Mark Wiens is a famous YouTube person who is also a traveler and a blogger. He sometimes makes videos and writes about places he visited, food he ate and various things from the countries he was in. He is a passionate traveler.
His wife Ying and him are now living in Thailand, but they travel so much that you can’t really say they are located anywhere. Sometimes they do work on Thai food and together make articles.
Early years
Mark was born in Phoenix in Arizona in the United States of America. His date of birth is February 26th in 1986 so he often makes jokes about how he is a Valentine’s Day baby.
However, he didn’t live in Phoenix long. When he was only five year old, his parents decided that it was time for them to relocate, so they went to Albertville. It is a small town in France, on the south.
He enjoyed growing up there a lot because he was basically living in the Alpes region and it was a wonderful experience. Mark used to travel with his parents a lot and they went to Hawaii and Canada sometimes.
Anyway, he moved again pretty soon and this time his parents decided to switch up the continent once again. Wiens claims that he is such an adventure lover because of his parent’s genes, they always travelled.
His next house was in the center of Africa, which is pretty unexpected. It was a small place called Tandala in Zaire at the time, nowadays the Republic of Congo. He learned a bunch of things about Africa and most of them were about the culture and the food.
He fell in love with the way people treated food there. Mark spent his childhood with his friends and they used to go watch birds randomly. They hunted the birds and used to fry them in fire they made on their own.
Mark claims that there wasn’t much to eat since the birds were small, but they had fun trying to do things on their own.
In 1996, his parents moved again since there were political issues going on in Congo. They moved to Kenya, into the capital Nairobi.
He went to Rossylyn academy from 5th grade to graduation which was in 2008. One of those years he spent in America because he was traveling with his parents, but most of his education was done in Africa.
Mark said himself that he didn’t enjoy school and wanted to travel more, but he says that he is very happy with the choice his parents made when they enrolled him into the school where he graduated.
However, the problem is that Wiens had no idea what he wanted to do for the rest of his life once that he actually graduated in 2008. His parents thought it may be a good idea to go to the Arizona State University, and so he did.
Career development
In 2009, he opened up his blog called migrationology.com! He posted his first few posts about the places he had visited before.
Mark says that it was pretty tough to make a webpage since he was a complete beginner in programming of the kind.
He already knew this page was going to have to be about traveling and food, stories of other people and monuments.
In a few months, Wiens bough a one-way ticket to Bangkok and he actually didn’t know what he will do after that. He traveled the whole portion of Southeast Asia and he was with someone he knew from before.
It was pretty obvious that he fell in love with Asia, especially the Southeast part. Mark says that he couldn’t take enough pictures!
When he was in the Philippines, his friend asked him if he could go to Nairobi with him. They traveled and ate, but soon they ran out of cash and Mark had to use up the English teaching skills he got.
He found a job in Bangkok in a private place and signed a contract. He was very happy! His friend ended up being in Thailand. Although it was a beautiful experience, Mark says that he wasn’t really all that into teaching as he thought he was.
Because of that, he still managed to blog on the side, just for his personal wishes. He decided to do some risky moves with his blog and they ended up being just about right for him.
Mark claims that at the time he was living very frugal and that he was totally okay with it since he knew the money he was saving was going to be spent traveling.
He said that multiple times he had done something he should not have, but he always had English to teach to earn more money and solve the problem he was in.
Mark made a Eating Thai Food Guide, an eBook that sold in a bunch of copies! It was something he was working on for a long time and he was happy it was finally live.
Personal life
He moved to Thailand in order to do more career things, but he ended up meeting his wife Ying that he got married with. They got married in Bangkok and ate Thai food, of course!
He spent about 3 to 4 years there and he ended up being very happy with his uni choice. Wiens met a bunch of people that he stayed in good relations with. The thing he wanted to do next was travel, and his parents always supported him.
Mark got a degree in Global Studies and that meant that he had a diploma, but the idea of working in an office, in a building scared him. He didn’t want to end up being close somewhere.
After he finished the whole money saving thing after university by selling some of his things he didn’t need and working a full time job, he decided that he wanted to go to South America.
His first destination was Buenos Aires in Argentina. He didn’t just go there to see the town and party, he wanted to meet the people there, have some good food, get to know their culture and feel what it would be like to live there if he did.
Mark took a course that made him certified in teaching English and he finished it in one month! It was a remarkable success for him. He did this because he knew that he would be able to travel around the world and teach people things.
His next stop was Chile, Urugay and the USA when his sister was getting married. At this time, he had a bunch of photos and stories about the places he had visited and he though to himself that opening up a website where he could post those things would be a good idea.
Mark says that Congo is one of the most beautiful places in the world and many people ask him if he was sad when he realized he was moving to Africa. He claims that it was a wonderful experience and that he would not change it for anything since Congo truly became his country.
A funny thing about Mark is that he never has a plan on what he is going to be doing tommorrow, he just sort of does things and they, thankfully, end up being right. He went to other countries with a one-way ticket many times, not knowing will he have the cash to travel back, but he did it anyway and he said that all of those decisions were smart and they lead him to where he is today, happy and full.
Quick summary
Full name: Mark Wiens
Date of birth: February 26th in 1986
Birthplace: Phoenix in Arizona in the United States of America
Age: 32
Profession: author, cook, blogger, teacher
Height: NA
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $1.3 million
