With my German exam looming in the air and some unexpected news, I shouldn’t have time to pin yet another useless weekend thoughts on something so trivial triggered by a clickbait post seen on Facebook. It says study confirms that nobody gives a shit about your vacation pictures with a […]
EDIT: This was written in 2016. A lot has changed in my life. I moved to Vietnam, went back to teaching, and lived the expat life. In November 2021, my two cats and I moved to Munich, Germany. You can follow me on Instagram: @jonajournals for more current life updates. Some […]
“Timan-i, stranger ka didto.” Remember, you’re a stranger there. The first lesson arrived in a text message from Mama who had no other choice but to accept that I am not settling down just yet, and that I’d rather spend my money travelling than buy my own lot to build […]
She sighed. She was crouching on the floor, shifting some leaves with her frail-looking wrinkled hands. She then slit the middle of one elongated leaf, which looked like pandan, and inserted the base of another. She repeated the process until she made a beautiful mandala of leaves. She then pushed […]
The fact you’re googling the best time to visit Paris is a sign that you’re finally planning your Paris trip. Yey! And you start it right. Before packing your bags, let’s talk about the most important aspect of your journey – timing. Choosing the right time to visit Paris can […]
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Mohsin Hamid, Carmen Maria Machado, Tracy K. Smith, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Little Gems on the Internet I aimed for fifty books read last year. I only read 20. I still considered it as an achievement of sort, considering the personal turmoil I had adapting to a new country. Before coming […]
Like many doe-eyed creative writing major graduates, I thought I would make money from my writing, but I’m no JK Rowling. Or a terrible poet yet wildly popular like Lang Leav. On top of it, I fell in love with a roughly expensive hobby — travel. So I tried travel blogging without […]
Hi there, I’m Jona, a Filipino who left her homecountry to pursue a long-term trip abroad. Here is an honest and updated Philippines Travel Guide and Travel Tips (last updated in January 2023). I hope you find it useful. If you got questions not answered in the content, please leave […]
Here at Backpacking with a Book, we find sincere stories as our core. We also know that our stories are but small fractions; the world is composed of stories worth telling, after all. We know that you have your own story to tell. So we want to be the venue, […]
It was a pure coincidence––me finding out about this thread on a Facebook group of women here in Hanoi. It cracked the hell out of me. I asked permission to collate some of them here for a wider audience. Feel free to add some in the comment box! The United […]
Bet nila yong skin mo. Ganahan ang mga puti sa imong panit. They like your skin.I’ve been told countless times by many fellow Filipinas, both young and old. Nila, They refers to white men, both young and old, who salivate over exotic creatures like me. And each time annoys the hell […]
A Developing Country Citizen’s Perspective: What’s Wrong with “Leave Everything Behind and Travel the World”
I shared the table with a Dutch traveler for our complimentary breakfast of coffee, two toasts, and few slices of melon—something that the Burmese or us Filipinos do not normally have for breakfast. But I enjoyed it, nonetheless, especially after an hour or so of pedaling on sandy paths, checking […]