

[+tirediron]

BD put it pretty well. I would suggest using something a little more sturdy than the beaded chain that is supplied to attach the tag. After a while, they can break. Also a small, laminated tag on the chain with his name, your name, and a brief overview of his goals and TBs in general is a good idea.

[+YuccaPatrol]

My first TB is a little hot wheels MINI Cooper. It is a somewhat limited edition version that is hard to find but not really worth much since I play with my toys and take them out of the original packaging.

 

When it disappeared after being moved only once, I was really bothered by it. Fortunately, a geocacher found it where it had dropped out of someone's caching bag near a cache.

 

After this scare, I decided that I would not send out anything in the future if I had any real attachment to it or could not replace it.

 

Your tiki god thing is really cool. I'd hate to see it disappear so don't send it out if you will get upset if it goes missing. . . .

 

Maybe you could screw the travel bug tag onto the back of it?

Edited December 11, 2004 by YuccaPatrol

[+robert]

Also a small, laminated tag on the chain with his name, your name, and a brief overview of his goals and TBs in general is a good idea.

Or put it in a plastic baggy with the TB page printed and folded inside.

 

[+reveritt]

That figurine looks to me to be a bit too valuable to make into a TB hitchhiker--also a bit too large.

[+Kai Team]

For a sobering view of how often travel bugs do go missing, see The Travel Bug Graveyard.

 

The first TB I released is there - it was traumatic, even though I wasn't that attached to the item itself (you always remember your first).

[+John & Hazel]

Why not take a photo of it and laminate the photo attache the photo to the TB tag

You get to keep the figurine, who's going to steal a photo?

[+Thot]

Here's some Travel Bug mortality data I worked up a while back.

 

Edited to add:

 

I did another look at bugs as a function of size and form. It was very clear that medium sized bugs do a lot better than either small or large ones. Medium sized bugs made moves more frequently, made many more moves and lived longer than large and small ones.

 

I also compared hard objects with cloth/fuzzy ones. There was not enough difference between these to conclude anything. Cloth/fuzzy objects did very slightly better, but the sample wasn’t large enough to make this difference meaningful.

Edited December 12, 2004 by Thot

[propstruk]

Rey, The past two years I have made a trip to Spain on business in the spring time. I am hoping to make the trip again this year. If you decide to this and can get your bug across the country to Georgia, I may can be of some assistance.

[+Anonymous']

That figurine looks to me to be a bit too valuable to make into a TB hitchhiker--also a bit too large.

No travel bug is too large: Look

[rescue557]

No travel bug is too large: Look

It's true! Look at my travel bug! It's an old public pay phone!

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=118979