Girl Scouts encourages girls to try new things and see the world with
fresh eyes, both inside and outside of their usual troop meetings. As
COVID-19-related travel restrictions are lifted across the globe and
you and your troop feel safe doing so, you may be excited to travel
and explore the world as a troop.
Traveling as a Girl Scout is a more engaging experience than
traveling with family, school, or other groups because girls
take the lead. They’ll make important decisions about where to
go, what to do, and take increasing responsibility for the planning of
their trips. During this process, they will also build their
organizational and management skills—skills that will benefit them
throughout their lives.
Girl Scout travel is built on a progression
of activities, so girls are set up for success. Daisies and
Brownies start with field trips and progress to day trips, overnights,
and weekend trips. Juniors can take their adventures farther with
longer regional trips. And Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors can
travel the United States and then the world. There are even
opportunities for older girls to travel independently by joining trips
their council organizes or participating in GSUSA’s travel program, Destinations,
which resumes in 2022.
Planning Troop Adventures
Contact your council as soon as you start thinking about planning a
trip to find out more about their approval process for overnight and
extended travel. They will also likely have training programs that
will raise your confidence as a chaperone.
Complete the GSDSW Trip Training and Trip
and High-Risk Application
Not sure where to begin? Check out the Girl
Scout Guide to U.S. Travel. This resource is designed for
Juniors and older Girl Scouts who want to take extended trips—that is,
longer than a weekend—but also features tips and tools for budding
explorers who are just getting started with field trips and overnights.
Once girls have mastered planning and embarking upon trips in the
United States, they might be ready for a global travel adventure!
Global trips usually take a few years to plan, and the Girl
Scout Global Travel Toolkit can walk you through the entire process.
Safety First
If you’re planning any kind of trip—from a short field trip to an
overseas expedition—the “Trip and Travel” section of Safety
Activity Checkpoints is your go-to resource for safety. Your
council may also have additional resources and approval processes
Complete the GSDSW
Trip Training and Trip
and High-Risk Application. Be sure to follow all the basic
safety guidelines, like the buddy system and first aid requirements,
in addition to the specific guidelines for travel. You’ll also want to
refer to the COVID-19 guidelines in Safety Activity Checkpoints
as well as any COVID-19 guidelines for your destination. You will learn
more about how to use and follow Girl Scouts Safety Activity
Checkpoints in the next section.
Note that extended travel (more than three nights) is not covered
under the basic Girl Scout insurance plan and will require additional coverage.
Travel and Girl Scout Program Connections
It’s easy to connect eye-opening travel opportunities to the
leadership training and skill building your girls are doing in Girl
Scouts! When it’s safe to travel together, girls can use their
creativity to connect any leadership Journey theme into an idea for
travel. For example, girls learn where their food comes from in the
Sow What? Journey. That would connect well with a trip
focusing on sustainable agriculture and sampling tasty foods!
There are abundant opportunities to build real skills through
earning badges too. The most obvious example is the Senior Traveler
badge, but there are plenty more, such as Eco Camper, New Cuisines,
Coding for Good, and, of course, all the financial badges that help
girls budget and earn money for their trips.
Want to include Girl Scout traditions in your trip? Look no farther
than the Juliette Gordon
Low Birthplace in Savannah, Georgia! Your girls also have the
chance to deepen their connections to Girl Scouts around the world by
visiting one of the WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts) World
Centers, which offer low-cost accommodations and special programs
in five locations around the world.
And if your troop is looking to stay closer to home this year? Ask
your council about council-owned camps and other facilities that can
be rented out. Visit www.gsdsw.org/ourcouncil/facilities.11
As your Girl Scouts excitedly plan their next trip, remember to
limit your role to facilitating the girls’ brainstorming and planning,
never doing the work for them. Share your ideas and insights, ask
tough questions when you have to, and support all their decisions with
enthusiasm and encouragement!