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Ken Fish
As the president and owner of Absolute Travel, it
is Ken Fish's personal and professional goal to
make clients' most fantastic travel dreams a reality.
He is a highly regarded spokesperson for the travel
industry and is regularly featured in trade and
consumer publications. A graduate of Johns Hopkins
University, Ken has dedicated a good portion of
his life to travel. From 1983 through 1987, he worked
for an Australian travel company and traveled throughout
Australia and Southeast Asia. He founded Absolute
Travel upon his return to New York City. In addition
to steering the direction of the company, he travels
extensively and has taken nearly 100 overseas
trips since 1983. When not traveling, Ken unpacks
his suitcase in New York, where he lives with his
wife and two children. kfish@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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Morocco |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Watching my kids make lifelong friends around the world. |
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Next on his itinerary: |
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Mexico |
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Leslie
Overton
Leslie Overton is the general manager of Absolute
Travel. Her passion for travel began at the age
of six when her family moved to Amsterdam. From
that base, they spent weekends exploring European
countries. After graduating from college with a
degree in Art History, Leslie managed to parlay
her passion into a career with a job in Australian
tourism. Now Leslie travels almost exclusively with
her husband and three children, Ruby, Lola, and Fergus because
she loves seeing the world through their eyes. Leslie
also enjoys incorporating her other interests, such
as yoga and cooking, into her travels. loverton@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Going to Savusavu in Fiji with my
husband and two daughters. At one point, I
took my girls out onto the water and we spun
around 360 degrees and could find no sign
of civilization other than what we had left
on our beach and a few sailboats. |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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Zambia |
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Lisa Sun
Lisa, Absolute Travel's senior China expert,
first went to China in 1986 to spend a year as an
exchange student. She fell so deeply in love with
the country that she stayed for 8 years to study
and work, and used Beijing as a home base for extensive
solo travels. Her trips took her to the farthest
reaches of China as well as most of Asia, and she
developed a strong destination knowledge that has
been a major asset in her work at Absolute Travel since 1997. Among her favorite destinations
are China, Mongolia, Tibet and the Silk Road. lsun@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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Taiwan |
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Favorite travel
experience: |
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Trekking in Ladakh in northern
India. |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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Central Asia and the Silk Road |
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Daniela Bonanno
Born and raised in Italy, Daniela moved to New York in 1989. She enjoyed a successful career in the fashion industry as a production manager for the Italian clothing company Diesel before her passion for travel led her to quit her job and embark on a journey of self-discovery through Southeast Asia. Absolute Travel was the perfect landing pad when she returned to New York and decided to make luxury travel her new career. Daniela fell in love with Africa after her first trip there – she is now Absolute Travel’s knowledgeable Africa specialist and spends much of the year living in South Africa so she can stay up to date on all the new lodges and other developments that affect luxury travelers. In fact, Daniela is Absolute Travel's very helpful Safari Star -- visit her webpage or email her at dbonanno@absolutetravel.com! |
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Most recent trip: |
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Egypt |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Visiting the Kawaza village
in Zambia and spending my first night under
canvas in the middle of the Okavango Delta
with lions roaring outside my tent! |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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Tanzania |
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Christina Stubbs
Before joining the marketing department of Absolute Travel in 2002, Christina worked as a technology and business reporter in San Francisco (before the "tech bubble" burst!) and a content producer for a top cable television network based in New York. She has traveled throughout Southeast Asia, South America, Europe, China, North Africa, and many other areas of the world. Christina has degrees in both English and History from Oberlin
College and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband. cstubbs@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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Peru |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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I went to Bali several years ago
and it was a perfect trip - a beautiful
island with amazing culture, history, and people. |
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Next
on her itinerary: |
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Tunisia |
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Sasha Lehman
Family vacations ranging from chateau touring
in France to rafting down the Zambezi sowed the
seeds of wanderlust in Sasha's life. In school,
she seized opportunities to learn outside of the
classroom, including a high school semester in Switzerland
and a deep-sea archeology trip to the Black Sea.
