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Travel Bug

Topic: Engineering

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 8 min

Short description: Traveling item used in Geocaching
The front and back of an official Groundspeak Travel Bug
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

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.[1] A Travel Bug can be attached to another item.[2][3] These attached items are called "hitchhikers".[4] The owner then creates a name and a mission for the Travel Bug,[5] such as "to travel as far as possible" or to travel to a specific cache or location.[6][7][8] On Geocaching.com, each Travel Bug has an individual page which tracks its movement and calculates the distance traveled.[9][10][11]

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.[6]

Similar to a Travel Bug, a geocoin is a coin printed with a tracking number, which allows its movement to be logged online.[6]

Origin

The first Travel Bug was released by Jeremy Irish (the co-founder of Groundspeak, the parent company of Geocaching) on August 30, 2001, titled "Deadly Duck: Envy". The Travel Bug was attached to a rubber duck with devil horns. Irish also released six other Travel Bugs all centered around the seven deadly sins, being sloth, pride, gluttony, lust, wrath, and greed. (The greed Travel Bug was placed in a cache that was never published.)[12][13]

Travel Bug Promotions

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.[14]

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.[15] Like the Jeep series, the Unite for Diabetes series was tied to a contest. Specially made geocoins were also created for release in 2007.[16]

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.[17] Along with the Travel Bug, Garriott hid a geocache on the station in locker 218 of the Russian segment of the station.[18][19] 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.[17] The Travel Bug has since been on display at Geocaching Headquarters in Seattle, Washington.[20]

Trip by Richard Mastracchio

Mastracchio’s Travel Bug next to an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) in the airlock of the International Space Station.
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.[21][22] The event was organized by geocacher Robert Cizaukas (geocaching name Cizzors) and sponsored by the Waterbury Police Activity League.[23][24] 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.[25][24][26][27] The Travel Bug had 11 hitchhiker tags labeled "EXP 38" attached to it,[28] representing the schools participating in the event.[23][27] Groundspeak allowed geocachers to host events on the launch date to celebrate, and anyone who attended got a digital souvenir for the event.[25][29] The Travel Bug was in space for six months until the return flight on May 13, 2014.[30] During the trip, Mastracchio was first to find (FTF) Garriott's cache.[31] His online log writes:[32]

"The geo space bug (TB5JJN1) has made it to the Russian Service Module, panel 218. He traveled from Waterbury, CT to Houston, TX to Cologne, Germany to Moscow, Star City Russia, to Baikonur Kazakhstan where it launched on a Russian Soyuz Rocket to the International Space Station. He has traveled around the space station and will continue to do so for the next 6 months. When he is not traveling he will be staying with me in my very small crew quarters. He hangs/floats on my wall and waits for more adventures while I do research and perform experiments here on ISS. Thanks for getting this little guy started Cizzors. Every journey starts with the first step and you took the first step of this one.”

— Richard Mastracchio

Other Aspects

Travel Bug hotels

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.[11][33][34] Owners of these geocaches often make a unique theme for the hotel, add decorations, or make dioramas or scenes within the cache.[35]

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.[8][36]

Trackable tattoos

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.[37] 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.[38] Since 2020, there have been over 700 geocachers who have a trackable tattoo.[39]

