I'm a lefty. My wife is a righty and has been playing guitar since before I met her. I briefly tried to learn to play on some of her right handed instruments, but they always felt awkward to me. Once I found a lefty it felt much more natural. I think if you just fingered cords and used simple strumming patterns, playing backward (right-handed) would probably be a good way to go. Personally, I find that my dominate hand is more capable at taking on the intricate tasks of the relatively complex picking patterns, finger picking or hybrid picking than is my right hand. I understand Mark Knopfler is a natural leftly who finger picks with his right hand. Obviously, he does just fine.

That said, the selection of left handed guitars (compared to righties) is terrible. Go into any Guitar Center and you might find a Mexican made Tele or Strat and maybe an Epiphone Les Paul. That's compared to scores, if not hundreds of right-handed versions. If you want anything other than those, any advice about playing an instrument before you buy it pretty much goes out the window. Forget about hollowbodies. You might find a single acoustic, but don't count on it. The majority of other music stores don't even carry any lefties. You can get a pretty good selection of lefties online, including some very nice models. Just don't expect to try before you buy.