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Blue Ridge Tours LLC
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The Blue Review

Christmas with Blue Ridge Tours

12/23/2018

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Blue Ridge Tours had a wonderful Christmas party this year. We celebrated what Christmas is all about by adopting a family in need for the holidays. We were able to provide items such a clothing for the Duncan Family. They are truly deserving of all we could provide. It was an amazing team effort from our employees here at BRT! We can’t thank Bernie Lowry enough for playing the role of Santa! Also we had frosty the snowman and twinkle toes the elf show up! This was truly a memorable experience for all involved. We will definitely be making this a yearly tradition.

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Getting to know - Frands Kristiansen

12/12/2018

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Frands has been a long time employee of Blue Ridge Tours. He is a real asset to our company for many reasons. He is also very cultured as he is originally from Denmark. He has a vast knowledge of our tour destinations and would be a great addition to any Student Tour trip. He is allot of fun and has a great personality. You will not be disappointed working with this true gentleman. 



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Here are a few questions we asked to get to know Frans Better:

​1. What is your favorite tour destination?
Washington DC, New York City, Charleston, Barrier Islands SC.
2. What’s the best memory you have working with Blue Ridge Tours?
When I was told James Brown Elementary School requested me back after our first trip together
3. What is your best travel tip?
Leave room for adjustment in your travel plan
4. What’s your favorite movie?
Lord Of The Rings
5.What’s your favorite dessert?
Citron Fromage
6. What kind of music do you like best?
Blues rock, progressive rock
7. What’s your favorite food?
My wife's cooking
8. What’s your favorite vacation spot?
Coastal wildlife areas
9. How long have you worked at BRT?
Eight years
10. What’s your favorite hobby?
Bird Watching

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Rebecca, Mr. Mac, Frands and Steve in Washington DC
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September 11th

9/11/2018

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As you all wake up this morning and carry on with your day, remember....

Remember these times 8:46, 9:03, 9:37 and 10:03

Remember 2977 total, remember 343 were firefighters, remember 60 were police officers, remember 8 were EMTs

Remember all those that rushed up the stairs while everyone else was running down. Remember all those that found the courage to take back a plane. Remember those who volunteered to serve in Afghanistan, Iraq or other hostile lands and never returned. Remember all the families that will never be the same. And remember that real heroes don't have capes or super powers or jerseys.

And remember they may have wounded us, but they will never break our spirit. They may have scared us, but we will not cower in fear. Remember forever and remain united together.
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Getting to know - Bernie Lowry

9/6/2018

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Professional Photographer - Bernie Lowry

​So as we all know, we don’t always get to see everything that goes on behind the scenes of companies. However we would like to highlight a few because we have some amazing multi talented people here at Blue Ridge Tours, like Bernie Lowry. He is not only an amazing professional photographer that is also one of our top Tour Directors but he also makes our promotional marketing videos and presentations.
It takes hours upon hours to clip and edit these videos. Bernie pays attention to all of the details to promote Blue Ridge Tours professionally.
He also makes numerous collages and banners over the course of the tour season to gift on special occasions to some of the teachers. He does this on his own to add that special touch to the trips he takes. He spends allot of time on the trips taking photographs of the students, teachers and, chaperones enjoying themselves in order for them to relive the memories long after the trips are over. He takes great pride in his job at Blue Ridge Tours and is a very valuable asset to our team.
Bernie is also a retired police officer originally from Baltimore.
He served 42 years on the Baltimore City police force.
He goes the extra mile on every trip ensuring the safety of the students traveling with him.
Everyone that works with or knows Bernie loves him! The kids affectionately call him “Papa Smurf” he is a joy to be around and an invaluable member of our Blue Ridge Tours team. If you haven’t traveled with us before you don’t know what you’re missing out on. You will not only enjoy your trip because we handle everything for you but you will work with the type of quality employees that cannot be matched. Bernie is the perfect example of an employee that gives everything to his job.

The he story of how Bernie got the nickname “Papa Smurf”
“was on a trip to Columbia SC and I was introducing myself to the students and adults when a little girl sitting directly behind me said “sir if your face was blue you would look like PaPa Smurf” so from that trip forward as I introduce myself I tell them the story and give them the option to either call me Bernie or PaPa Smurf and of course they like the PaPa Smurf.”


