THE TRAIN TRIP THIS YEAR INCLUDES AN OVERNIGHT STAY IN SANTA MONICA!!
Are your girls excited about travel? Are you looking for the “next step” for them or an inexpensive “practice trip” before you take a domestic trip to San Francisco, Boston or Washington DC? This is the TRAVEL ADVENTURE for you!! Limited to 60 travelers. Juniors and up.
THE DATE: TBA
THE COST: only $110 per person (includes round trip train from San Diego to LA on Amtrak and overnight in Santa Monica with free breakfast. Custom patches are available for $2 each). I will email all the troops who signed up at the service unit meeting on my interest sheet first but will start a wait list in case we have any cancellations after the deadline. Train Trip Registration Form
THE GOAL: The goal of this trip is to give your girls some experience planning a trip, budgeting and taking public transportation together. Try to spend a few meetings figuring out what you’d like to do, where you’d like to eat and how to get there and back from Los Angeles Union Station at 800 North Alameda Street in the given time, using public transportation. Have each girl help plan part of the trip so everyone gets to lead at some point. You’ll get great experience that will help you as you plan other troop travel. You can go on this trip at any time but you’ll save money by going with the group!
WHO SHOULD COME? My preference is to fill the trip with 5 or 6 troops, it’s not supposed to be a mom and me event. I’d really like to keep this to safetywise adults plus 1 if you like (for covid backup).
DISCLAIMERS Sorry, no refunds after the deadline (I will be paying for tickets and hostel ahead of time and reservations are non-refundable although I’m happy to give you a refund if we can fill the spot.) We will travel in groups of 10 from San Diego to LA and back so we must travel as a group. If you go home early or miss the train you’ll be responsible for purchasing your own train tickets. We will be breaking into groups of 8-10 to fill the dorm rooms in Santa Monica so troops may need to split up to fill the different rooms. We will be sleeping in single bed bunk beds. There will be 2 adults or no adults in each room and you won’t necessarily be with your 2nd adult or with your troop (I will make sure that each girl can be with a buddy though). The bathroom will be in the hall, not in your room. Besides the cost for travel and lodging you will need to add in costs for parking in San Diego (unless you get dropped off or take the rapid bus 225 from Chula Vista!), meals and your activities. You will plan those activities and places to eat yourself so you can set your own budget (that’s part of the fun of this trip!) Please let me know if you have any questions!
Here are some photos from past trips!
THE PLAN: We will meet at the Downtown San Diego Santa Fe Train Depot at 6:30 am, check in with Deb Lechner. We leave from Santa Fe Depot at 7:01 am on the 565 Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and arrive in Union Station at 9:57 am .
You will have the day to explore in LA, or go right to Santa Monica on the NEW light rail/bus line (plan travel at https://www.metro.net/riding/trip-planner/) and plan a day by the ocean. We will be spending the night at the beautiful (Hostelling International) HI Santa Monica Hostel (1436 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401), just 2 blocks from the ocean and the Santa Monica Pier!
- Free breakfast
- Free Wifi
- Free tours and activities (I’m going to try to arrange a movie and popcorn in the evening or a session of World Travel 101)
- Free pool table
- Kitchen where you can cook your own dinner or prepare brown bag lunches
- Private outdoor courtyard
- 8-10 person all Girl Scout dorm rooms with bunk beds, shared bathrooms in the hall
Just 2 blocks from the beach on LA’s trendy West Side, HI Los Angeles Santa Monica hostel is the perfect spot for living the California dream. Sunbathe in our courtyard or surf the nearby Pacific; spend an afternoon or evening at the famous Santa Monica Pier; bike to nearby Venice Beach; or just spend your time discovering the shops & cafes all around the hostel. Our super-friendly staff will help you make the most of your time in Santa Monica and explore the rest of LA, with awesome local tips and regular walking tours, movie nights, and more. Come stay with friends you’ve never met at HI Los Angeles Santa Monica and see what the California lifestyle is all about!
Start your day off with our à la carte breakfast served daily from 7:30 – 10:30 a.m. Our vending area and self-service kitchen make dining easy, and you can easily check your email and access the internet in our high-speed internet room. Bring your own device? Enjoy the convenience of free high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the building. Public transportation is located just outside our front door, as well as fully escorted tours that take you to every Los Angeles tourist destination (for a small fee).
