It is common, it is not a character flaw, and there are specific things that work better than a general invitation to join a club.
2 Sep 20267 min read
Expert Panel
Siti Zaleha Omar
Thirty years writing for Malaysian newspapers and magazines
Travel and lifestyle writerKuala Lumpur
I have written for Malaysian newspapers and magazines since the 1990s, mostly long-form features about ordinary lives. These days I travel with a knee replacement and a medication schedule, and I write about the trips that actually work for readers who are not twenty-five any more. Every destination piece starts from a visit I paid for myself.
Writes about
- Slow travel
- Loneliness and connection
- Later-life learning
Articles by Siti Zaleha Omar
Adults who take on a genuinely difficult new skill report the same thing: the difficulty is the point.
19 Aug 20265 min read
When your grandchildren grow up in Singapore, being present takes a different shape — and a standing arrangement rather than good intentions.
27 Sep 20266 min read
Some people retire and find that what they miss is not the salary. What determines whether a return works is rarely the job — it is the terms.
19 Sep 20266 min read
After a spouse dies there is paperwork, an account with both names on it, and a house that suddenly has no routine in it. Here is the order to do things in.
22 Sep 20268 min read
Regular grandparent care is a gift. Treated as a permanent entitlement, it becomes a job with no hours, no holiday and no pay.
24 Sep 20266 min read
Waking at 4am is common and rarely dangerous. The habits that fix it are boring, and they work better than anything from a pharmacy.
26 Sep 20266 min read
Widowed, divorced or simply on your own — what has changed since you last did this, and how to tell your adult children.
28 Sep 20267 min read
How to sort forty years of a house, what children actually want to keep, and the order that stops the whole process stalling.
29 Sep 20267 min read
Serving soup is one option. Teaching a class, auditing a charity's books or mentoring a small trader uses far more of what you spent forty years learning.
30 Sep 20266 min read
Eleven days, four cities, no rushing — logistics, accessible entrances and what the wheelchair assistance actually gets you.
6 Sep 20269 min read
Where to stay for walkability, which hawker centres are worth the queue, and how to see George Town without heat exhaustion.
21 Aug 20266 min read
The city rewards a good plan and punishes a bad one. Almost all of the difference is shade, air-conditioning and the hours you choose.
24 Sep 20266 min read
A level floor, a bathroom built for it, and no repacking. What the headline price leaves out, and which cabin to book first.
14 Sep 20267 min read
Wheelchair assistance, batteries, boarding chairs and the one request worth making at booking rather than at the gate.
23 Sep 20267 min read
Age limits, pre-existing conditions and medical evacuation — the three clauses that decide whether the policy is worth buying.
25 Sep 20266 min read
Accommodation distance, walking loads, medication and the rest day you build into the itinerary before you leave.
27 Sep 20267 min read
Cool air, short walks and the tea estates — a highland trip that suits knees and blood pressure both.
28 Sep 20266 min read
Hanoi and Ha Long at the speed of a person who wants to sit down, eat well and still see the good parts.
29 Sep 20267 min read
Original packaging, a doctor's letter, and the handful of medicines that need written approval before you fly.
30 Sep 20266 min read