Social Media Christmas Isn't The Full Story...

# A Roller Coaster Christmas: Unforgettable Adventures and Emotional Realities

You know, if you look at our social media posts on the @radicallycooladventures you'd think it was the most idyllic Christmas ever. We saw the Borneo Big Five:

1. Pygmy Elephants - a heard of 50-ish had show up in the town of Sukau, and we were blessed with seeing 8 of them on the side of the road. For the record, elephants are to Sukau Borneo as deer are to the PNW; they eat everything in their path and the locals are less than enthusiastic about them.

   

   Elephants, you know, just chillin' by the side of the road!

   
   

   

   So freaking cool!

2. Short and Long Tailed Macaque (pronounced ma-cock...you know we had a hay day with that one!!) - the playful little buggers turn out to be everywhere, will steal things off your front porch and are smart enough to open the door to your room if you don't lock it. The babies though...are so dang cute..don't let their cuteness fool you!

   
   

   

   OMG...the babies!

3. Orangutan - did you know they make nests every night in the trees to sleep? And then they get up and move the next morning to not to let their predators know where they are. This one had decided to make a nest next to the river and you could hear the "crack" of the branches as it worked on it's home for the night.

   

   The orangutan is the big black blob in the middle of the tree.

4. Bornean Crocodile - which grow to more than 20 feet long. The first thing they told us when we got to the Greenview Bed and Breakfast was "stay away from the water, stand in the middle of the dock, not the edges, and please keep your hands inside the boat". #notmessingaround

   

   
   

5. Proboscis Monkeys - who have two stomachs cuz they eat poisonous leaves, and so one stomach is to extract the nutrition and the other is to defuse the poison, which they then breathe out of their large ass noses.

   

   
   

It was cool, amazing and a Christmas that I think we will never forget. It won't be like other Christmases where we're lucky to remember one or two gifts by the end of the month, and if asked again in a decade no one has a clue what they received for Christmas. So from that stand point, it was a 10 outta 10; exactly what I was going for.

That said, the morning started with a full face of tears from who? This gal. Oh yeah, you know it. Upon reflection, I think it was a combination of factors.

It kinda feels like a cope out, but I'd be remorse to not accept that jet lag had something to do with it. It was a 40 hour journey from waking up in Bellingham to putting our head on a pillow in Borneo. We left on December 21st, got to Borneo on the 23rd; sleep is still sporadic even though we consciously stayed up and only took cat naps during that 40 hours. And that's 40 hours REAL time, not 40 hours. So exhaustion probably had something to do with my fragile state Christmas morning.

More to the root of the issue, I think that there is an incredible amount of work that goes into planning trips; kinda like the ridiculous amount of work that goes into planning a "normal" Christmas. But instead of the normal:

• "did I buy enough",

• "will they like their presents", and

• "will there be enough food"

it is replaced with:

• "is everyone going to be comfortable",

• "is everyone going to be happy" and

• "I hope I didn't forget anything"

And when it didn't feel like the work was appreciated to the standards I thought it warranted, I broke. Now, let's be very dear here: this was not an issue; it's an ish-me! Having expectations of anyone and anything is the quickest way to disappointment. I know this; I didn't even think I had expectations (but apparently I did). Luckily, since leaving Trail Blazin' I have learned shoving a a square peg in a round hole is an act of futility, so I excused myself from our morning family activity, and did what felt right instead (in this case, I cranked out a couple hours of work) and by the time the family came back, I was a new mom ready to try Christmas again.

Why share this Christmas Story? Cuz it's the real Christmas Story. It's the highs and lows of travel that I rave about, and December 25th is definitely not exempt from the roller coaster of life. And if you're going to come along on this crazy adventure with us, I think it's important to be authentic that it's not all rainbows and butterflies.