The Extraordinary Travel Festival (ETF) opened its third edition today at the Ambassador Hotel in Bangkok to a sold-out house. 268 travelers from six continents are in the room — people who have reached Afghanistan, Nauru, Transnistria and even the Principality of Sealand, and many who are counting down their final countries on the list of 193 UN member states.
“Two hundred sixty-eight people who have been almost everywhere, in one room in Bangkok — this is not your average travel conference,” said Ric Gazarian, Co-Founder and Organizer of the Extraordinary Travel Festival. “Selling out tells us this community is hungry to meet face to face. These are the people who know which border crossing is open this month and how to get a visa nobody else can get. This week, they share it.”
Running October 22–25 under the theme “Big Tent,”; the leaders of NomadMania, Most Traveled People, Every Passport Stamp, Travel Massive, and Pangea will all congregate at the ETF. ETF III features 40 speakers across keynote talks, tactical breakout sessions, film screenings and a gala dinner. The lineup spans the full range of extraordinary travel:
- Thor Pedersen, who reached every country without flying, screening his documentary The Impossible Journey
- Denis D. Gray, veteran AP war correspondent and author of the memoir Lost Horizons
- Ross OC Jennings, who has played the bagpipes in more than 130 countries
- Jaime Aleman, every country in the world, both the North and South Pole, and outer space
- Johnny Ward, every country in the world, both the North and South Pole, and the 7 Summits
- Maral Yazarloo, a 2-year motorcycle journey to 64 countries, a marriage, and a child on the way
ETF III builds on two previous editions which had earned coverage in the Wall Street Journal and the Australian Financial Review.
