Who’s behind this
I’m Chris Oberman. I move to a new country every several years with my family. So far we’ve lived in Beijing, Shanghai, Iraqi Kurdistan, the Netherlands, and now Seoul. When I write about a place, it’s because I’ve had a local phone number, a favourite coffee shop, and neighbours who shared their insights.
My work has been featured in BBC (2x), NBC, Business Insider, Fodor’s Travel, USA Today, and 35+ other outlets. I share this not to brag, but because I think it matters: the recommendations on this site come from someone whose name is publicly attached to them, not from an anonymous source.
I don’t have a writing team. The articles, photography, hotel picks, and recommendations are all mine, informed by the people I live alongside in each country. Because of this, I’m only able to produce 1 blog post per week at most. It takes a lot of time to research, write, prepare photos, and match them with the right content.
My background is in clinical psychology and human resources. Before traveling, I was a professional DJ with 600+ shows across 40 countries. Find me on LinkedIn.
How these guides come to life
Live there I move to a new country every few years. The guides come from my daily life, not a press trip.
The neighbour effect
Living somewhere means building a local network. My neighbours, friends, and their families share places and tips that don’t exist online. My Korean neighbours recommend specific spots in Seoul that aren’t in any blog. My Chinese friends told me where to actually stay in Shanghai. My Iraqi friends taught me things about Oman and Lebanon that I couldn’t have found online.
Verify everything
I walk the streets, try the hotels, eat at the restaurants, and test the transport before I write about it.
Go deeper
When locals in my current country recommend a nearby destination, I go there and write about it, using their insights.
Keep it current
I try to revisit and update guides when prices, conditions, or recommendations change. Every updated post shows when it was last reviewed. If you spot something that’s wrong or outdated, please let me know! I take corrections seriously and make them transparent.
How I pick hotels
Every hotel on Moving Jack, in a guide post or in the neighbourhood quiz results, is there because I’ve personally stayed at it, visited it, or had someone I trust stay there and report back. Hotels cannot pay to be included, ranked higher, or featured more prominently on my site.
My selection process
I start with properties I know firsthand, then cross-reference guest review scores (I use a minimum of 7.5 on Booking.com as a baseline), verify location, walkability, and metro access on the ground, and sort by budget tier so you see options that actually match your spending.
I revisit and update hotel recommendations when prices change significantly, when management or quality shifts, or when better options open in the area. If a hotel I previously recommended drops in quality, I remove it.
How the neighbourhood quiz works
Some of my “Where to Stay” guides include an interactive neighbourhood quiz. The quiz scoring comes from actually living in these neighbourhoods, not from an algorithm or a database. It’s a tool to help visitors actually find out where they want to stay and which area fits their needs best.
The questions are designed around the real trade-offs travellers struggle with (including me): budget vs. location, walkability vs. skyline views, tourist sights vs. local streets, and nightlife vs. quiet mornings. Each answer maps to specific neighbourhoods based on conversations with readers, friends, and locals over years of living in each city.
The quiz is not sponsored by any hotel, tourism board, or booking platform. The hotel recommendations shown in the quiz results follow the same selection standards described above.
How I make money
I believe in being upfront about this. Moving Jack earns money in three ways:
Affiliate links. Some links on this site, including hotel links in quiz results and guide posts, are affiliate links, primarily through Booking.com, but also Expedia and Hotels.com. If you book through one of these links, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This is the main revenue source that lets me spend the time researching, visiting, and writing these guides to help other travelers.
Digital products. I sell travel guides, Google Maps, and courses through the Moving Jack shop. These are created from my own experience and research. These guides go even more in-depth and are meant to be an extra tool for someone researching a destination or actually going there.
Occasional partnerships. I sometimes work with tourism boards or brands. When I do, it’s always clearly labelled — see below.
What I don’t do: I don’t accept payment to feature or rank specific hotels. I don’t let affiliate commission rates influence which properties I recommend. I recommend what I’d tell a friend.
Sponsored content policy
If a post or section is sponsored or produced in partnership with a brand or tourism board, I say so clearly at the top. My editorial voice stays independent regardless of any commercial relationship. I only partner with companies or destinations I’d genuinely recommend, and I maintain full control over what I write.
Photography
All photos on Moving Jack are mine, shot on location and edited in Lightroom. No stock photos. No AI-generated images. What you see is what I actually saw.
AI policy
I don’t use AI to write my articles, generate opinions, or fabricate experiences. Every recommendation on this site comes from places I’ve actually been and hotels I’ve actually seen. The photography is mine. The perspectives are mine.
I occasionally use AI features within Lightroom to remove people from photos for privacy reasons, especially when shooting in crowded areas or when children are in the frame. Being in so many different countries means taking into account many different privacy regulations. The locations, compositions, and scenes are always real and unaltered.
I do use AI tools as part of my technical workflow, such as building the neighbourhood quiz system, leveraging WordPress features, and optimizing my site’s speed. I’m not pretending it doesn’t exist, but it doesn’t replace the living-there part.
Contact
Questions about these standards, a correction, or just want to say hi? Reach me through the contact page.