QHS graduate gives ‘honest’ advice for travelers on YouTube page, which has 1 million followers, 250 million page views

QUINCY — Mark Wolters caught the travel bug when he was a student at Quincy High School, taking advantage of a local Rotary program and studying overseas in Australia and Finland.

After graduating from QHS in 1994, Wolters attended the University of Illinois in Champaign and continued to seek educational opportunities outside the United States, ending up in Argentina and Austria. After graduating from Illinois, Wolters studied in Germany, receiving a master’s degree in 2002 in economics and management sciences, international management, information technology and industrial economics. Then he was off to Portugal, where he received his doctorate in management, finance and banking.  

He is now back in Champaign, living with his wife Jocelyn and sons Caleb and Liam while teaching at the Gies College of Business. His mother still lives in Quincy. While attending school in these faraway places, Wolters looked for travel advice.

“I remember reading all these blogs, and I see all these guidebooks,” Wolters said. “It was obvious that people have gotten paid to say nice things about places. I just felt people were getting ripped off.

“I’m thinking someone would have thrown away 20 percent of their vacation … their once-a-lifetime trip to Europe, just because someone over-inflated this place. They weren’t honest about it, and so that really upset me.”

Wolters created a YouTube channel called “Wolters World” with more than 1 million followers. Topics of his videos cover such things as the “dos and don’ts” of various locations, food recommendations, suggestions on how to treat the natives of various countries, airports and keeping your home safe while gone.

“I decided to make blogs and videos about travel around the world with honest stuff, like the good and the bad,” he said. “We wanted to focus more on the cultural thing. We’ll tell you some of the sites to see, but we’re going to tell you the ways to really enjoy the culture.”

The videos caught on. His 2,500-plus videos on YouTube have more than 250 million views, and he now has a website dedicated to his hobby. 

He says he is not making a dime.

“One thing we haven’t done is sponsorships,” Wolters said. “We don’t get paid off to do stuff. It’s left a lot of money on the table. But I just feel better this way, because I know that wherever I go, I can be honest.”

Looking for ideas and travel tips for your next vacation? Someone who has been to more than 80 countries has plenty to offer.

Most affordable beach: “Go to the south side of the river near Costa de Caparica. Portugal. It’s free to go to, and they’ve got lots of places to go eat.”

Best beach: Turks and Caicos. “Best, cleanest beaches where you just relax, repeat, relax, repeat. So crystal clear.”

Most overrated tourist attraction: The Manneken-Pis in Brussels, Belgium. “It’s a two-foot-tall statue. People are in love with that, and it’s just a little statue of a kid going pee.”

Most underrated attraction: The Pantanal in Southwest Brazil. “People think the Amazon is where you go see the animals, but you don’t see any animals because the forest is so dense. In the Pantanal, it’s swampland. You literally float down the river with alligators. You can float on an inner tube and fish for piranha. It’s a really cool thing. People are all scared to go to Brazil, but the Pantanal is just an incredible place to go.”

Most underrated place in Europe: Slovenia. “Mountains, lakes, fantastic food, nice people, and it’s kind of like all on its own. Not very many tourists go there.”

Place in the U.S. nobody knows about: Idaho. “It’s really beautiful. The nature there is incredible. There are places you can go where it’s like the moon, but no one goes there. That was one that kind of surprised me. Just make sure you have your bear spray.”

General travel advice for Europe: “Don’t over pack. You do not need everything. Anywhere you go, from hotels to cars to trains, there is no space for your luggage.  You take a carry-on size bag. You can still check it, but you don’t want anything bigger than a carry-on and a backpack. The trains, the busses and everything … you’re not going to know where to put it. The hotels are much smaller also.”

Wolters also said not to be scared of public transportation, because in Europe, “public transportation takes you everywhere, and it’s really easy to use.”

Wolters never goes anywhere without his wife Jocelyn and his two children. On his wish list are Ethiopia and Egypt. His wife would like to visit Bhutan in Asia.

Wherever he ends up next, you can guarantee he will post a video. 

“Who would have thought people would watch some fat guy talk about travel?” Wolters said. “Particularly when beautiful young people are doing it. But I just feel it’s something I have to do.”