Drew Goldberg (born May 24, 1991), known by his online alias, Drew Binsky, is an American travel blogger and vlogger who has visited every country in the world. Binsky documents his travels on his YouTube channel and other social media accounts. He holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to pack a suitcase. Until 2021, he also held the record for the Most (12) UNESCO World Heritage Site visits in 24 hours, a record now set at 23.
| Drew Binsky | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Binsky visiting Pakistan in 2019 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Drew Goldberg May 24, 1991 Dallas, Texas, U.S. | |||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| Education | University of Wisconsin–Madison (BS) | |||||||||
| Occupations | ||||||||||
| Spouse |
Deanna Sallao (m. 2023) | |||||||||
| Website | drewbinsky | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2015–present | |||||||||
| Genres |
| |||||||||
| Subscribers | 4.07 million (YouTube) 12 million (All platforms)[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 880 million (YouTube) 4 billion (All platforms)[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: January 20, 2024 | ||||||||||
On October 29, 2021, Binsky visited Saudi Arabia, completing his feat of visiting every United Nations recognized country on Earth. As of 2021, his videos have received more than 4 billion views across his social media channels with more than 12 million followers.
Early life and education
Binsky was born Drew Goldberg in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona.[2][3] "Binsky" was a nickname given to him by his family, of Jewish German origin.[2] His first ever trip overseas was to Israel in 2009.[4] He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, graduating in 2013 with degrees in economics and entrepreneurship.[5] During his third year in university, he entered into a study abroad program in Prague, Czech Republic.[6] He studied there for 1 semester,[7] and traveled to more than 20 countries across Europe, at which time he decided he would make a living out of traveling.[8]
Career
After college, Binsky took a job teaching English in Seoul, South Korea. He spent 18 months there, earned his black belt in Taekwondo and traveled to 20 countries in Asia during that time. He quit his teaching job in January 2015 and began focusing on traveling full-time after that,[7] starting with a 3-month solo trip across India.[6] By October 2015, he had visited a total of 73 countries.[9] He also had started a travel blog called "The Hungry Partier"[10] (later renamed "Drew Binsky")[6] and began documenting his travels on Instagram and Snapchat.[7]
In 2017, his girlfriend at the time, Deanna Sallao, bought him a camera when they moved to Hanoi, Vietnam, which prompted him to create and begin posting videos on his YouTube channel (also called "Drew Binsky").[6][11] In May 2017, he uploaded a video of an organized trip to North Korea on his YouTube and Facebook channels.[4] The video accumulated over 10 million views within 2 days. Binsky also began earning money from YouTube and Facebook advertising revenue and sponsored partnerships with various brands.[5] He has over 12 million followers on social media and holds two Guinness World Records: visiting the most UNESCO Heritage sites in a 24-hour period and for quickest suitcase packing.[12] In 2018, he began living in and working from Bangkok, Thailand,[13] and, in 2019, began operating out of Manila, Philippines.[14]
In October 2019, Binsky met Zablon Simintov, who was thought to be the only remaining Jew still living in Afghanistan at the time, and featured him in a video that accumulated over 1 million views.[15][16] His channel's three most viewed videos depict his encounters with Wim Hof in the Netherlands, the "tallest people in the world" in South Sudan, and Thai Ngoc—a man who claims to have not slept since 1962—in Vietnam.[17]
In 2020, Binsky announced an upcoming documentary on his travels called Border 197.[18] Binsky's goal was to travel to all 197 countries recognized by the United Nations in the world by the end of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he completed his goal on October 29, 2021, by visiting Saudi Arabia.[19]
Personal life
Binsky became engaged to Deanna Sallao in May 2021,[20][21] and the two were married on Balesin Island on Valentine's Day 2023.[22] After graduating from college, he had aspirations of becoming a professional golfer.[23] As part of his travels, he plays and reviews golf courses around the world.[24]
As of 2021, he resided in Phoenix, Arizona.[22][25]
References
- ^ a b "About Drew Binsky". YouTube.
- ^ a b Ginsberg, Maggie. "Where in the World Is Drew Binsky?". On Wisconsin. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
- ^ Shannahan, Melissa (June 21, 2016). "Drew Binsky: How a Scottsdale blogger went around the world on Snapchat, Instagram". azcentral. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Killalea, Debra (May 1, 2017). "Three days in North Korea: Drew 'Binsky' Goldberg's video aims to change the way you see the DPRK". news.com.au. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Saiidi, Uptin (March 18, 2019). "His parents wanted him to get a corporate job, until he made $154,000 in one year". CNBC Make It. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Thomas, Elizabeth (January 8, 2019). "Drew drawn to the world map". The Asian Age. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ a b c Goodfellow, Mollie (October 14, 2015). "Man dedicates his 20s to travelling the world – then lists his worst experiences". The Independent. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ Wijerathna, Mandira (January 20, 2019). "Travelling with Drew Binsky". Sri Lankan Sunday Observer. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ Goodfellow, Mollie (October 23, 2015). "The best countries in the world to visit (according to a man who's been to 73 of them)". The Independent. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ Chan, Emily (November 4, 2015). "Lessons from the road: Tips from a 24-year-old who's travelled to 74 countries". CTV News. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ "Why I'm Moving to Hanoi, Vietnam". YouTube. December 30, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Dolsten, Josefin. "Meet the Jewish travel blogger who soon will have visited every country". The Times of Israel. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ Menon, Anasuya (January 9, 2019). "On board with Drew Binsky". The Hindu. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
- ^ Dolsten, Josefin (January 17, 2020). "This Jewish blogger will soon have traveled to every country". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Or-El, Ayala (November 30, 2020). "Drew Binsky, who got famous by traveling the world, isn't letting the pandemic stop him". The Forward. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ^ Sharon, Jeremy (September 8, 2021). "Last Jew Leaves Afghanistan". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
- ^ "Drew Binsky - Videos". YouTube. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "Border 197". drewbinskydocumentary.com. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ "Youtuber Drew Binsky details what it was like to visit all 197 countries". Yahoo News. October 29, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
- ^ Dolsten/Jta, Josefin (January 17, 2020). "This Jewish blogger will soon have traveled to every country". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ Binsky, Drew. "Surprise Proposal to My Girlfriend of 6 Years ❤️". Youtube. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
- ^ a b O Villanueva, Brooke (February 20, 2023). "This couple has visited all 7 continents. Here's why they chose the Philippines as their wedding destination". Philstar Life. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ Lipman, Steven (January 21, 2020). "Meet the Jewish Travel Blogger En Route to Visit Every Country in the World". Jewish Week. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
- ^ "Learn how to get paid to travel the world and play golf with Drew Binsky". Gander Magazine. February 20, 2017. Archived from the original on October 29, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
- ^ O Brien, Ellen (March 17, 2020). "Globetrotting Scottsdale native comes home". Jewish News. Retrieved November 8, 2021.