Filipina in Flip Flops | Travel Tales and the City Life of a Filipina: how to get started on traveling

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Let's face it, traveling can be a rough, rugged, and filthy activity. Shoddy toilets, long hours in transit, places in the middle of nowhere without the comforts of home - such minor details are all part of the fun, except sometimes it can leave a lady feeling more aimless vagabond than fierce, fashion-forward adventurer.

So what's a girl to do? Suck it up and go with the flow, more often than not. But there are a few tips and tricks to survive life on the road without having to sacrifice one's girly needs (but also keeping in mind not to go overboard, either - nobody wants to travel with a fussy princess).

A key point is to be prepared - you must anticipate that a backpacking trip will leave you a little filthier and more unkempt than your usual self, so it's best to plan ahead. Read on to find out how you can prepare to rough it out on the road and still look like a decent human being (at the very least).

I reckon it's a resolution on many people's lists: to travel more in the new year. It's easy enough to promise yourself this, but to actually do it - to just pack your bags, book a flight and leave - is a different story.

Now, I'm no travel expert, but here are 5 tips I've found helpful in my few years of backpacking/flashpacking/spending my employer's money on business trips across Asia. They're simple and might even be considered no-brainers, but I'm still putting them out there in case they might help you get your butt off your chair or your eyes off your smartphone while you read this, and out into the world.

So how about it - how do you fancy reading Filipina in Flip Flops on your smartphone/laptop/tablet in an empty beach, or on a sleeping bus en route to a strange new destination this year?