HI Los Angeles Santa Monica’s kitchen has all of the equipment groups need to cook (stoves, cutlery, pots, pans, olive oil, etc). There are large fridges where groups can leave their food (we ask they label it with the group name and check-out date). There is table space for the group to make bagged lunches before leaving for the day. There is a supermarket in walking distance.
Coming home on Sunday we will gather at the Downtown Los Angeles Union Station at 2:30 pm to check in with Deb Lechner. Returning we catch Amtrak Pacific Surfliner #580 from Los Angeles Union Station at 3:01 pm arriving at Santa Fe Depot in Downtown San Diego at 6:04 pm.
THE PROGRAM: There are so many fun things you can do in LA! Program options might include – Journeys, college or career emphasis or just go for the fun of exploring…there are lots of great possibilities! You will plan your itinerary for the day by troop, we will only be traveling together as a group on the train and staying together at the hostel. Some ideas might be:
1) Bike riding in Santa Monica along the beach to Venice and back. You can rent a bike near the hostel. (Be sure they have helmets and look at safety checkpoints & liability insurance!)
2) Head to Pacific Palisades to hike Temescal Canyon and enjoy the views overlooking the city and the coast (if we’ve had rain you might see the waterfall!) Bring water, snacks, and sunscreen, and wear comfortable shoes. The information desk at the hostel can tell you how to get there, you take Bus #9 from near the hostel to the gateway to the hike.
3) Explore Santa Monica and West LA! Visit the beautiful Getty Art Museum or LA County Museum of Art for a family program combine an art museum with a walking tour to find some of the fun “street art” murals in Santa Monica, Venice and downtown LA! Or explore some of the wonderful parks in Santa Monica. Here are 100 FREE things to do in Santa Monica. There was a cool museum/shop called Angel’s Attic that had a beautiful collection of old dolls and doll houses and they served high tea in the afternoon. I heard that they were relocating to Heritage Square. It would be a fun place to go. This gem and minerals shop has all kinds of cool rocks, fossils and crystals.
4) Tour UCLA and sit in on a college sporting event. Connect with some former Sunnytrails girl scouts who are going to college there! Take a campus tour and eat in one of the dining halls.
5) Explore historic Olvera Street with its Mexican imports and delicious food. Day of the Dead is this weekend and there are always fun performances and activities around the square.
6) Lots of girls enjoy exploring the Fashion District in LA, a 90 block area that caters to wholesale buyers but is open for retail on Saturdays. Learn about careers in fashion at FIDM (Fashion Institute Design and Merchandising) Then spend a few hours at the Fashion District hunting down bargains! High School girls might like to shop in the prom dress section of the district for a winter formal dress. Santee Alley offers cheap nail polish, sunglasses, t-shirts and cell phone covers! Check out the map of the district and info about shopping there.
7) It’s Your World – Change it! (Science and Technology: visit the world famous La Brea Tar Pits or see the Space Shuttle Endeavor at the California Science Center or see a fascinating new dinosaur hall at the LA Natural History Museum.)
8) It’s Your Planet – Love it! (Practical Life Skills: Sow What Journey – Learn about Urban Gardens at the Natural History Museum. Find some neighborhood gardens in the city to visit. Visit a Farmer’s Market like the Grand Central Market. ) Talk to a chef about where she gets food for the restaurant.
9) It’s Your Story – Tell it! (Adventure: explore Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Little Italy
and Olvera Street try some exotic foods and experience other cultures. The Japanese American National Museum, offers cooking classes, or a tour with a docent who can share a WWII incarceration experience, learn origami in a crafts class. The Italian American Museum offers an interesting perspective about the wineries and farms that were in Southern California and the people of Italian heritage who helped to develop the area. Admission is free and it’s open from 10-3pm on Saturdays. It’s located between Olvera Street and Chinatown.)
10) College Exploration (seniors or ambassadors- visit one of the colleges in the LA area, get a tour, eat lunch on campus, meet a Girl Scout who attends: USC or CSULA or UCLA. Find out about the application process.)
11) Chef Career or Cooking Badge (take a cooking class in Los Angeles..try East LA HipCooks or a sushi class at the Japanese American National Museum, visit a big Farmer’s Market..The Grand Central Market in LA is fabulous, visit a Chinese market in Chinatown, try Dim Sum or Korean Barbecue!)
12) Movie Career (interested in working in Hollywood? Learn about careers at USC or FIDM, Visit a production studio, TV studio or game show, arrange to meet a woman director or producer. Go to a show on Saturday afternoon…if the timing works out) (CBS Studios are nearby and they have free tickets to the Price is Right during the week if you make this trip on your own during the week. The Ellen show tapes in Hollywood.)
