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About Rising Road Tours - Why We Are DifferentSamuel 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.
We agree with noted humorist Garrison Keillor who observed that people do not travel to America to see freeways, air terminals, and skyscraper jungles. Astute cultural travelers visit to see everyday people engaged in everyday activities in everyday settings. Our goal is to provide such experiences for our tour participants.
Our tours do not spend a lot of time riding in large buses, stopping for twenty minutes at highly visited sites to snap photos and then return to the bus for another two hour ride to the next photo op. We do not stay in fancy hotels. We do not promote large banquets and cultural recreations aimed at large touring groups. We do not try to see twenty cities in five days.
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. Dr. Couch is a member of the Cross and Shamrock Division, Ancient Order of Hibernians - the oldest division in North Carolina. 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 1070 Greencreek Road, Greencreek, ID 83533 U.S.A. Home | About Us | Custom Tours | Testimonials | Articles | Links | Booking & Pricing | Contact Us TOUR DETAILS: A Taste of Ireland | A Taste of Scotland | Celtic Sampler | Ireland North and South | Ireland's Rings | Donegal Southwest by Northeast | Historic Ireland | Saints and Giants | Into the West | Christmas in Ireland | Highland Hill Walking | In The Steps of St. Columba | Birthplaces of Golf | Scotland's Wild North: Shetland and Orkney Isles
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