It was past visiting hours. The walkway linking mum’s ward to the rest of the hospital was empty. As I dialled her old nursing friend Aunt W for support, the tears started rolling…After weeks of specialist check-ups, it came down to bile duct tumour or hilar cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer with a low survival rate. With chemotherapy, mum had at most a year. Without, six months max.

Why suffer if I can’t have 10 more years? Might as well die and not be a burden, I can already hear mum thinking.

But was I prepared to jump in the deep end with her?

Travelling Solois one Singaporean caregiver’s attempt to parent a dying mum while anticipating the loss of a best friend. In between the search for that ultimate one-pot meal and the most comfortable diaper, the author learns the hard truths about caregiving but also discovers the immense joy that it can bring. These lessons are captured in a series of bite-sized tips, cheat sheets and road maps like what you’d find in a regular travel guide book. Because if you never leave home without that trusty guide, you won’t want to embark on the voyage of your lifetime without an idea or two of what it's going to be like. Whether you’re a newbie carer, second-opinion seeker or just curious, use Travelling Solo as your starting point to explore how you could:

• Plan your caregiving journey


• Eat and shop like a seasoned carer


• Speak the language of the locals


• Understand the new culture


• Appreciate the sights and sounds along the way


• Stay safe and travel smart in unfamiliar territory


• Manage setbacks when they arise


• Schedule timeouts to take stock and recharge


• Imagine a new way of caring

With help at hand, maybe going solo isn’t such a scary thought after all…