Many Girl Scout troops spend several years working toward a “Big Trip.”
Often it is to one of the World Centers, located in London, Switzerland, Mexico, and India. Perhaps the destination is New York City, Washington DC, or Savannah, Georgia.
The Trip guides badgework, fundraising, camping and field trips that gradually build skills and cooperative behavior.

For the troop leaders, excitement is tempered by anxiety. How do you take twenty or so girls to the other side of the country; or the world?
(Plus, Girl Scout regulations specify that you must bring home the same number of girls that departed with you. Same number, I suppose you could swap some girls. Or at least threaten to.)
But relax, other volunteers and staff members will help you prepare the girls and yourself. At one time, trip plans had to be approved by the local Girl Scout council.
The Big Trip will make memories that last a lifetime, most of them good!
So, in a belated nod to Leader Appreciation Day, here is 1955 poem composed by a New York leader who took 64 seventh graders on a three-day trip to Washington, DC. And she survived!
Washington 1955 (Leaders’ Ditty)
Washington when Spring is here, to some may seem to be
A gay time, a play time, a time that’s fancy free.
With the blossoms and the buildings and the beauty of the city
To wander o’er and ponder o’er; and it really seems a pity
Or so you’d think, to have to steer wherever you may go
A gaggle of, or straggle of, Girl Scouts both fast and slow.
How very wrong such thoughts would be, the girls add to the fun,
But have no doubts, 64 Girl Scouts can keep you on the run.
They lose their buddies, sing strange songs and roam far and near
And history is a mystery to most of them I fear.

They stroll around Mount Vernon, while you revel in it too,
The FBI stands way high in their list of things to view.
Memorials and monuments and museums, where they see
Two-headed babies, gems of rubies – strange things you will agree.
But those they rank as equal to the homes of famous men,
Or the Capitol. They lap it all up – want to go again.
But see these green-clad forms stand still when the Guard is changing o’er
Way, that’s a sound of girls you’re proud of, now and evermore.
And though they give you headaches, if you’re honest, you must say
You’re glad you went, not sad you went, and you loved just every day.