References

Specific
  1. ↑ Atkinson, Bobby (2014-06-16). "Geocaching: Treasure hunts in the Treasure Valley" (in en). https://www.idahopress.com/front/geocaching-treasure-hunts-in-the-treasure-valley/article_9b981c8e-f50a-11e3-a58d-001a4bcf887a.html. 
  2. ↑ Marsh (2011): p. 87
  3. ↑ "Treasure hunting for the masses" (in en). 2008-01-15. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22670975. 
  4. ↑ McNamara, Joel (2008). GPS for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-470-15623-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=Hbz4LYIrvuMC&dq=travel+bug+hitchhiker&pg=PA170. 
  5. ↑ Neustaedter, Carman (10–15 April 2010) (in en). The role of community and groupware in geocache creation and maintenance. pp. 1757–1766. doi:10.1145/1753326.1753590. ISBN 978-1-60558-929-9. https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/1753326.1753590. Retrieved 2026-05-04. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Marsh (2011): p. 85
  7. ↑ Taylor, J. Kevin; Kremer, DuAnn; Pebworth, Katherine; Werner, Peter (2010). Geocaching for Schools and Communities. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. pp. 20–22. ISBN 978-0-7360-8331-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=QcnVlRPbaa4C&dq=travel+bug+geocaching&pg=PA20. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Cache and Carry" (in en). 2012-05-01. http://www.oregonwinepress.com/article?articleId=1206. 
  9. ↑ "Travel Bug FAQ". Geocaching.com. http://www.geocaching.com/track/faq.aspx. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
  10. ↑ Gazette, St. Albert’s (2015-09-12). "The world's largest treasure hunt" (in en). https://www.stalbertgazette.com/local-news/the-worlds-largest-treasure-hunt-1290055. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ihamäki, Pirita; Heljakka, Katriina (2020). ""Toys Traveling through Geocaching: Mobile, Social and Hybrid Values of Play"". DiGra 2020: 3. https://www.utupub.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/830cd37b-683e-4edf-93f7-87e4e8776bee/content. 
  12. ↑ "Milestones – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2017-03-29. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/tag/milestones/. 
  13. ↑ "Enter the HQ Duck Dash: A Global Trackable Race – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2016-06-16. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2016/06/enter-the-hq-duck-dash-a-global-trackable-race/. 
  14. ↑ "The Jeep® Travel Bug". http://jeep.geocaching.com/. 
  15. ↑ "Unite for Diabetes - The Unite for Diabetes Travel Bug Challenge" (in en). https://unite.geocaching.com/. 
  16. ↑ "Unite for Diabetes - The first World Diabetes Day" (in en). https://unite.geocaching.com/. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Travel Bug with 350 Million Miles to Return to Earth – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2011-02-24. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2011/02/travel-bug-with-311-million-miles-might-return-to-earth/. 
  18. ↑ Johnson, Beth (2021-04-23). "Random Space Fact: Geocaching on the ISS" (in en-US). https://cosmoquest.org/x/2021/04/random-space-fact-geocaching-on-the-iss/. 
  19. ↑ Garriott, Richard. International Space Station (GC1BE91) - Log GL4JTYNM The log states: "I left this Travel Bug in locker #218 in the Russian segment of the ISS." Retrieved 2026-5-14
  20. ↑ "Geocaching Headquarters (GCK25B): Been There, Logged That. – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2014-07-09. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2014/07/geocaching-headquarters-gck25b-been-there-logged-that/. 
  21. ↑ "Astronaut taking treasure-hunt 'travel bug' to space station | collectSPACE". http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-110613a.html. 
  22. ↑ Seidman, Lon (2013-10-15). "Waterbury Astronaut Rick Mastracchio Carrying Geocaching Tags for Elementary Students" (in en-US). https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2013/10/14/waterbury_astronaut_rick_mastracchio_carrying_geocaching_tags_for_elementar/. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN, Brynn Mandel. "Connecticut native takes geocaching 'travel bug' into space" (in en-US). https://www.telegram.com/story/news/state/2013/11/10/connecticut-native-takes-geocaching-travel/41942518007/. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Track a Travel Bug in Space – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2013-10-20. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2013/10/track-a-travel-bug-in-space/. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Astronaut taking treasure-hunt 'travel bug' to space station". http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-110613a-astronaut-treasure-hunt-travel-bug-geocache-space-station.html. 
  26. ↑ "Treasure hunts along the road" (in en-US). https://icl.coop/treasure-hunts-along-road/. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Waterbury PAL Launches International Space Station Program with Waterbury Students". https://www.waterburyct.org/local-news/?FeedID=1210. 
  28. ↑ "Behind the Scenes: My Travel Bug®’s Mission to Space – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2013-10-16. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2013/10/behind-the-scenes-my-travel-bugs-mission-to-space/. 
  29. ↑ "Geocaching in Space Event Center – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2013-10-07. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2013/10/how-to-make-your-space-event-the-best-of-the-universe/. 
  30. ↑ "A Geocaching Return From Space After 75,000,000 Miles – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2014-05-13. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2014/05/a-geocaching-return-from-space/. 
  31. ↑ "The First Geocaching First-to-Find in Space – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2013-11-18. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2013/11/the-first-geocaching-first-to-find-in-space/. 
  32. ↑ Mastracchio, Richard International Space Station (GC1BE91) - Log GLCRWXTW Retrieved 2026-5-14
  33. ↑ "Geocache adventure game - Travel Bug Hotels" (in en). https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/geocaching-game. 
  34. ↑ Gillin, Paul; Gillin, Dana (2010-04-01) (in en). The Joy of Geocaching: How to Find Health, Happiness and Creative Energy Through a Worldwide Treasure Hunt. Linden Publishing. pp. 234. ISBN 978-1-61035-106-5. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Joy_of_Geocaching/cT1KR6oZX9MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22travel+bug%22+%22hotel%22+geocaching&pg=PA234&printsec=frontcover. 
  35. ↑ "Creative caches: TB hotels – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2022-10-31. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2022/10/creative-caches-tb-hotels/. 
  36. ↑ "Geocaching Travel Bug Races". tb-run.com. http://www.tb-run.com/. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
  37. ↑ "Become Trackable on Geocaching.com – Tattoos to Travel Bugs – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2011-09-13. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2011/09/become-trackable-on-geocaching-com/. 
  38. ↑ "Trackable Tattoos – Never Lost – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2012-09-23. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2012/09/trackable-tattoos-never-lost/. 
  39. ↑ "Trackable Tips and Tricks – Official Blog" (in en-US). 2020-03-10. https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2020/03/trackable-tips-and-tricks/. 
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