Did you just sing that in your head? I have been singing it since the end of February I think when Troop 6458 decided that is where they wanted to go.
Background:
-I run two troops. This troop has been together since they were in elementary school and are now a troop of 5 girls that are in 8th and 9th grade.
-They just completed their Silver Award. They saw a need in their community for mental health and middle schoolers. They did research and put on a mental health workshop for middle schoolers that included a counselor and stations. They also built a website and created a video. You can find it all here at No More Moping, Do More Coping
-Because of Covid- they have still been active, but there was a little more money in their cookie money account to cover this trip.
To prepare for this trip girls did research on different things that they wanted to do while in New York. This was a girl-led, girl-run trip!
There were 5 girls and 3 adults that traveled. I am also first aid, CPR, and lifeguard certified along with all the other training required to travel with girls.
Money
The overall trip cost about $1450 per girl- The troop paid $1250 and the girls paid $200
This Covered:
-Flight
-Hotel
-Metro Pass
-Taxi to and from airport-hotel
-New York Pass
-The Met
-The Rockettes
-Dinner
Breakfast was in the hotel and lunch was on their own.
Block Planning
Our girls chose ALL the things- but Jen (one of the amazing moms) put it all together! Not only did she put it all together she helped us with which Metro Stations.
You can find our schedule here
The green on the block planning means that we have paid for it, or if we don't show up and check in we will be charged for it.
Favorites (remember- these were all researched by the girls on what they wanted to see and do)
After doing research we found that the New York Pass was going to give us the best bang for our buck. Some of the things you could make reservations for are times. The New York Pass covered you unless you didn't show up. If you did not show up and check in then they charged the card on file.
Our favorites were
-Bridging on the Brooklyn Bridge! We had our own bridging ceremony. Girls just kept their vests in their backpacks. I also chose to bring my nice camera with me to grab pictures. I am SO thankful that I did!
-The Rockettes- this was not part of the New York Pass, but we were able to get group rates because we bought an extra ticket (which was still a better rate than regular tickets)
-Seeing New York from the Top of a building during the day and also at Night.
We did Top of the Rock during the day and Empire State Building for the Night
-Rockefeller Center Tour was fantastic!! One of the things I wanted to do was the Today Show.. and it just didn't fit into our schedule and they still had some Covid restrictions (or their website said that) Honestly- after all the walking and how jam-packed our days were I don't know if I would have been able to make it! BUT- we were on our Tour and I looked up and I thought I recognized the back of a head, saw a security guard, and walked a little faster. Sure enough- it was Hoda Kotb I tapped her on her shoulder and said, I am with a Girl Scout troop from Texas, we love you.. can we have a selfie!
-The Catacombs Tour at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral was a great tour and super informative
-The Met had an awesome docent-led tour.
-Of course, we made it to Girl Scout Central!
Things to Know/Ideas/Other Thoughts
-We only took a carry-on and a backpack. We didn't want to take luggage all across New York (Thank you Jen for encouraging this!) These packing cubes from Amazon were a lifesaver
-The metro pass is amazing- We got a 7-day pass. We needed 8 tickets, and that was part of the cost of the trip- however, buying at the actual metro station we could only use one credit card for 2 tickets! Thank goodness I had other adults that could help buy the other tickets.
-Although we are a small group-we still wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to be a buddy. Rather than me choosing buddies for the day- I had an app do it for me! I used the app called Team Shake This way the girls knew it wasn't me making the buddies for the day. Although we traveled together, the buddy system was for when we were walking (we DID NOT walk in buddies- because you don't do that in New York!) but our buddies were close to each other and would always do checks. This was also great for pictures. We encouraged the buddies for the day to be the picture taker for the other one.
-We had the girls come up with their own Code of Conduct. These are things they usually do anyway- but it is a good reminder- because you get tired, cranky.. and hormones! You can find our code of conduct here
-We usually communicate with parents of the troop by using Group Me- but we have also created a Group Me for the girls as well (that parents are in) so they could easily get a hold of us.
-Walk with Purpose- this was the saying that I used the WHOLE time we were in New York! Wear comfortable shoes and be ready to walk (and if you are taking the metro... walk flights of stairs)
-We didn't have very good success with the walking tours that were in our pass. The first one was a Broadway walking tour in Times Square. There was something going on- and the tour guide ended up losing us! The second one that we had signed up for was a SoHo, Little Italy, China Town tour- this one the girls decided they didn't want to walk anymore (and it was also the coldest day!) Both the tours we checked into to ensure our space was covered (and we wouldn't be charged double)
-Food- pizza is easy (and amazing) Juniors was a good place and so was the TickTock Diner. We did have a NICE dinner one evening at Emilio Ballato-it was pricy- but it was AMAZING. Our girls wanted to have one nice evening dinner- and this one did not disappoint. They do not take reservations, and because of the size of our group we were automatically family-style.
There were a few things that we didn't make it to, but there is so much that we did do! On the last day, we took the Metro to Natural History Museum and walked through Central Park to get to the Met. Our feet were tired, we were tired, and it was our last day. My co-leader mentioned to the girls that this was on their list of things they wanted to do. The response back from one of the girls- Yes, this what we chose-but we chose this when we had slept 10 hours the night before, had not walked 7 to 9 miles for the past 3 days, and were eating Panera chocolate crescents as we planned. We all laughed SO hard at this.
I have so many memories that I am going to cherish from this amazing adventure. There are times when I get so sad that I do not have kids of my own, but because of these troops, I am able to have experiences that I would not have otherwise. I am forever grateful that their families trust me to lead them and also go on adventures with them! I know my other troop has Georgia and then overseas in their plans.
I leave you with my favorite picture (and now my profile pic on many of my accounts) that one of the girls took for me... on the steps of the New York Public Library!
