Travel

A Wikipedia themed travel bug

A travel bug is an item which is trackable which looks similar to a dog tag. The tag is stamped with a tracking number and the Geocaching website address. A travel bug can be attached to another item by use of the chain on the travel bug if required, examples of such items include teddy bears, toy cars, or golf balls. [ 1 ] These attached items are called "hitchhikers". [ 2 ] During the registration of the bug on the website, the owner may create a assign a name and also create a purpose or mission for the bug. These missions can be as simply as "to travel as far as possible" or to travel to a specific cache, location or a certain type of location. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] On Geocaching, each travel bug has an individual page which tracks its movement and calculates the distance travelled. [ 5 ]

Travel bugs move from cache to cache by Geocachers picking up the bug and physically moving them. There is no obligation to pick up a bug from a cache as Geocachers can simply "discover" the bug on the website. This is where the cacher finds the travel bug and logs it as remaining in the cache it is already in and does not move it on. [ 3 ] Travel bugs have been promoted for their use in education, [ 4 ] and also in Scouting. [ 6 ]

They can also be used in travel bug racing, where a group of geocachers will release bugs on the same day with the objective to either travel the longest distance or to score points by achieving specific objectives. [ 7 ]

Similar to a travel bug, a geocoin is a coin printed with a tracking number, to allow its movement to be logged online. [ 3 ] Unlike geocoins, which for the most part have separate icons to reflect the different styles and series of coin, travel bugs are normally represented by a generic travel bug icon (though the attached items can vary, the travel bug dog tags are all nearly identical in appearance). [ 8 ] [ 9 ] A different travel bug icon is available should someone have a travel bug tattoo with a trackable number. [ 10 ]

The "Travel Bug" word mark and the travel bug logo are both registered trademarks of Groundspeak. the parent company which owns the domain Geocaching. [ 11 ]

A free tracking service, known as Geokrety. which has full support for geocaching sites such as Opencaching. and partial support for other geocaching sites, is also available.