I love fashion as much as the next girl. OK maybe, a wee bit more than the regular girl but way less than all my fashion editor friends. I love ogling at architectural heels, the smell of new leather on a brand new bag and the intricacies of draping on a dress. There is something about fashion that is akin to art, especially the pursuit of perfection.

Having said all that, when it comes to splurging on something, I would, more often than not, choose to splash my wad of cash (a very tiny wad) on a trip to a foreign land where I can experience new sights, scents and sounds.

To some, luxury means toting around this season’s snakeskin clutch, but for me, luxury is simply laying on a white sandy beach with a book in hand, checking out the architecture that dates back to eons ago or spending hours in a museum.

“Think of them as investment pieces then!” quipped a friend who was trying to make me see her from her very fashionable point of view.

I hate to say this but she’s not entirely wrong, as I know of friends who collect Rolexes and Birkins as part of their investment strategy.

“You can always sell them when you want need the money for a rainy day,” she helpfully offered.

As much as I have to face the facts about these so-called investment pieces, my heart still wills me toward tubing down the Laos river or that dive expedition in Fiji.

When my colleagues are busy checking out shopping sites like Net-a-porter or ASOS.com, I’ll be trawling sites like AirAsia and TripAdvisor just to find places I have yet to visit and can afford to travel to. Is that strange?

I guess part of my rationale is, with travel, you always get good stories from it. No matter where you land up, there is always a story to tell – the taxi scam, getting lost on in the subway, that club-hopping night, that stranger that you met at the beach.

Plus, these stories make for colourful memories and worldly advice for your future grandkids.

I’m not going to sit back and wait till Venice is completely sunken or the Great Barrier Reef has disappeared entirely (no thanks to Global Warming) before I regret not ever visiting those places in my lifetime.

With every city or town you visit, you learn something about the place, you take away a piece of their culture, you gain knowledge, and that, to me, is something you can never ever gain from owning a branded bag.

What do you think? How are you going to blow your next paycheck? Let me know!