Traveler Information Form (aka: I LOVE Google Forms!)

Google Forms is my new best friend!

Every group leader wants to know as much as possible about their travelers before departure.  It makes for a smoother pre-departure period and tour.  If your travelers are anything like mine, they are super busy during the school year, and I don't get to see them much in the year/two years before our tour.  Instead of taking up everyone's time with lots of paperwork, I created a Traveler Information Form (I know, such an original name), that I have every traveler fill out prior to our first departure meeting.  This really helps me get a grasp on how prepared and experienced my group is, and it also allows me to gently "encourge" them to take some of some important things, like applying for a passport.  




So, as not to keep you in suspense any longer: You can click here to see the live version of this form.  No worries, it is a SAMPLE version, click away.

Here is a run-down of the questions I ask.  Some of them are open-response, others are multiple choice, or an rating scale.

• Traveler Last Name
• Traveler First Name
• E-mail address
• Parent's email address
• Student Cell #
• Parent Cell #
• T-shirt Size
• Pasport Status
• Name (exactly as it appears on passport)
• Passport Expiration Date
• Country of Citizenship 
• Check all of the following...about allergies, dietary issues, etc.
• Rooming Preference
• Travel Related Questions, check all that apply...I've never flown on a plane, I've never traveled by myself, etc.
• On a scale of 1-5 how do you feel about navigating a large airport?
• On a scale of 1-5 how do you feel about your physical abilities for a 12 day tour?
• Have you ever been to ta place where you didn't speak the language?
• What are you most looking forward to?
• What are you most nervous about?
• What questions do you have?

This is all great information to learn about our travelers, and handy to have for reference during the tour planning process.  Just a note about the time line:  For my tour in June, I sent this out the October prior (7 months prior), becuase I wanted to start gathering all of this information before our first meeting in January.  It was really helpful to find out who had a passport, and who had not even applied.

Feel free to love it or lose it!  Google forms is a great tool, if you don't have any experience with it, find someone on your campus who can help.

Do you have any suggestions for questions that I should add to my form?  What would you want to know about your travelers?  I'd love to hear your ideas, share them in the comments!

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