My first virtual trip online brought me to New York City with the clear goal of unlocking a good number of Foursquare badges – 10 in that instance. I’ve since accomplished 4 other such online expeditions; in Chicago, in Pennsylvania, California and a second in NYC – each for the primary purpose of unlocking many Foursquare badges.

This particular trip isn’t only in NYC, but extends to Washington D.C. More and more Foursquare is better known and used. It’s experiencing serious growing pains this fall, the likes of which Twitter can relate to. On a few occasions this social network has encountered extended down time to upgrade servers and its service to meet rapidly growing demand. As more and more users get on board, more and more merchants and organisations are discovering how to use Foursquare to get their brands out there through simple tips, badges, scavenger hunts, gifts and specials

On this there I’ve set my eyes on a few badges: Gossip Girl, IFC, GYT, MTV Moonman, People VIP, People HotSpot, Great Outdoors and Swimmies.

Here are the 14 badges I’ve unlocked in September 2010 (through numerous mini-incursions)! :

• GYT: you need 1 check-in at any STD testing facility and shouting out GYT to earn it – promoted by MTV.
• Millionaire Matchmaker Badge of Love: you need 5 checkins in venues specified by Bravo and tagged “singles spot”
• Swimmies: 5 checkins to any venue tagged with a water related keyword such as “pool”, “lake”, “ocean”, “pond”, “beach”…
• Great Outdoors: 1 checkin to any venue tagged park
  • Note that many venues may be tagged both park and beach so checkins can count towards 2 badges at once.
• People Hot Spot: 5 checkins to venues identified by People Magazine where stars hang out.
• MTV Moonman: 5 checkins identified by MTV as great music venues. This special badge is attached to a contest promoting the 2010 MTV Video Awards.
• People VIP: 5 checkins to venues tagged PeopleMag.
• Just Desserts: make 1 checkin to a venue identified by Bravo as offering a free desert on September 15th only.
• Redskins Nation: make 1 checkin at FedExField in Landover near Washington D.C. on game day to unlock this badge.
• Healthy Eater: make 1 checkin to venues identified by CNN as offering healthy or natural ingredients like a public or farmer’s market, also includes some healthy restaurants.
• Comic Con Super Fan: make 2 checkins to real life venues where comic book heroes have been to (in comics of course). Venues are identified by Graphic.ly and include tips such as “Brooklyn Bridge” where scenes of Spider-Man were filmed.
• A-Lister: you need 2 checkins to venues identified by The A List as gay bars.
• Top Chef: 3 checkins to venues identified by Bravo as high end restaurants.
• Green Lantern: make one checkin at Comic Con New York and another at the DC Comics booth to earn this one – only during Comic Con.

I invite you to consult my other virtual trip posts from New York and Chicago, as well as to learn more about  Foursquare; how it works, available resources, its numerous usage stats,) and to become my friend on Foursquare.