13) Visit the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Disney Concert Hall. Free tours at 12 and 1:15 p.m. The tour includes architectural highlights and a historical overview of The Music Center. It takes visitors into all four venues, including the Ahmanson Theatre, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, as available.
14) Art Career (arrange to meet one or more artists at the Brewery Art Colony or take a tour and meet a bunch of artists. Maybe one would let you try to create something.)
15) Rose Parade Float (learn about the history of the parade, talk to one of the groups that make them about the plans for the Rose Parade Float, learn how the floats are constructed and come back to volunteer to help in December!) They have Girl Scout groups that work on the dry decorating as early as the weekend we’re visiting in November. Read more about it here.
16) Photo Bug (explore downtown LA through the lens of your camera. See the Fashion District, Chinatown, the big buildings and freeways in a new way. Frame your favorites and have an exhibit when you get back to San Diego. Sell your prints to your family and friends and make some money for your troop! (do a money earning project proposal) Maybe arrange to meet with a professional photographer or visit a gallery or museum in LA
17) Take public transportation to the American Girl Place at the Grove Shopping Center, 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036. There are arts, crafts and reading programs on Saturdays, see if you can get to one. Have a special lunch or tea together. Walk to the Pan Pacific Park to read aloud from one of the books and do a photo shoot together before you take the train back home. Maybe you’ll want to sew something special for your doll to wear on this trip!
18) You’ll probably want to explore the Santa Monica Pier . It’s just 2 blocks walk from the hostel! Here are some fun ideas like a scavenger hunt there! Maybe you can explain to the girls that the food and rides are pretty expensive (Rides and attractions are priced individually and range in price from $5-10) and that it’s a great place to take photos and explore without spending too much money there. Or have them figure out what’s the most you can buy and do for $15 each (you might be able to manage a ride on the carousel, a burger and a scoop of ice cream). The pier is open all the time but some of the businesses may be closed in the winter. At 11am and noon on Saturday and Sunday they have a cool historical walk on the pier, they also have some educational events put on by the Aquarium. It’s magical at sunset when the lights come on. I think you can still get a nice ice cream sundae at the Soda Jerks for $5.
19) Check out the Los Angeles Public Library Patch Program! The Los Angeles Public Library is one of the largest public library systems in the United States. We serve the 3 million people that live in the City of Los Angeles with our 72 Library Branches, Central Library, and 24/7 access through our website, providing free and easy access to information, ideas, books and technology that enrich, educate and empower every individual in our city’s diverse neighborhoods. This patch will educate Scouts about the variety of in-person and online resources LAPL provides, and help them understand the vital roles libraries play in building strong communities.
The Patch Program is now live and posted on the GSGLA website. https://www.girlscoutsla.org/en/about-girl-scouts/our-program/patch-programs.html
20) The Sparrow Mart, 550 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90071, is a shopping mart complete with grocery items hand sewn in felt by British artist, Lucy Sparrow. It took her a year to create 31,000 pieces. In downtown LA.
21) Homeboy Industries offers visits M-F, not on Sat/Sun across from Chinatown. What began in 1988 as a way of improving the lives of former gang members in East Los Angeles has evolved into the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world. Each year we welcome thousands of people through our doors seeking to transform their lives. Whether joining our 18-month employment and re-entry program or seeking discrete services such as tattoo removal or substance abuse resources, our clients are embraced by a community of kinship and offered a variety of free wraparound services to facilitate healing and growth. In addition to serving almost 7,000 members of the immediate Los Angeles community in 2018, our flagship 18-month employment and re-entry program was offered to over 400 men and women.
22) Other Ideas?? (you figure out what you’d like to do! Research it, map it, plan it and DO IT!) Here’s an interesting article from the NY Times called 36 Hours in Los Angeles Here are suggestions from the hostel.
(Email lechner@cox.net if you’d like to visit FIDM, USC or CSULA or a museum with one of the other troops who are going to get a group tour or rate and I’ll help coordinate that!)
THE COST DETAILS: The cost for the round trip Train trip and overnight stay in Santa Monica is $110 per person, due at my house by the deadline in time for me to pay the hostel and Amtrak. You can send me a troop check, made out to “Girl Scout Troop 5283” (my address is 1133 Del Rio Court, Chula Vista, CA 91910) please include this Train-Trip-Registration-Form We need to have at least 20 people signed up to get the group rate, if I don’t get that many by the deadline I will cancel the trip and return your money. I need a list of participants with your payment, you’ll include those on the registration form.
