Many people travel for work or pleasure. Here are 5 reasons why you should ALWAYS devote some of your time to go geocaching when you travel.
1. Find hidden gems
I’ve lived in San Diego all my life. I grew up here. I’m a local. Still, because of geocaching, I’ve been led to many hidden gems that I didn’t know about. Hiking trails, unique parks, hidden coves in San Diego Bay, seaside cliffs and numerous nooks and crannies all around San Diego. You’ll be surprised where geocaching can take you. The same holds true when you travel. Hidden gems are everywhere and geocaching is famous for taking you to the best ones. In the photo above, geocaching led Sandy and her friends to an amazing trail above a beautiful bay in Mexico.
2. Locate the best attractions without a guidebook
The locals always know the best places in their hometown and the vast majority of the time, there will be a geocache nearby. Searching for geocaches with high-favorites, as well as the classic virtual caches can reveal a treasure-trove of fantastic not-to-be-missed locations without ever cracking open the guidebook. Geocache descriptions can often be a source of helpful and important information. In Spain, a geocache aptly named led us to some wonderful “churros con chocolate” at an open-air eatery on a beautiful plaza.
3. Save money on excursions and tours
Geocaching can take you to some iconic and interesting locations just like excursions and tours. However, geocaching costs a lot less and you get a much more customized and authentic experience if you take a bit of time, do your homework and put in a little planning. Geocaching can help you learn a lot more about an area in a fun, interactive way! On a high-school reunion cruise years ago, we stopped at Nassau in the Bahamas and used geocaching to take our group on a tour of the town. We ended up at all the great spots without the hassle (and expense!) of sticking with the tour bus schedule.
4. Meet local people
Local geocachers know about the good stuff, the best caches, best places to eat, interesting things to do and see. You should seek out local geocachers whenever you can. Kassimaja and his family were fantastic hosts for our time in Norway (above). Here are some simple steps for meeting local geocachers.
- See if there is an event scheduled for the time you plan to be there and go!
- Snoop at the logs of caches in the local area, be a detective and see if you can figure out who the active geocachers are.
- Contact a few of them through the geocaching website, let them know you’ll be visiting and see if you can connect. Ask them about any local Geocaching groups or clubs too! They might be willing to organize a simple event during your visit!
- Once you’ve met them, ask if they’d like to go caching later that day or the next day.
5. Fill out your geocaching map
Yes, we all know it’s not about the numbers, but for some of us, it IS all about coloring in that map of the world!! When you travel to a new country or even just a new state or province, you have the opportunity to add that new location to your geocaching stats. It’s really fun to watch your list grow over time.
Here’s a bonus TIP:
Search for geocaches in the area that have a lot of favorite points. Target these geocaches and make sure to find as many as possible during your visit.
Don’t Go Yet!
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The post 5 Reasons you should always go Geocaching when you Travel (#3 is my favorite) appeared first on PodCacher: Geocaching Goodness.
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