Some of the planet's most stamp-covered passports are converging on Sukhumvit. The Extraordinary Travel Festival is back in Bangkok for its third edition, running Thursday to Sunday at the Ambassador Hotel on Sukhumvit 11 — and this year it's pitched under the theme of the "Big Tent".

The four-day programme brings together hundreds of the world's most travelled individuals: overland adventurers, global explorers, extreme travellers, country collectors and boundary-pushers of every stripe. What makes this edition notable is the line-up. Speakers include Jaime Alaman, who has travelled to every country in the world, both Poles included; Janson Wang, who recently summited Mount Everest while completing all "Seven Summits"; Kach Medina Umandap, the first person to visit every country in the world on a Philippine passport; Thor Pedersen, who travelled to every country across an unbroken 10-year journey without flying; and Dennis D. Gray, a war correspondent reporting from nearly 40 countries. More than 40 storytellers from six continents will deliver keynotes, breakout sessions and lively panel discussions.

There's first-time star power beyond the stage, too. For the first time, leaders of the extreme-travel world's most influential clubs — NomadMania, Most Travelled People and Every Passport Stamp — will appear alongside prominent figures from the broader travel community, including Travel Massive and TravelPango. It's a single roof under which the people who built these communities can compare notes and collaborate, whether at the main stream or in the lounge.

Beyond the talks, the festival leans hard into the social side: vibrant parties capped by a gala dinner. It's also a working event — tourism boards, consumer travel brands and tour providers get a rare chance to connect with and promote destinations to an audience of genuinely expert travellers, the kind whose recommendations carry real weight in country-collecting circles.

For anyone who counts countries rather than beach days, this is the closest thing to a family reunion. Even ordinary travellers who dream of longer, bolder trips will find practical strategies from people who have genuinely gone the distance — how to plan a decade-long overland route, log geopolitically tricky destinations, or simply keep going when the road gets hard. If you're in Bangkok during the festival dates and curious about the outer limits of travel, it's a rare opportunity to meet the people who've actually been everywhere.