OK, I’m currently at 74 countries, but I still have long way to go before I can say “I’ve Been Everywhere”. However, Lee Abbamonte has that right. He’s the youngest American to visit all 193 member nations of the United Nations, and he’s well on his way to visiting all 324 on The Travelers’ Century Club list, which includes territories and unique destinations in addition to nations. (Lee expects to have 321 of the 324 countries checked off by the end of the year).
With all those countries, they can’t all be winners. And Abbamonte, as part of his traveling mission, has to see the losers too. He takes that part of his quest seriously. “I spent time in these places; it’s not like I went to the airport and split,” he says of the bottom-tier countries. “I tried to give each place a couple of days.” Still, there were some countries that the well-traveled Abbamonte says were even worse than he expected. And for a guy who’s seen the world, that’s saying something.
Thanks to Mark from Yahoo! for passing on this list of the Worst Places in the World to Visit according to Abbamonte, check out the slideshow here.
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6 comments
For someone who’s been all over the world, his characterization of many of these places is a bit sad and condescending. “Stick to Fiji or Hawaii” seems to be his conclusion. I’ve been to a few of the places he mentions (Kinshasa, Kabul, Pakistan) and can report they are much nicer than he depicts them.
What a dismal attitude. Tick off as many places as you can for the sake of it. Then criticize a bunch of them because they don’t confirm to your narrow-minded view of what makes a place great. People like this give Americans a bad name.
I agree with Paul. The reviews are not very descriptive or well written, so they come off as whiny and condescending. The title says it all – why not, for example, “The least interesting places I’ve visited”? I’ve been to his site in the past and considered it a worthwhile read. I’m disappointed that he wrote this, Yahoo printed it and bloggers are linking to it.
AKA – don’t go where black and brown people live. Seems pretty short sighted for such a well traveled person.
@MFK — I agree. I have previously read some of his work and thought he was a bit more deep. Then there’s this: http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/meet-wall-streets-bachelor-party-planner.html
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