TJ DiChristopher moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in March, 2008 to jumpstart his career in magazine travel writing. However, he soon fell in with local culture and lifestyle magazine AsiaLIFE HCMC and took over as managing editor shortly after. His life has been a blur of deadlines, revised budgetary structures and Bia Larue since then (but by God, the press dinners are good).
Prior to moving to Vietnam, TJ worked for budget travel website eurocheapo.com as their New York correspondent and later contributed to the redevelopment of europeanhostels.com. In his free time, he broadened his palate, frequented dodgy bars and generally became snarkier due to prolonged exposure to Manhattan. He also lived in Rome, Italy for a short period in college, during which time he traveled around Western Europe, but somehow managed never to set foot in Germany. He in no way meant this as a slight against the good and efficient people of Germany.
Also during college, TJ devised an independent study in travel narrative, which was mostly an excuse to travel for college credit. The capstone of the project was a 7200-mile road trip across the United States made in 11 days with two friends in a Mitsubishi Mirage. Miraculously, the three are still close friends.
His interests are comic books, politics and solipsism.
4 Comments
April 3, 2008 at 3:24 am
Hey TJ, your lovely friend Jerusha passed along your blog in the hopes of turning me green with envy. It worked. Very neat things you are doing. Just out of curiosity – how did you manage to get an internship with a travel company? And where would you point me should I want to attempt to find a travel correspondent gig-like-thing?
Hope you’re doing well in Vietnam. I’m in Japan right now– have yet to make it over there! One day…
April 12, 2008 at 2:34 am
Hey Nicole, I’ve found the travel editing business is a little difficult to break into because it’s a pretty popular sector of the editorial world. I started interning with eurocheapo.com after applying to a listing on craigslist. The pay was almost non-existent (I did legal proofreading in the evenings), but the experience was great, as it turned into additional, better paid work. You can comb job listings for these sorts of internships, but if you’re going to be in the New York area, I might even suggest sending the people at eurocheapo your resume and a cover letter. They take on interns quite regularly. Outside of New York, I might do the same thing: contact a small travel publication and try to set up and internship.
April 6, 2009 at 10:51 pm
you got change for a 20?
August 25, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hey TJ-
I’m really enjoying your blog. I’m also planning on relocating to Saigon for a couple months (by way of Brooklyn), and was wondering if you knew of any reliable resources/guides about the process? Just basic logistics, things to take care of before getting there, etc. Any guidance you might have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Anthony