Travel and Personal Growth: Adam Plescia of Custom Tours of DC On Why & How Traveling Can Help Us…

Authority Magazine: Travel and Personal Growth: Adam Plescia of Custom Tours of DC On Why & How Traveling Can Help Us Become Better Human Beings -- Listen Share g Travel can open the door. You still have to walk through it. Travel can open the door. You still have to walk through it. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Adam Plescia. Dr. Adam Plescia, Founder & CEO of Custom Tours of DC, has been guiding tours in and around the D.C. area since 1999. He holds a PhD in Biblical Studies, and uses his experience as a university professor to create memorable tours that are well researched and historically accurate.

At the same time he and his team weave in humor, anecdotes, and trivia. He is a versatile and easygoing guide who is capable of working with groups of all types and every age. Those who have been on tour with him find comfort in his calm and competent demeanor. But calm doesn’t mean boring! Adam is a skillful storyteller and speaker who is able to make the city come to life. To learn more, visit www.customtoursofdc.com. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory? When I look back on my childhood, I can see that travel wasn’t just something we did — it was something that formed me. I was the kid who didn’t like staying in one place.

If there was a chance to go anywhere — even just to the store — I volunteered. Movement felt natural. Exploration felt normal. One of my earliest formative memories was a three-week RV trip my grandparents organized for a family reunion. We traveled from California through Oregon and Washington and eventually into Idaho to visit my maternal grandmother’s in-laws. We stopped constantly along the way. I remember loving the road itself — not just the destinations.

Being in the RV, waking up somewhere new, seeing different landscapes — it was thrilling. That “travel bug” never left. Throughout childhood and adolescence, I took every opportunity I could. Church trips to Mexico. School trips across the country. I watched older students go on their big eighth-grade trip from the time I was in first grade, and when it was finally my turn, it was everything I hoped it would be — transformative in ways I didn’t yet have language for. Looking back, I can see clearly: travel wasn’t incidental in my life. It was formative. What or who inspired you to pursue your career?

We’d love to hear the story. It’s interesting — owning and running a tour company was never the plan. Like many people, I went off to college with a very specific career path in mind. My undergraduate degree was in theology and religious studies. My master’s was in biblical literature, focused heavily on languages. My PhD is in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. I fully expected to become a college professor — perhaps at a liberal arts college, a state university, or even a seminary.

I’m Catholic, and while I never felt called to the priesthood, I did feel called to teach and to train future priests in scripture. And I did become a full-time professor at a seminary. But life reshapes plans. Institutional upheaval and COVID dramatically changed the academic landscape. And in that season, I realized something important: my calling wasn’t tied to a title. Through reflection, working with a career counselor, and even engaging with Simon Sinek’s framework about personal mission, I came to understand that my core purpose was simpler and deeper.

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The article discusses the intersection of travel and personal growth, which is significant for the tourism sector, but the concepts are not entirely new or groundbreaking in brand strategy.