Travel Bug

A Travel Bug is a registered trademark of Groundspeak, Inc. used to describe a dogtag used in Geocaching. It is moved from cache to cache, and its travels can be logged on the geocaching website (www.geocaching.com). Each travel bug tag is printed with a unique PIN, which is needed to post a log online. Some tags are fastened to an object, such as a plastic figurine, before they are let loose. [ [http://www.dnronline.com/saturdaymagazine_details.php?AID=10558&sub=Feature High-Tech Treasure Hunt] Martin Cizmar, "Daily News Record", June 6, 2007, accessed June 6, 2007.]

Travel bugs are tracked on the Groundspeak-owned website [http://www.geocaching.com Geocaching.com] , but there are a number of other tracking sites such as [http://www.geotagtracker.com Geotag Tracker] or [http://www.travelertags.com/ Traveler Tags] that log other trackable items.

Some travel bugs have missions to travel to a specific cache, location or a certain type of location. Other travel bugs simply have the goal of traveling as far and widely as possible. Similar to a travel bug, a geocoin is a coin printed with a tracking number, to allow its movement to be logged online. Travel bug can be bought easily and start races easily to.

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 are unique, the travel bug dog tags are all nearly identical in appearance).

Promotional Travel Bugs

As of 2007, Groundspeak has created five different series of promotional travel bugs, each with a unique icon.

Each year from 2004 to 2007, Jeep has sponsored a contest, the Jeep 4X4 Geocaching Challenge, featuring a different series of special Jeep travel bugs. The travel bugs are released throughout the United States with no specific mission in mind, but every finder is entered into a drawing for a new Jeep and other prizes. There is a separate contest for photo entries for each Jeep travel bug series. In 2004, five thousand yellow Jeep Wrangler travel bugs were released, followed by five thousand white Jeep Wrangler Rubicon travel bugs in 2005, six thousand green Jeep Rescue concept vehicle travel bugs in 2006, and eight thousand red Jeep Commander travel bugs in 2007. [http://jeep.geocaching.com] Each year, the Jeep travel bugs have followed a different naming convention. The first series of yellow Jeeps were simply numbered [http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=d6c92571-2f2f-4974-a48b-1c319c6a5648] , and the 2005 white Jeeps were given first names [http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=2935f9de-4c0b-439c-a02e-aae94f70bc97] . 2006 Jeeps were named after different peaks in the United States [http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=44643b3b-d107-4224-8ca0-0b2370807706] , and 2007 Jeeps were named after different rivers in the United States. [http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=87ad32fe-2b08-4321-a059-07b539c5f11e]

In late 2006, to promote diabetes awareness and to gather support for a United Nations resolution, the International Diabetes Federation disseminated 20,000 "Unite for Diabetes" travel bugs to be released by volunteers throughout the world. Unlike the Jeep travel bugs, each Unite for Diabetes travel bug has a specific mission. Every individual bug is assigned to one of 20,000 target cities around the world (for example, Guben, Germany [http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=861368] ). The bug's mission is to travel to, then around, its target city, collecting geocaching logs and photos along the way. Like the Jeep series, the Unite for Diabetes series is tied to a contest. [http://unite.geocaching.com]

Travel Bug Races

Some owners of travel bugs compete with each other, sending their bugs on specific missions or races.

* [http://www.geocities.com/pageocachers/race/index.htm Coast to Coast TB Race]
* [http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8f716c8e-2e6a-45c4-8545-e0b2ed4254fc MLB Travel Bug Race 2005!]
* [http://members.localnet.com/~linsal/CBRWelcome.html 2005 CannonBall Run Race]
* [http://www.aedracing.com/mdbugrace.php 2007 MD Travel Bug Chalice Chase ]
* [http://www.iecachers.com/postnuke/html/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=8 IE Cachers Travel Bug Race 2007]
* [http://macflye.com/Site/Geocaching/HippieBusRace/Site/Welcome.html Hippie Bus Race to Sacramento]

See also

* ToyVoyagers

References

External links

* [http://www.geocaching.com/track/travelbugs.aspx Geocaching Travel bug page]