“Why are you always traveling?”
I get asked that a lot.
Fair question.
Some of my colleagues save because they are breadwinners.
Some save for stability.
For emergencies.
For the future.
That is responsible.
That is wise.
Then there are those who live by one line:
#YOLO
Buy now.
Enjoy now.
Post now.
Worry later.
Chasing what can be bought.
The new phone.
The designer bag.
The bigger car.
The next upgrade.
And there is nothing wrong with nice things.
But here is my honest answer.
Traveling has always been my dream.
Not just around Asia.
But the world.
Because you can own something for years
and forget how it felt to get it.
Yet you can remember a moment forever.
The sunrise in a city you have never seen before.
The laughter with friends in a place you cannot pronounce.
The wrong train that led to the best story.
The feeling of being small in a very big world.
Those moments do not depreciate.
They do not need upgrades.
They do not go out of style.
They do not lose value.
When I look back one day,
I will not count the gadgets I owned.
I will remember how I felt
when I was present,
curious,
alive.
So maybe this is me justifying my wanderlust.
But if money is a tool,
I would rather use it
to collect stories
than storage.
Because in the end,
memories are the only investments
that appreciate with time.