We asked Bernie 10 Questions so you can get to know him better:

1. What is your favorite tour destination? Washington DC
2. What’s the best memory you have working with Blue Ridge Tours? When I was given the nickname Papa Smurf
3. What is your best travel tip? Just be yourself
4. What’s your favorite movie? Avatar
5. What’s your favorite dessert? Cheesecake
6. What kind of music do you like best?Oldies
7. What’s your favorite food? Seafood
8. What’s your favorite vacation spot? Ireland
9. How long have you worked at BRT? 3 years
10. What’s your favorite hobby? Photography

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Meet Steve Sulligan, the founder and owner of Blue Ridge Tours

8/2/2018

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When he was a young boy growing up in New Jersey, Steve always wanted to be 3 things: a fireman, a policeman, and a bus driver.  He accomplished all of them and more!

Steve became a volunteer EMT with his local fire department while he was still in high school.  He worked along side the fire and rescue crew providing on-site emergency and medical care.  He enjoyed his work and service immensely, but after graduating high school, he decided to continue his education in college and move on to his next goal of becoming a police officer.

After two years of college in New Jersey, Steve moved to Columbia, South Carolina to finish his degree at University of South Carolina.  He graduated from USC in 1980 having already reached his goal of serving as police officer, and he became a South Carolina State Trooper shortly afterwards.

Steve spent 25 years in law enforcement servicing and protecting the citizens of South Carolina.  He also served on the protective detail of many national and state dignitaries, and he was selected as part of the FEMA law enforcement response unit to New York City in the days after September 11, 2001.

Steve is still active in law enforcement, and he makes it a point to meet with police officers wherever he travels.

While serving as a state trooper, Steve decided to fulfill his final dream, and he became a trained and licensed commercial bus driver. But he didn't stop there. Because of his love for New York City and traveling, many of his friends started asking him to help them plan trips to experience and learn about new places. Steve so enjoyed planning the trips, working to find new places to explore, and educating the groups about the history of the different destinations; he opened Blue Ridge Tours in 1988.



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30 years later, Blue Ridge Tours has grown into one of the largest locally-owned educational tour companies in South Carolina.  Steve still drives buses for Blue Ridge Tours' trips and for numerous sports teams in the area.  But, Steve still continues to plan itineraries of fun and educational trips, and he guides many groups to New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
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Certified NYC Tour Guide

8/2/2018

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 As many know the owner of Blue Ridge Tours Steve Sulligan is a licensed New York City guide and as far   as we know, the only such owner of a Tour and travel company in South Carolina to holds that distinction. You ever wonder what it takes to become a licensed tour guide in New York? Well Steve is going to discuss in this blog what he did to receive this distinction.

 New York City is such wide and diverse place, and if not really familiar with it a city that cause confusion and issues and therefore quickly turn a school tour into a nightmare or at minimal a poor experience. New York has so much to offer in educational experiences and I wanted to be able to plan our school itineraries with our teachers to give them a wow experience of the city not just a trip to the city.
 Being born and raised in New Jersey until I was 19 I had a pretty good handle on how to navigate the city , how to get in and out of the city and being in the tour business I wanted to provide a much more thorough experience to trips going to the city and what better way to say you’ve done that than by putting the stamp of approval by the city of New York acknowledging your knowledge and experience of New York.

   As I said I always had a pretty good knowledge of New York ,to this day I read the local New York paper The New York Post, I read any and all stories  about the city plus I take personal trips to the city a few times of the year and explore in my own. New York touring is like peeling an onion back the more you peel back in the city the more interesting things you learn about its culture , food, architecture and transportation , how to ride the Ferry for free among others.

I decided about 2015 I’d formally go to to take the city test , but I allowed 2 months of intensive studying the deeper more involved part of city history, monuments , roads and streets , food in order to successfully pass the 250 question test.. 
  So on my annual July 4th NJ NYC personal trip my wife Donna and I do every year I set the date with The New York City Department of Consumers who regulates and licensed local city guides for the end of June 2015. I felt I was ready but you never know until you sit down with the test how it will go. As I was staying in New Jersey I set aside an entire morning for the test and traveling into the city. It was hot muggy day I had to catch a local bus to go into the Port Authority Bus Terminal the city’s largest bus terminal , then i took a subway to lower Manhattan I then walked several blocks to the Consumer Affairs office. I was worn out before I began. Then had to go through the cities red tape to register myself then be taken to a testing room where my test would be administered . The proctor told us we’d have a maximum of 3 hours to do the test and it took me almost 2 1/2 hours to finish. Questions were asked in a computer screen ranging from how nyc began with its history, to history of its many neighborhoods in the 5 boroughs to how many commuters travel through Grand Central Terminal on a daily basis to building architecture plus much more. I felt good as I progressed thru the exam and when I finished the proctor graded my answer sheet stating I scored 90 which put a gold star next to my name in the city tour guide registry indicating that based on my test score I am in the upper category as far as city knowledge . For me anybody can study for a test and pass and I was quite  proud to have done that in NYC because the ole saying goes ‘if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere’. But to be a good tour guide you have to constantly keep up on current events , current situations that are going on in NYC , politics , sports in order to make Your Tours entertaining, knowledgable and fun. When people leave me I want them to feel that they experienced New York City not just visited it.  When you hear that from students and teachers than I know my job was complete. 
   New York City has so much to offer and  as  a licensed tour guide and owner of Blue Ridge Tours I want to be sure that every school group who books their tour with us will have that chance to ‘experience , feel NYC not just ride a bus and look out the windshield to view the Big Apple.
Every year we guides are re licensed by the city filling out ethic and background information assuring the city we are maintaining a certain standard of personal background and reliability and ethics. I am proud to know that I have met the level of excellence in being recognized as a licensed NYC tour guide and being able to transfer that into each and every one of Blue Ridge Tours trips we do . Let us know if you would like to receive information about booking your school group a once in a lifetime Tour in NYC!

