Geocaching HQ Lackeys attend dozens of Mega and Giga-Events around the world, shaking hands, sharing stories of adventure, and of course, geocaching! Jen Pan is a Senior Full Stack Developer. She recently traveled to Dresden, Germany to attend the Lesen-Leihen-Loggen Mega-Event (GCAB00K). Here is her trip summary.

The Mega-Event took place the weekend of August 10th at the Main Library of Dresden within the Kulturpalast—very centrally located—within walking distance of many historic sites and buildings. It was a very fun (and alliteration-filled) weekend!

I happened to get there a few days in advance of the Mega and was able to attend a pre-pre-Mega-Event, a tongue-in-cheek event in anticipation of all that was to come for the weekend where I got the chance to briefly meet some local geocachers—a good way to start of my time in the area.

For geocachers who were able to get in on Friday, the official pre-event, Vorfreude – Vortrag – Vorevent, was an excellent chance to enjoy time meeting others and explore around the library. I had the chance to attend the first ever Dresden Geo Slam, where I tried to follow along to the best of my German abilities, with interesting geocaching stories as shared by three presenting groups.

The actual Mega, Lesen – Leihen – Loggen, was a very packed day that highlighted so many different things. Consistent throughout all the Mega-related Events, the logbook was a gigantic custom-made book, very fitting for a Mega held at a library. There were assorted games and activities designed especially for children, including outdoor games, geocache story time, face painting, and others. And for all ages, library tours, opportunities to participate in an interactive reading of the book Sein letzter Cache, a session to meet me and a group of reviewers, opportunities to make LED name tags, custom buttons, etc.—there were so many choices of things to do! Not to mention the specially-published Adventure for the Mega itself which creatively incorporated elements of the library and encouraged participants to meet the team that helped make this Mega a success.

And that’s only the main Mega! In the evening, the Neonlicht – Nachtleben – Nach(t)event gathering was held at a local landmark I had been intending to visit and finally did—the Golden Horseman held a special sheen in the night lighting. It was great fun to partake of the energy and also get to explain to non-cachers why there was a large gathering in front of the statue—this was the only Mega-related event where the logbook was NOT in the form of a book.

After the late night, the weekend was capped off with a CITO a little further away from the main event. I discovered later that the hill I walked past to get to the CITO is one of several hills created from rubble resulting from bombing during World War II—that was a little sobering. It felt good to be able to contribute to city cleanup and have one last chance to spend time with fellow geocachers.

Many thanks to the organizing team and volunteers for making this Event such a success!