After receiving a degree in art history, Sasha worked
as the Manager of Guest Relations at a safari lodge
in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. For the first
time, she found herself on the service side of tourism,
where her extensive travel experience was a great
help in understanding the needs of her guests. Since
returning from Nepal, she has been the Operations
Manager at Absolute Travel. slehman@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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India |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Few experiences are ingrained in my mind with the clarity of a photograph, but watching the sun rise over the Himalayas at the foot of Mt. Everest is an image I will never forget. |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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Mongolia |
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Brooke Garnett
Brooke's passion for travel began with a college
semester at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
After graduating from the University of Richmond
in 2003 with a B.A. in Marketing and Studio Art,
she decided to spend a year indulging her wanderlust
-- during that time, she worked at a scuba shop
in Thailand, volunteered at an elephant nature park,
backpacked through Southeast Asia and worked as
a dive-master in Honduras. In addition to traveling,
Brooke loves adventure sports, painting, photography,
and cooking. bgarnett@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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Mali |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Looking out over rice paddies
while swinging from vines at the top of Khouangsi
Falls in Luang Prabang, Laos. |
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Next on her itinerary: |
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Tanzania and Mozambique |
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Chloe Marsala
After losing the final round of her high school geography bee to a question about a formerly-Portuguese colony in the South China Sea (Macau--of course!), Chloe vowed to spend as much time as possible traveling in the Far East. She spent eight months in a language immersion program in Beijing and, while in China, hiked sacred Buddhist mountains and the “wild” sections of the Great Wall, helped translate for English-speaking backpackers in distress, was interviewed by a Chinese language women's magazine, researched Beijing's pre-Olympic city planning and architectural development, and even spent a day as an “entrepreneur” hawking newspapers on the street. She earned a degree in East Asian Studies and Religious Anthropology from New York University. Before becoming a sales associate at Absolute Travel, Chloe taught art and math to 4th graders, was the assistant to an interior designer, and did internet research for a hedge fund. cmarsala@absolutetravel.com
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Most recent trip: |
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Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Traveling in Yunnan Province in Western China. Unlike other parts of China, Yunnan has perpetually blue skies, clean air, and few Western tourists. The region’s indigenous ethnic minorities and its close proximity to Tibet, Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam make it a great place to sample a wide variety of Southeast Asian art, culture, and food. |
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Next on her
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China |
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Holly Monahan
Holly whet her appetite for travel while studying abroad in London. Taking advantage of the strategic location, she spent her weekends visiting different European cities. After college, she spent the summer in the French Alps, volunteering with Solidarités Jeunesses on a project to create an eco-friendly youth meeting center. While at Boston University earning a master's degree in International Relations, she wrote her thesis on sustainable tourism development. Holly's first job in New York was with PCI-Media Impact, a NGO that produces educational soap-operas in developing countries. As an international event and meeting manager for non-profit organizations, her work took her around the world. Holly's commitment to responsible tourism prompted her to become a member of the International Ecotourism Society and a consultant for Ethical Traveler.
hmonahan@absolutetravel.com |
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Most recent trip: |
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Morocco and Egypt |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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I had been curious about Kerala, the southern state of India, since reading The God of Small Things. When I finally visited last year, the tropical beauty, relaxed pace, coconut-rich cuisine, and friendliness of the people completely entranced me. A Kathakali dancer even let me borrow his bicycle! |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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India |
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Jessica Rizzolo
Jessica’s passion for travel was ignited when she first performed as a cheerleader in the 2002 Pro Bowl in Hawaii. She began cheering for the NBA while earning a Communications degree from Rutgers University; her first NBA event was the Europe Live Tour in Paris and Barcelona in 2003. Over the subsequent years, her travel adventures took her to various European countries and on many visits to China – Jessica even had the honor of performing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing! Upon graduating from Rutgers in May 2007, Jessica worked as the entertainment coordinator for the NBA. After a life-changing trip that included Istanbul, Malaga, Madrid, Shanghai, and Macau, she decided to follow her heart and pursue a career in the travel industry. Jessica is a sales associate and works primarily on Africa. jrizzolo@absolutetravel.com
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Most recent trip: |
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India |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Hiking and then zip-lining on the Great Wall of China with some of my closest friends. |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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South Africa |
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Katie Losey
Prior to joining Absolute Travel's Operations Department, Katie worked with Puppies Behind Bars, a non-profit that helps rehabilitate prison inmates through raising working dogs for the disabled and law-enforcement (which also brought two adorable dogs to her family!). While she cherished that experience, Katie wanted to combine her love of exploring the world with her career. She welcomes opportunities to immerse herself in travel-related philanthropic efforts – among her favorite past projects were working towards gorilla preservation through improved human health with Conservation Through Public Health and helping to rehabilitate elephants at the Elephant Nature Foundation in northern Thailand. klosey@absolutetravel.com
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Most recent trip: |
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Gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda! |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Sleeping under the stars in Morocco’s Erg Chebbi desert until a 4AM wake-up call to ride a camel through the dunes in complete silence and solitude. |
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Next on her
itinerary: |
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Kenya and Tanzania |
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Greg Chan
Born in Guyana, Greg Chan moved to the United States at the age of 11. He has always been passionate about international travel and especially loves any destination with sunny weather and a gorgeous beach. Among his favorite places to visit are the Caribbean, Spain and Mexico, and he is a diligent researcher of the nightlife wherever he goes! Greg started at Absolute Travel as an intern in 1999 and became a full-time employee in the Operations Department the following year; he is easily the most popular employee at the company. gchan@absolutetravel.com
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Most recent trip: |
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Mexico |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Horseback riding on the beach at Cabo San Lucas as the sun went down. |
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Next on his
itinerary: |
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Argentina |
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Matthew LaPolice
Born to a European mother and an American father, Matt attributes his passion for foreign cultures and languages to his initial interest in his own heritage. He caught the “travel bug” on a People to People Student Ambassador trip to Australia and New Zealand at the age of eleven. Since then, he “flies more than he walks,” as his grandmother says. After graduating from Tufts University with a B.A. in International Relations and French, Matt interned with Absolute Travel for a semester before joining the team full-time. He is fluent in French and dabbles in Polish, Italian, Bulgarian, German, Arabic and Spanish. Matt enjoys combining his travels with visiting old friends and making new friends around the globe, photography, and trying new foods. mlapolice@absolutetravel.com
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Most recent trip: |
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Jordan & Israel |
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Favorite travel experience: |
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Floating in the Dead Sea at sunset. |
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Next on his
itinerary: |
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Myanmar (Burma) & Thailand |
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