You will have other costs to put in your budget:
Parking – at the Train Station or car pool and drop off for free! OR take the rapid bus 225 or trolley from Chula Vista.
Admission – To museum, program, rent bikes or attend an event. Or plan to explore on your own for free.
Food – Budget for 2 lunches and 1 dinner and some snacks. You may want to eat breakfast bagels or yogurt while we wait for the train in the morning. Chinatown, Olvera Street food vendors are inexpensive options near Union Station for lunch. (Research on Zomato -Urban Spoon or Yelp.) Or bring a brown bag lunch. Have dinner in Santa Monica in the evening. You can cook dinner at the hostel or go out for cheap eats like pizza, tacos, grilled chicken or burgers nearby (tons of options in Santa Monica!) We’ll get free breakfast at the hostel and then you’ll want to eat lunch and get a snack to eat on the train on the way home.
Bus/Subway – A day pass is $7.00 and there is an app for TAP. ( http://www.taptogo.net/ )
PACKING Pack light! An extra shirt, some pajamas and basic toiletries in your backpack are all that you need and you’ll be carrying your bag all day on Saturday and Sunday, so keep it light! Linens, towels and shampoo are provided at the hostel. You can drop your bags at the hostel if you need to on Saturday and leave them at the desk in the morning if you want to stay close on Sunday.
THE PAPERWORK: Please fill out and email the
Train Trip Registration Form ASAP with your payment for the train and insurance. List of Participants one to me (on registration form) one to your in-town contact with emergency contact info (by day of travel)
All Girl Scout forms can be found on the San Diego Girl Scout website
Trip Permission Slip to parents and activity consultant (1 month before)
Activity Approval isn’t necessary (I’ll do one for the group) but you’ll want to do a Safety Management Plan and share that with the other adults
sample itinerary where are you going how will you get there? (one to me one to our activity consultant and your in-town contact, by day of travel)
Girl Health History and Adult Health History (you’ll keep those, collect anytime)
Annual Permission with Permission to give Medications (you’ll keep those, collect anytime)
TRAINING You should have a minimum of two level trained, registered and background checked adults with your troop, one should have first aid/cpr training and have a small first aid kit.
It’s not necessary to take Troop Tripping for this trip, but it’s recommended as you start to travel with your girls (and I’m training it)! Please review the Let’s Go resource and planning guide.
SAFETY: Safety Management – All girls should have a card with adult contact name, troop #, cell number for emergency. Talk through the Safety Management Plan. Where is the nearest hospital? What would you do in an emergency? What if there’s an earthquake? What if someone gets separated from the group? What if someone gets covid? What are other problems you might encounter and how can you be prepared for them?
Basic Field Trip/Camping Safety – Use the buddy system. Pick a meeting point in case you get separated. Plan what to wear & what to take in your purse or daypack. (snack, water, sunscreen, walking shoes, map, matching shirts for the day?, uniforms? etc) Take a buddy when you use the restroom at night.
Good girl scout travel behavior & manners – Stay together, no running or being loud on the train, decide on rules for personal electronic equipment, leave a place cleaner than you found it, say “thank you”, observe the “quiet hours” from 10-7 at the hostel, be sensitive to others’ needs, habits and customs, practice the girl scout law – you’re representing Girl Scouts!
Money Safety – You can’t ask that parents send a certain amount but you may set a limit so girls aren’t carrying large amounts of cash. Discuss limit with parents and girls. Talk about not flashing around your money in public. Use a safety pin to close backpack zippers. Talk about how to hold your purse when you’re in a crowd.
Safety – In LA, as in any big city, you need to know how to be “street smart”: keep your bag safe by wearing it across your body with your hand on it, keep your phone wallet and money out of sight, don’t stare at or flirt with strangers, be aware of your surroundings, cross the street or change direction if you feel threatened by someone, stay with the group and your buddy at all times, watch for traffic and stay on the sidewalks. This is a great opportunity to teach your girls how to conduct themselves in a big city! You will also probably see homeless people up in LA. I hope you can use these encounters as learning moments for safety, compassion, and awareness.
Map
Just to give you an idea of where some of these things are downtown on a map…You’ll take the purple or red line to 7th Street and then take the Blue Line all the way to Santa Monica.
QUESTIONS? contact Debbie Lechner lechner@cox.net or call 619 869-9734