Lee Abbamonte (born August 29, 1978) is an American travel blogger, on-air travel personality and entrepreneur who has been to all 193 United Nations member states,"The Best Travelled – UN Master List"
, ''The Best Travelled'' Retrieved 21 February 2016 the North Pole and the South Pole.

Early life

Lee Abbamonte was born in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

and raised in

Trumbull, Connecticut Trumbull is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders on the cities of Bridgeport and Shelton and the towns of Stratford, Fairfield, Easton and Monroe. The population was 36,827 during the 2020 census. Trumbul ...

. He graduated in 2000 from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

, where he received a degree from the

Robert H. Smith School of Business The Robert H. Smith School of Business (Smith School) is the business school at the University of Maryland, College Park, a public research university in College Park, Maryland. The school was named after alumnus Robert H. Smith (Accounting '50) ...

. Abbamonte earned his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (now part of

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

) in 2010. After college, Abbamonte worked on Wall Street, spending time at Cantor Fitzgerald at the original One World Trade Center,

Intercontinental Exchange Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russell ...

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

, and

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

Travel career

By 2006, Abbamonte had visited more than 100 countries. In that year he launched his travel blog LeeAbbamonte.com and decided to make an effort to visit every country in the world, completing the goal in 2011 at the age of 32. He is currently regarded as one of the world's most well-traveled people and one of a handful of people to visit every country and both geographic poles. Abbamonte has appeared on television hundreds of times, including as an expert on CNN, FOX Business, Fox News, Bloomberg, Fox 5 New York, and Travel Channel. He has been featured, quoted or written about in dozens of publications including USA Today, BBC, Bravo, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, New York, Slate, Condé Nast Traveler, ABC News, The Washington Post, Martha Stewart Weddings, The Huffington Post, and U.S. News & World Report. As a speaker, Abbamonte has appeared at The New York Times Travel Show,

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

, Public Relations Society of America Travel and Tourism Conference, Travel Bloggers Exchange, the Travel & Adventure Show, and New York Trav Fest, among others. Abbamonte is a member of the

Travelers' Century Club The Travelers' Century Club, or TCC, is a club for people who have visited 100 or more of the world's countries and territories. The organization was founded in California in 1954 and now has more than 1,400 members throughout the world. The clu ...

and a fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. During an interview on the Frommers Radio Travel Show, Arthur Frommer called him the "Marco Polo of the 21st Century."

Interest in sports

Abbamonte is a professed sports fan, having written and spoken about his love of all sports. His favorite teams are the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

Maryland Terrapins men's basketball The Maryland Terrapins men's basketball team represents the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition. Maryland, a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), left the ACC in 2014 to ...

Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Coastal Division of the Atlanti ...

Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, and the now-defunct Hartford Whalers. Abbamonte made his television debut in 2006, appearing on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

sports trivia show Stump the Schwab.

References

External links

LeeAbbamonte.com

Lee Abbamonte press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbamonte, Lee 1978 births Living people 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male bloggers American male non-fiction writers American travel writers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society People from Trumbull, Connecticut Writers from Bridgeport, Connecticut