What does it take to visit every country on Earth? That was the question at the heart of last week's Bangkok Travel Massive meetup, held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.
Three Travel Massive members took the stage — Jenna Pava, Shigeki (Shagg) Makino, and Ric Gazarian (me!) — for a panel moderated by Imtiaz Muqbil of Travel Impact Newswire. The conversation centred on extreme travel: specifically the growing community of people chasing all 193 UN-recognised countries.
The numbers are staggering. Fewer than 525 people have ever completed the full list — fewer than those who've summited Everest. Yet the pace is accelerating fast, with 83 finishers in 2025 alone.
The panel tackled the big questions: what actually counts as visiting a country, how to navigate the world's toughest visas, how to assess security risks, and what drives people to places like Afghanistan, Libya, and Haiti when the rest of the world isn't watching.
Raw, honest, and genuinely inspiring — exactly the kind of conversation Travel Massive does best.
A huge thank you to my fellow panelists for sharing their stories so openly, to everyone who came out on the night, and to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand for hosting us in such a storied space.
Here's the recording from the panel, thanks to David Barrett from DBC Group in collaboration at Travel Daily News Asia.
About the venue: The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand has been a fixture of Bangkok life since 1957, and is Southeast Asia's oldest and largest press club. The FCCT has long been the region's leading forum for open discussion and debate on local, regional, and international issues. For a panel of travellers who've been to conflict zones, politically complex territories, and places most people only read about in dispatches, it's hard to imagine a more fitting room.
Thanks for putting this event on Ric and it's great to have a recording of this fascinating topic.
Travel needs people obsessed with going to new places, even if it's not for everyone. It's only when you find out what you don't know that you learn something new.
I just visited Macau for the first time today (and experienced driving over AND sailing under the Shenzhen–Zhongshan Link mega bridge on the way) and added it to my list!
+ 558 others joined this month
Comments
What does it take to visit every country on Earth? That was the question at the heart of last week's Bangkok Travel Massive meetup, held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.
Three Travel Massive members took the stage — Jenna Pava, Shigeki (Shagg) Makino, and Ric Gazarian (me!) — for a panel moderated by Imtiaz Muqbil of Travel Impact Newswire. The conversation centred on extreme travel: specifically the growing community of people chasing all 193 UN-recognised countries.
The numbers are staggering. Fewer than 525 people have ever completed the full list — fewer than those who've summited Everest. Yet the pace is accelerating fast, with 83 finishers in 2025 alone.
The panel tackled the big questions: what actually counts as visiting a country, how to navigate the world's toughest visas, how to assess security risks, and what drives people to places like Afghanistan, Libya, and Haiti when the rest of the world isn't watching.
Raw, honest, and genuinely inspiring — exactly the kind of conversation Travel Massive does best.
A huge thank you to my fellow panelists for sharing their stories so openly, to everyone who came out on the night, and to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand for hosting us in such a storied space.
Here's the recording from the panel, thanks to David Barrett from DBC Group in collaboration at Travel Daily News Asia.
Give his excellent write-up a read at www.traveldailynews.asia/meetings-events/extraordinary-travel-festival-extreme-travellers-chasing-193/
About the venue: The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand has been a fixture of Bangkok life since 1957, and is Southeast Asia's oldest and largest press club. The FCCT has long been the region's leading forum for open discussion and debate on local, regional, and international issues. For a panel of travellers who've been to conflict zones, politically complex territories, and places most people only read about in dispatches, it's hard to imagine a more fitting room.
And if this topic sparked something — the Extraordinary Travel Festival returns to Bangkok this October 22–25 for its third edition, with 30+ speakers and four days of talks, panels, and networking. Learn more at www.travelmassive.com/events/extraordinary-travel-festival-2026-1075828752
Thanks for putting this event on Ric and it's great to have a recording of this fascinating topic.
Travel needs people obsessed with going to new places, even if it's not for everyone. It's only when you find out what you don't know that you learn something new.
I just visited Macau for the first time today (and experienced driving over AND sailing under the Shenzhen–Zhongshan Link mega bridge on the way) and added it to my list!
I hope you updated your Travel Massive map!!
Of course! I'm ranked 100 at the moment, there's quite a bit of competition on the leaderboard these days 😂
travelmassive.com/places/6418882895