New to the game

[Big Macca]

Howdy all, as the title says im new to caching and i have a quick question in relation to travel bugs and goecoins. are they the same as other cache items and require something of equal value to take them or because they are trackables can u just take and relocate them to another cache? and if they do require a trade what would be an acceptable item to trade with, because dont u have to pay for TB's and geocoins?
thanks
Big Macca

[CraigRat]

Travel bugs and geocoins are not considered swaps, you can take them from any cache without swapping back in.
Just make sure you move them to another GC cache as soon as possible

[Damo.]

Travel bugs and geocoins are meant to travel and are not considered swaps. Feel free to take them from a cache if you can help them on their journey and not put anything in the cache to replace them.
Also feel free to disregard the unreasonable "rules" some put on travel bug hotels (some people call them prisons) which demand you only take a TB if you leave an equal or greater number of TBs etc.

[Big Macca]

thanks for the info guys its a big help

cheers
Big Macca

[solomonfamily]

The only other thing with both bugs and coins is that you need to log them as well.

On the bug you collected there is a tracking number - with that number goto
http://www.geocaching.com/track/
Enter the tracking number
goto to "Add a log entry" and "Retrive from cache XYZ" (you will need to enter the number again ). Type in the log (something like "moving on soon....") - it is now in your inverntory

Then when you drop it into another cache - when you make your log entry be sure to select it on the drop down at the bottom of the log page to register it has been dropped.

And that is that....

I find it fun to watch our coins / bugs move about - many owners love seeing photos with the cachers it meets on the way - I know I do.....

good luck and happy caching.......

[roundcircle]

I think it's also worth mentioning that you should not note the tracking number in your logs. This number enables you to prove you found the coin. If the number is in the log then others could log it as found with our actually finding it.

[Richary]

And to clarify it a bit more, they aren't "swaps". You can't think you like one and decide to keep it. You have 3 choices really.

1) Ignore it and leave it there.

2) Leave it there, note the number, and write a discovered log if for whatever reason you can't move it. It might have a tag that says it only wants to travel east and you know you are only heading west from wherever you are.

3) The usual option. Pick it up and place it in another cache. You may decide to take it home first and see if it has a special mission you can help it with rather than just placing in the next cache you find, or you know you are going on a trip and can help it get some distance up. Generally speaking hanging on to them for a week or two is considered reasonable if you can't get it out there again quicker than that. If for some reason you can't place it again quickly it is considered polite to post a note on the TB page telling the owner why (for example I broke a rib a couple of years ago and bending over to find caches was not high on the priority list for a few weeks).

[Bundyrumandcoke]

Also, GC.com trackables should not go into GCA caches. I still have one in my inventory that was placed into a Tasmanian GCA cache (I thought it was a GC.com cache at the time) back in March. The trackable has a note on the page asking the finder to grab it off me.

Cheers
Bundy