The Traveling Troop
Are you
struggling with girls that aren’t sure if they
want to continue in Girl Scouting because it’s
not cool? Do you have girls that are bored with the
usual troop meeting? Having the girls make some long
range plans for a special trip might be the key to keeping
them interested. It does not have to be a long, expensive
trip to peak their interest; you could plan a trip to
Galveston, San Antonio, or Austin. Those are easily
accessible places and have lots of interesting things
to see and do.
Over the years my troops
have traveled all over the world, but it all started
with local trips to find out about our own community
before we were ready to explore the world. I estimate
that I have traveled over 40,000 miles on Girl Scout
trips. What a way to live!
Every Girl Scout can help
plan a trip. Even the youngest Daisy can have a say
in where the local field trip should be. Brownie Girl
Scouts can plan day trips and trips to camp. Junior
Girl Scouts can expand those boundaries and the oldest
girls can go where their hearts desire.
When planning a trip,
give the girls the options of where to go, and let them
decide. Let them do some research on interesting sites
and activities and let them make the contacts. With
supervised internet use, they can find out all sorts
of things that would be fun to see and do, many of them
free.
The Texas Department of
Transportation has a wonderful State Travel Guide that
has interesting sites for almost every city in Texas
and is a great place to start when planning a trip.
The best part is that this book is free. Go to www.dot.state.tx.us
for more information.
If you are not quite ready
for a road trip, then plan something close to home.
There are interesting
sites all over southeast Texas and most girls have never
seen them. Exploring the local historical markers is
a fun activity. Your local public library should have
a listing of local markers, or you can use your search
engine and type in “historical markers in Texas”
and you will be surprised all that you will find. If
you have the girls use the internet, be sure they are
well supervised.
When your girls are old
enough to plan longer trips, think about taking them
to Savannah, Georgia to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.
It is a real hands on place where they can really get
the excitement of the history of Girl Scouting, and
there are some great activities there. You can access
this information at www.girlscouts.org . There are many
interesting things to do
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while in Savannah and on the way to
and from Georgia. If they are ready for big adventures,
think about taking them to a WAGGGS World Center where
they can meet Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from all over
the world. You can access the information to the World
Centers at www.wagggsworld.org.
Not quite ready for a
trip anywhere? How about scheduling a History Committee
tour of Girl Scouts of San Jacinto building? It is a
lot of fun and you and your girls will both find out
many things you did not know about GSSJC and Girl Scouts
in general.
Remember, when planning
any trip, let the girls do as much of the planning as
possible. Let them research places to go, make some
of the contacts, and decide upon the side trips.
When my troops were planning
trips and deciding where to go, the first thing I would
always tell them was that they needed to find places
that we could go as Girl Scouts that they could not
visit as a family, like the world centers and the Juliette
Gordon Low Birthplace with the special activities there.
Girl Scouts can see and do many things families cannot
do like special tours of local businesses, media outlets,
overnights at museums and zoos, and other cool stuff.
The family can go to Mexico,
but you can take them to a beautiful place in central
Mexico called “Our Cabana,” that is owned
and operated by WAGGGS. The family can go to England,
but Girl Scouts can visit and stay at “Pax Lodge”
in London. The family can visit Switzerland, but Girl
Scouts get to stay in their own chalet at “Our
Chalet” in Adelboden. A family trip to India would
be exciting, but a Girl Scout can stay at “Sangam,”
our World Center in Puna. All of these centers have
links on the www.wagggsworld.org Web site.
Needless to say, I am
big on planning and taking trips with Girl Scouts. There
are so many things you can go see and do, both in your
own hometown and all over the world. Start planning
that trip now and it will keep your girls interested
and involved in Girl Scouting.
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