A little over two years ago, I read and reviewed my first travel book aimed squarely at the female population. Despite having "lipstick" and "women" in the title, I also found it to be perfectly suitable for men.
When I was offered the chance to review Chelsea Duke's first book, High Heels and a Head Torch: The Essential Guide for Girls Who Backpack, I figured, why not? Since I'd learned with the lipstick book to take titles with a grain of salt, it wasn't Duke's cover that tipped me off that this would indeed be a book geared for women. Nor was it the feminine, cursive typography sprinkled throughout the text. Not even the little pair of illustrated, strappy high heels underneath the page numbers gave me that ah-ha moment.
When I started chapter one, "First Things First," which details putting one's kit (or backpack and belongings) together, I realized I was in for a steady dose of the female perspective. I noticed an excessive amount of time spent on clothing and accessories, not just on which items to bring but also on ensuring maximum coordination opportunities. I learned, among other things, that make-up can melt and make a mess in hot weather.
Sure, guys think about what clothes to take, but I've never seen so much time and care devoted to the topic in a backpacking guidebook. Perhaps most writers, even the female ones, assume femininity is sacrificed on the backpacker trail. Chelsea Duke disagrees. For example, she suggests women "take a skirt and heels or make-up - something to make you feel a bit girlie and sexy."
As I continued to read, I started to realize that while a man can effortlessly build a rugged persona during a backpacking trip, a woman has to be creative to maintain her sense of sex appeal (which we all know is required to attract a man - a fact not at all lost on Duke given the number of condom and safe sex references). I also learned women have built-in money belts in the form of their bras. Duke regularly recommended stashing stuff there for safekeeping.
I appreciated the author's tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and could clearly tell she was passionate about sharing her lessons learned from a trip around the world. Duke weaves plenty of anecdotes from her adventures in Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America into the book, offering lists of do's and don'ts at the end of every chapter to summarize her best advice.
She covers the typical budget travel topics, like managing a good night's sleep in hostels and meeting new people. In addition, she humorously touches on topics you'd be hard-pressed to find in other guidebooks, such as tricks for ensuring you can use squat toilets effectively and how to go about bush peeing without making a mess. I imagine reading High Heels and a Head Torch would be like reading a backpacking column in the pages of Cosmopolitan. It's perfect for women, but guys should look elsewhere.
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High Heels and a Head Torch: The Essential Guide for Girls Who Backpack by Chelsea Duke is currently available in paperback and for Kindle on Amazon.
