Appendix: For Travel
Not only do some of the most memorable moments in a Girl Scout’s life happen while taking trips, but
travel also offers a wealth of opportunities for girls to develop leadership skills. This appendix helps you
prepare girls for local, regional, or international travel of any scope and duration.
Traveling with Girls
Girls love trips. And Girl Scouts is a great place for them to learn how to plan and take exciting trips, because
travel is built on a progression of activities—that is, one activity leads to the next. Girl Scout Daisies, for example,
can begin with a discovery walk. As girls grow in their travel skills and experience and can better manage the
planning process, they progress to longer trips. Your Journey adult guide has a lot of other ideas about trips that
bring the Journey to life. Here are some examples of the progression of events and trips in Girl Scouting’s
Ladder of Leadership (as shown) in the adult guide of each Journey: (*Please reference the Travel Progression
Checklist to determine the readiness of the girls.) . Please note that all adults who accompany girls on a
Girl Scout travel trip in a supervisory role must be both registered members and approved
volunteers.
Let's Go! travel training is available at https://gswpa.wufoo.com/forms/gswpa-lets-go-travel-
training/. Training not required for local (within council boundaries) program partner run overnight
events, i.e. Zoo, Children’s Museum, Science Center, etc .
•
Short trips to points of interest in the neighborhood (Daisies and older): A walk to the
nearby garden or a short ride by car or public transportation to the firehouse or courthouse is
a great first step for Daisies. Sample short trip: tour a local Giant Eagle to learn about making
healthy eating choices or to work on the Senior Sow What? Journey; visit the public library to
hear a local children’s author or work on the Junior Agent of Change Power of One Journey
award; a visit to the local pet shop to work on the Junior Habitats badge or Daisy It’s Your
Story, Tell It! Journey; or attending a local school board meeting to work on the Ambassador
Your Voice, Your World Journey.
• Day trip (Daisies and older): An all-day visit to a point of historical or natural interest
(bringing their own lunch) or a day-long trip to a nearby city (stopping at a restaurant for a
meal)—younger girls or girls with less travel experience can select locations and do much of
the trip-planning, while never being too far from home. Sample day trip: Juniors from Mercer
County travels to Fallingwater to work on the Get Moving Journey; a Senior troop from Bedford
County travels to Gettysburg to learn about the role of women in the Civil War; a Brownie troop
from Erie County travels to Niagara Falls to visit the aquarium; a Cadette troop from Allegheny
County travels to Cambria to visit a windmill farm as part of their Breathe Journey; or Daisy
troop from Greensburg travels to Pittsburgh to visit the National Aviary as part of the 5
Flowers, 4 Stories and 3 Cheers for Animals Journey.
• Overnight trips (Daisies and older): One (or possibly two) nights away to a state or national
park, historic city, or nearby city for sightseeing, staying in a hotel, motel, or campground. These
short trips are just long enough to whet their appetites, but not long enough to generate
homesickness. Planning a trip to