The Travelers of the 70's were Panasonic. Mid 80's they could be Giant. If it has the investment lugs it is well worth keeping but stamped lugs....ehhh
You need to decide what are wants and what are needs.
The bike would make a good credit card touring bike but not such a good fully loaded unsupported touring bike. It is a sport frame with short chain stays not conducive to large panniers or a lot of weight. It would be best set up in a Randonneur style with a handle bar bag and a seat bag.
A Triple I can see as being a need but as I recall from the 86 Traveler I had it had a 14-30 Suntour Freehub on the back so you are going to need to make sure you have a derailleur that can handle a 32 and 28 or so on the crank. Once Shimano perfected the Cassets things went from 52/42 cranks pushing 14-32 Free hubs on sport bikes to 52/39 (or now 50/34 is really common) with 11/26 or 12/28 Cassettes. If you look at the actual gear range they are pretty close. You start mixing 11/30 with 52/42/28 cranks You need some odd derailleurs. You are going to have to start dropping crank ring size to stay in the limits of most derailleurs.
For a distance bike you are not looking for speed as much as pace. THe 9 and 10 speed cassettes are more about staying in that sweet spot at higher speeds and cadence.
9speed STI is a want. Yes it is nice to have a nice close ratio shifts but a well set up halfstep you still have that but you are going to have it at a moderate sustainable pace.
Don't let the bike shop talk you into thinking you need parts when what you have is fine if you are looking for long solo rides and the occassional Fund raising Century. While what that bike came with is not top of the line it is functional.
On the open market it is going to be a $150 bike stock (thats what I sold mine for). With $500+ worth of upgrades it is going to be a $250 bike. Keep that in sight. The reason is the frame is really nothing special and 2-3 years $100 is what used brifters go for (I have bought 3 sets at that price now). Not saying don't do it just putting it into perspective that you are doing as a want and you will not get the cash back out of that upgrade if (more likely when) you decide next year you want to get a different bike..
My current toy is a 80 Raleigh (I think, might be a honest to god Carlton custom build) 531 frame with Campy drops with a 600Arbesqe RD High flange record hubs and Suntour power shifts on 27 inch white walls. It rides great! Every bit as enjoyable my C-Dale T700's (I have two) that has modern 9speed STI Brifters.
I found it on CL for $50. It is every bit as reliable as my newer bikes with modern drivetrain. Maybe more so as one set of brifters on my 95 is jamming and flushing them out is not fixing it. The 30+ year old Power shifts still working fine as is the Suntour Symetrics on my 84 Lotus and the Suntours on my 84 Fuji TIII. The brifters will shortly be replaced with Bar Cons on that bike. Simple desgne wins in the long run with that fancy STI stuff.
If it was my bike here is how I would build it.
Run the stock wheels till they fail. Then decide if just to throw a sent of CR18 rims on the stock hubs or go to something like 105 hub with CR18 or maybes omehting like the VO 105 wheel sets.
http://www.velo-orange.com/rihuandotwhc.html
CR18 are good bang for the buck if you decide to build on your hubs. You can often pick up a set of loose NEW rims on ebay for $40-50 for the pair. Both my T700 now wear them.
Shimano 105 long rear Derailleur and stick with the stock friction shifters till the wheels fail. Then make the decision to go indexed if you upgrade to modern cassette. If you look you can get 9 speed stuff cheap because the "Latest and greatest" are buying 10 speed.
Tires...You really cant beat Pannaracer Passela TG and they are available in 27's. Still plenty of choices in 27 if you look. 700x32 is comparable size to the 27x1-1/4 the likely came with and should clear no problem.
Schwinn catalogs if you are interested.
http://www.trfindley.com/pg_schwinn_cats.htm
