Do You Geocache When You Go Away on Business?
Geocaching, for the uninitiated, is an interesting hobby and cultural phenomenon whereby people place containers, called ‘geocaches’ somewhere (anywhere) in the world and then give hints to where they are to others who can then try to find the ‘buried treasure’ themselves.
The hobby was born a number of years ago when a mobile phone with a GPS receiver was first used to record the precise coordinates for a geocache container. (Ammunition boxes are preferred but practically anything can be used so long as it’s sturdy and durable.)
It’s sort of like a scavenger / treasure hunt for world travelers and in fact is becoming quite popular. Geocachers hide their ‘booty’ all over the globe and search for others too, most of which actually contain very little, if any, actual treasure.
No, the joy in geocaching is the thrill of the hunt and the joy of discovery and, in most cases, the person who finds a geocache simply records some basic data about who they are and when they found it, placing it back where it was when they finish.
Which begs the question of frequent travelers – Do you Geocache when you’re traveling on business and do you or have you ever arranged your business trip so that you can engage in geocaching?
It’s an interesting question to be sure. The fact that these ‘finds’ have little real value is very intriguing, considering that many people go to great lengths to hide them and/or find them. There’s no prize, no trinkets, heck there’s not even a glass of good red wine waiting when you find a geocache. With no viable reward it would seem rather ludicrous that someone would arrange their travel to accommodate this interesting hobby and yet there are many who do and their numbers are growing.
So again to the question at hand, which is simply this; do you make special arrangements when you travel so that you can geocache? Have you gone out of your way, changed plans, changed flights or booked extra trips just to geocache?
There may not be any treasure in those containers but the info that you give is in response to my query will be treasured, I promise.
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I certainly don’t arrange my travel around Geocaching, but I’ll take advantage of being in a new place and grab a cache or two in the evenings or days off. It’s a great way to explore a new area and an excuse to get out of the hotel for awhile.
I do, I try I get at least one geocache in every new city, state, country I visit. Btw, geocaching started well before phones has GPS. People would use a personal gps like a Garmin, write down or print the info then head out on the hunt.