What constitutes a traveling call? If the player is set and make a hopping motion before she or he passes the ball is that a travel?

Yes, travelling. Think in these terms, if a player jumps and lands before passing is it travelling? Of course. If they release the pass before coming back to the floor it is a legal play. If you have access to a rule book rule 4-43 in the rule book is pretty clear. The casebook is even better.

It's really fairly simple. In a non-dribbling situation, it is NOT a travel until a player lifts their pivot foot AND returns it to the floor OR slides their pivot floot along the floor (sort of the same thing)

On a dribble, the ball must be out of the hand to inititate a dribble before the pivot foot is lifted.