A Travel Bug is a

dog tag Dog tag is an informal but common term for a specific type of identification tag worn by military personnel. The tags' primary use is for the identification of casualties; they have information about the individual written on them, including ...

used in

Geocaching Geocaching (, ) is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called ''geocaches'' or ''caches'', at sp ...

. Produced by Groundspeak, the bugs can be moved from cache to cache, with unique tracking numbers allowing their movements to be tracked through the company's geocaching website. Some tags are fastened to an object, known as a "hitchhiker", before they are released into a cache. Travel bugs have been used as advertising to promote

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

or to increase

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

awareness. A free service known as Geokrety is also available but this is not affiliated to Groundspeak.

Description

A travel bug is an item which is trackable which looks similar to a

. The tag is stamped with a tracking number and the Geocaching.com 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. Marsh (2011): p. 87 These attached items are called "hitchhikers". During the registration of the bug on the website, the owner may create an 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. On Geocaching.com, each travel bug has an individual page which tracks its movement and calculates the distance travelled. 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. Marsh (2011): p. 85 Travel bugs have been promoted for their use in education, and also in

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

. 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. Similar to a travel bug, a geocoin is a coin printed with a tracking number, to allow its movement to be logged online. 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). A different travel bug icon is available should someone have a travel bug tattoo with a trackable number.

Promotional Travel Bugs

Each year from 2004 to 2007,

had sponsored a contest, the Jeep 4×4 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 was 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. An advertising campaign promoting the travel bugs with adverts in such magazines as ''

Women's Health Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Often treated ...

''. Each year, the Jeep travel bugs have followed a different naming convention. The first series of yellow Jeeps were simply numbered, and the 2005 white Jeeps were given first names. 2006 Jeeps were named after different peaks in the United States, and 2007 Jeeps were named after different rivers in the United States. In late 2006, to promote

awareness and to gather support for a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

resolution, the

International Diabetes Federation The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organisation of over 240 national diabetes associations in more than 161 countries and territories. It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Organization IDF is divided into seven reg ...

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 bug is assigned to one of 20,000 target cities around the world (for example,

Guben Guben (Polish language, Polish and Sorbian languages, Sorbian: ''Gubin'') is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in Lower Lusatia, in the States of Germany, state of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße Districts of German ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). 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 was tied to a contest. Specially made geocoins were also created for release in 2007.

References

;Specific ;General *

External links

{{Geocaching Geocaching Internet object tracking Outdoor locating games de:Geocaching#Trackables sv:Geocaching#Travel Bug