Lee Abbamonte
Try to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world
Top 5-Islands
By Lee | January 27th, 2010 | 
11 Comments » So I think I am going to reinstitute the top 5 lists as I am back in the US for a while, with the exception of Vancouver for the Olympics and possibly a trip or two to Mexico. Here is my first new top 5 as I just came back from several islands.
1. Easter Island, Chile
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Ahhh the Seychelles
By Lee | January 21st, 2010 | 10 Comments » 
When you think of the Seychelles, you think of amazing beaches, gorgeous windswept islands, and incredibly fresh seafood that makes your mouth water. These are all true. In fact, I believe the Seychelles may be the perfect island getaway because it offers so much. The beaches are collectively the best I’ve ever seen. Each island I visited had at least one amazing beach and I would say that three in particular are among my top ten of all time, including the top one, and I’ve seen a lot of beaches! The islands are tropical in all ways, good and bad, and they are stunning. Natural mountainous granite landscapes lead down to unreal beaches serving the best seafood I can remember. But most of all, the Seychelles is just chill. You can’t not have fun and relax. There is something for everyone to do or you can do nothing at all.
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Mauritius is Just an Island
By Lee | January 18th, 2010 | 5 Comments » 
I really wanted to love Mauritius. You think of it as so exotic and want to be in awe. I had heard mixed, mostly indifferent or negative, things about it coming in but I came in with an open and excited attitude about the island nation. I had heard that it was just a big and touristy island that is indistinguishable from many others. I had also heard it was expensive and the type of place you stay at your hotel and don’t really leave. I wish I could disagree with those comments in total but I have to agree with many of them. However, Mauritius is a beautiful place and a nice place to spend a few days relaxing if you are the type of person that likes big hotel resorts-unfortunately I am not that type of person.
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Rodrigues Island
By Lee | January 16th, 2010 | 11 Comments » 
Rodrigues Island is without a doubt one of the most unknown places on Earth. It is located about 500km northeast of Mauritius and basically functions as an independent country to Mauritius. The island itself is pretty small but it is also a very beautiful and a fun place to be. While it is a major pain both getting a plane ticket out there and then having it leave remotely on time as mine was nine plus hours late, it is worth coming out for a day or two. Besides, the night sky here is so clear that you can almost see every star in the galaxy I swear.
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It’s a Good Life on Reunion Island
By Lee | January 15th, 2010 | 7 Comments » 
Reunion Island is simply a little paradise in the middle of nowhere. It is not the idyllic beach tropical island that many of its neighbors are but it is a like a mini Hawaii. It has good beaches but the true draw is its awesome natural landscape along with adventure and eco-sports. Throw in the fact that it is French, really French, with all that that brings such as amazing meats, fish, cheese, breads and all other gastronomic delights. After a long time in Africa, this makes for a refreshing and welcome change.
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Comoros and Mayotte
By Lee | January 14th, 2010 | 13 Comments » 
Haphazardly scattered across the Indian Ocean, the Comoros Islands are a very mysterious and isolated place. The devoutly Muslim island lacks much of the infrastructure that has made some of its neighbor’s mega-tourist, high-end destinations. The Comore people come from a stock of Arab traders, Persian Sultans, African slaves and Portuguese pirates. The four main islands offer everything from relaxing on nearly deserted beaches, to rain forest hiking, to hiking the world’s largest active volcano. The islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli make up the Comoros Islands. Mayotte has since broken off and joined the mother ship of France. I based myself in Grande Comore in the capital city of Moroni.
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Madagascar
By Lee | January 12th, 2010 | 7 Comments » 
There are few, if any, countries in the world more exotic sounding than Madagascar. The truth is it may be the most exotic country on Earth. It is touted by the Malagasy people as the 8th continent as it separated from Africa 100 million years ago (give or take a few million years). Not much is known to most Westerners about Madagascar aside from the fact that it’s that big island off the coast of Africa with the funny name you see on the map and it was a recent animated movie. Madagascar is the last country actually in Africa I am visiting this trip and after a solid month on the continent, I am reminded of a quote from Ernest Hemingway, “I cannot remember a morning in Africa when I woke up and I was not happy”. Truer words have never been spoken.
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Chobe National Park
By Lee | January 9th, 2010 | 9 Comments » 
I had always wanted to get to the great game parks of Botswana which include the Kalahari, Okavango Delta and Chobe (pronounced Cho-Bee) but the only legitimately easy, albeit expensive way to get there was flying from Johannesburg. From Livingstone, Zambia however, it is only an hour drive or so and a day trip will run you $135 and that’s a steal for what you get! I jumped on the opportunity I didn’t think I would have this trip and Chobe National Park and its unreal stock of elephants and beautiful waterways didn’t disappoint.
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The Smoke That Thunders
By Lee | January 7th, 2010 | 6 Comments » 
Today I saw the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to Victoria Falls before, in fact it was 6 years ago today I was there, but today I got to the perfect spot at the exact right time, place, wind, mist, rainbow and everything. The picture above, while not possibly justified to how amazing it was to see in person was the best scene I’ve ever witnessed. It was a dream scenario with nobody around to ruin it. It was the reason you travel. It’s like a surfer searching for the perfect wave, today was my perfect vista.
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Burundi, Malawi and Zambia
By Lee | January 6th, 2010 | 7 Comments » 
The last several days have been wonderful, relaxing and hectic with little food and a lot of travel. I have come from Bujumbura, Burundi through Lilongwe, Malawi to Senga Bay on Lake Malawi all the way through Lusaka, Zambia to Livingstone, Zambia where I am now. I have ridden busses, dilapidated minibuses, flatbed pickups with 38 people plus luggage at once, motorbikes, airplanes, boats, bicycle taxis, regular taxis and the one thing that I realize once again after all of this nonsense is how much I love Africa. I haven’t had any access to Internet the last several days and have covered about 2000 kilometers or more in that time so I will give a short summary of each country I visited as time is short and I am excited to get to Victoria Falls as day is breaking in Livingstone.
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Lee Abbamonte is a published travel writer, global adventurer and worldwide travel expert based in New York City. Lee is attempting to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world. He has currently been to 253 countries and is only 31 years old. From this site you can relive his past travels, read his current trip blog and interract with him, while following his adventures in pursuit of the record. The record is visiting all 319 countries and unique destinations in the world per the Travelers Century Club list. The current record is 37 years, 9 months, 17 days and Lee hopes to beat it.- Africa
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- Angela on Top 5-Islands
I love the Med islands like Mallorca and Ibiza. T ... [read more] - Lee on Top 5-Islands
Fair point Miguel...perhaps Cypress will be includ ... [read more] - Mike on Top 5-Islands
Manhattan is a solid island. I agree too many isla ... [read more] - Emily on Top 5-Islands
I would like to go to all of the ones you've menti ... [read more] - James on Goa
Goa beaces are god in India, but surely it must no ... [read more] - James on Top 5-Islands
Puerto Rico and DR are fantastic - Lee on Top 5-Islands
Fernando is amazing and should be on any list but ... [read more] - Pierre on Top 5-Islands
La Reunion is fantastic. - Kenny on Top 5-Islands
Hawaii is still my favorite. - Ryan on Top 5-Islands
What about Rat Island in the Aleutians!? Just kid ... [read more]
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