thumb|The front and back of an official Groundspeak Travel Bug

thumb|A Travel Bug attached to a stuffed penguin. The Travel Bug also features a laminated tag featuring the logo of [[Wikipedia]]

A Travel Bug (or Trackable, often abbreviated to TB) is a tag used in geocaching. Travel Bugs are moved from cache to cache, with unique tracking numbers allowing these movements to be tracked through the geocaching website. They are usually fastened to an object, known as a "hitchhiker", before being released into a cache.

Travel Bugs have been used in commercial promotions, such as advertising Jeep products and increasing diabetes awareness. A free tracking service known as Geokrety is also available, but is not affiliated to Groundspeak.

Description

thumb|A Travel Bug attached to a stuffed monkey next to a cat

Travel Bugs are stamped with a tracking number and the Geocaching.com website address. A Travel Bug can be attached to another item. These attached items are called "hitchhikers". The owner then creates a name and a mission for the Travel Bug, such as "to travel as far as possible" or to travel to a specific cache or location. On Geocaching.com, each Travel Bug has an individual page which tracks its movement and calculates the distance traveled.

A Travel Bug moves when a geocacher picks the trackable up and physically moves them from one geocache to the next. The geocacher then places it inside another cache, logging its movement online through the geocaching app. Alternatively, there is an option for the Travel Bug to be “discovered” if the geocacher does not wish to pick it up.

Similar to a Travel Bug, a geocoin is a coin printed with a tracking number, which allows its movement to be logged online.

Travel Bug Promotions

thumb|right|upright|[[Jeep Travel Bugs. From bottom to top: 2004 Yellow Jeep TB #2155, 2005 White Jeep TB "Marly," 2006 Green Jeep TB "Venable Peak (CO)," 2007 Red Jeep TB "North River (MN)."]]

Jeep

From 2004 to 2007, Jeep sponsored a contest, known as the "Jeep 4×4 Geocaching Challenge", which featured different series of special Jeep Travel Bugs every year. The Travel Bugs were released throughout the United States with no specific mission in mind, and every finder was entered into a drawing for a new Jeep and other prizes. There was a separate contest for photo entries for each Jeep Travel Bug series. In 2004, 5,000 yellow Jeep Wrangler Travel Bugs were released, followed by 5,000 white Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Travel Bugs in 2005, 6,000 green Jeep Rescue concept vehicle Travel Bugs in 2006, and 8,000 red Jeep Commander Travel Bugs in 2007.

International Diabetes Federation

In late 2006, to promote diabetes awareness and to gather support for a United Nations resolution, the International Diabetes Federation disseminated "Unite for Diabetes" Travel Bugs to be released by volunteers around the world. Unlike the Jeep Travel Bugs, each Unite for Diabetes Travel Bug has a specific mission. Every individual Travel Bug is assigned a specific target city. It then travels to and around its assigned city to spread awareness for diabetes. Like the Jeep series, the Unite for Diabetes series was tied to a contest. Specially made geocoins were also created for release in 2007.

Travel Bugs in Space

Trip by Richard Garriott

Richard Garriott traveled to the International Space Station with a Travel Bug (TB27AH8) on October 12, 2008. Along with the Travel Bug, Garriott hid a geocache on the station in locker 218 of the Russian segment of the station. He placed the Travel Bug on the exterior of the cache. The Travel Bug was picked up by Astronaut Michael Barratt and brought back to Earth two years and eight months later.

Trip by Richard Mastracchio

thumb|Mastracchio’s Travel Bug next to an [[Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) in the airlock of the International Space Station.]]

thumb|Mastracchio’s Travel Bug with the hitchhikers in front of the panel that houses the space station’s geocache

Astronaut Richard Mastracchio traveled to the International Space Station with a Travel Bug (TB5JJN1) on November 6, 2013 during Expedition 38. The event was organized by geocacher Robert Cizaukas (geocaching name Cizzors) and sponsored by the Waterbury Police Activity League. The Travel Bug was given to Mastracchio in September by a 5th grade class at Chase Elementary School in Waterbury, Connecticut as a way to teach them and 11 other schools in Waterbury about space travel. The Travel Bug had 11 hitchhiker tags labeled "EXP 38" attached to it, representing the schools participating in the event. The Travel Bug was in space for six months until the return flight on May 13, 2014. During the trip, Mastracchio was first to find (FTF) Garriott's cache. His online log writes:

Other Aspects

Travel Bug hotels

thumb|A Travel Bug hotel located in [[California, United States]]

Travel Bug hotels are geocaches made specifically to house Travel Bugs and other trackable items. They serve as a point for trackables to be picked up and dropped off. Owners of these geocaches often make a unique theme for the hotel, add decorations, or make dioramas or scenes within the cache.

Travel Bug racing

Travel Bugs can be used in Travel Bug racing, in which a group of geocachers release bugs on the same day with the objective of either traveling the longest distance or to score points by completing specific objectives.

Trackable tattoos

thumb|A Geocaching trackable tattoo. The design features the icon for a trackable tattoo with the tracking number below

Some geocachers have "made themselves trackable" by getting a tattoo of a tracking number. Groundspeak offers a unique trackable icon to people who have a trackable tattoo, first requiring the geocacher to email an image of the tattoo to Groundspeak before the icon can be changed. Since 2020, there have been over 700 geocachers who have a trackable tattoo.

References

;Specific

;General

  • https://www.geocaching.com/track/
  • Trackable Database, a user made directory of trackables
  • TB Hotels of America (5 Bug Hotels) Facebook Page

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