Take a guided Ireland tour with an expert

About Rising Road Tours

Samuel L. Couch (Sam) is your tour guide, host, and owner of Rising Road Tours. Sam has spent much of his life traveling the world, and has traveled throughout Ireland at least once every year for the past twenty years. His first-hand experience and knowledge of the Emerald Isle is what makes his Ireland tours special.

Sam Couch at Donegal Castle, Co. Donegal Couch has been leading students, friends, and small group tours to Ireland since 1984. His expertise in things Celtic developed through the years as he pursued studies in Irish literature, archaeology, language, geography, and traditional Irish culture. For the past decade, he has directed Summer Study Abroad and Irish Studies programs at Georgia colleges and universities. These pursuits led to over thirty trips to Ireland in the past decade during which Couch shared his passion for and knowledge of the Green Island with students, friends, and small tour groups.

His first international adventure was as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal during the early 1970's. This experience began a journey that led Couch to study and visit world cultures and instilled the desire to share these remarkable experiences with others.

On the academic front, he holds degrees in theatre (B. A.), humanities (M. A.), and cultural geography (Ph.D.). Other academic pursuits led to post-graduate studies in historical archaeology, comparative anthropology, and geographic education. Couch serves on the board of Fill the Gaps, a philanthropic organization he helped found to bring relief and establish self-sufficiency among Sri Lankan people whose lives were devastated by the December 26, 2004 tsunami. This venture was the outgrowth of tsunami-relief work Couch conducted during February 2005.

In addition, Dr. Couch has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and throughout the fifty United States. His hope is to share awareness of other cultures so that all of us can achieve a level of understanding and knowledge that allows each of us to become better-informed citizens of the world.

Rising Road Tours
828-648-8893 (Tel) ~ 888-648-8893 (Toll-free) ~ 828-648-8895 (Fax)
sam@risingroadtours.com

28 Newfound Street, Canton, North Carolina 28716 USA