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Alive at 25

8/2/2018

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Many people know the owner of Blue Ridge Tours as the person behind the scenes who personally plans our school trips.  Steve loves to take students to New York, and Washington DC.

Steve has a unique past and present in another field, working with students besides taking them on student field trips. He is a retired South Carolina State Trooper having spent over 26 years in law enforcement, and by the way, Blue Ridge Tours went hand in hand with his chosen profession as a State Trooper as Blue Ridge Tours is now in its 30th year of business. 
While a state trooper Steve was selected to teach and conducted many safety education classes for the citizens of South Carolina thru the SC Highway Patrol. After his retirement from the Patrol Steve was able to keep his law enforcement commission via annual in-service training and firearms training. 

In 2017 Steve was approached by another retired Sergeant from the SCHP who was teaching safety education classes for the SC chapter of the National Safety Council and asked if Steve be interested in attending  a certification instructor class in Columbia.  Steve was more than glad to get back to his roots of teaching the young drivers of South Carolina and attended the 4-day course to teach Alive at 25.  

Alive at 25 is a 4 1/2-hour one day class that is taught to drivers under 25 because statistically speaking this is the age category that suffers the highest rate of fatalities among all drivers. The course requires an active duty or retired police officer to teach because of their vast knowledge of laws and personal experiences of investigating many car crashes and fatalities. 

Alive at 25 is an innovative, young driver intervention program that teaches what behaviors and skills are needed to become responsible, crash-free drivers. Developed by the National Safety Council for young drivers between the ages of 15-24, the program aims to help young drivers choose safe driving practices, to take responsibility for their behavior, and to be aware of the typical driving hazards.

The next time you see our owner Steve Sulligan driving one of your student's field trips or leading a tour to remember to say hello.
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Steve has worn many hats throughout his life, and the Smokey Bear hat was his favorite, but today we are proud he is teaching high school students how to become a responsible, confident and safe driver thru the National Safety Council Alive at 25. Steve’s favorite quote is “Once a Trooper, Always a Trooper.”



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    Steve Sulligan 
    Owner Blue Ridge Tours

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Contact Us

Blue Ridge Tours LLC.
​34 Thunderbird Drive
Travelers Rest, S.C. 29690
Office # 864-834-5604
Email Tours@BlueRidgeTours.net

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  • Home
    • Meet our team
    • Blue Review
    • Why Choose Blue?
    • BRT Gives Back
    • Careers
  • Student Tours
    • Asheville, NC
    • Atlanta, GA
    • Baltimore, MD
    • Boston, MA
    • Charleston, SC
    • Charlotte, NC
    • Chattanooga, TN
    • Cherokee, NC
    • Chicago IL
    • Columbia, SC
    • Lancaster / Hershey, PA
    • Myrtle Beach SC
    • Nashville, TN
    • New York, NY
    • Orlando Florida - Disney/Universal
    • Philadelphia, PA
    • Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg
    • St. Louis MO
    • Williamsburg, VA
    • Washington D.C.
  • Performance Tours
    • Atlanta, GA
    • Charlotte, NC
    • Nashville, TN
    • New York, NY
    • Smokey Mountains
    • St. Louis MO
    • Orlando Florida - Disney/Universal
    • Washington D.C.
  • Collegiate Tours
  • Request a Quote
    • Contact us
  • Resources
    • Teacher Survey
    • Tour Director Survey
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • The Blue Review