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I’m currently at 76 countries, but I plan to be in the low 80s by the end of the year. That’s nothing compared to one Connecticut native.
Lee Abbamonte who is 38 hit all 193 UN member states plus the Vatican, Taiwan, and Kosovo 6 years ago at the age of 32. He’s now working to complete The Travelers’ Century Club list of 325 countries and territories (see the full list below). His currently count is 319 of the 325!
Condé Nast Traveler recently sat down with him for a full interview that includes how he got into travel, the scariest country he visited, and how he hit the record. Check out the full read here.
When you were going through the list of countries still missing from your list, were there any that gave you pause? Did fear get in the way of any of your travels?
Well, I never grew up thinking, Oh, I’d love to go to Somalia one day, or Afghanistan is wonderful in June.Obviously I went to places that I normally wouldn’t go, just to go. I was never scared, really ever. I’m tough to spook. I’m also pretty aware and street smart. I do take precautions though, and do a lot of research. Afghanistan was tough because that was during the war. In Libya, which was actually my last country, I got caught in a firefight between rebels and smugglers at the border. That was the scariest thing I’ve ever dealt with. I had never been shot at before.
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2 comments
He also has a great interview on the Counting Countries podcast with Ric Gazarian (which I am addicted to!).
Lee’s been working on completing the TCC list for a while. I asked about it when I interviewed him a little over 3 years back.
Check it out: http://michaelwtravels.boardingarea.com/2014/03/interview-lee-abbamonte-youngest-american-visit-every-country-world/#sthash.Cl24C457.dpbs