My first thoughts were New Zealand, somewhere not too far
away. But after seeing three travel agents, it was clear that this would not be
a great option for us during the winter months. A touring company called
"Intrepid" was presented to us. A company who specialised in family trips and
adventures. This was just what we were looking for, an adventure that catered
for the young and the young at heart.
The only trip that suited our budget and our travel dates
was the "Borneo Family Adventure". It sounded perfect in every way,
however, I grew very anxious about taking Sebastian to Malaysia, a country that
I wasn't sure of it's safety, especially as a women travelling alone with a
child. What was I thinking? And then there were travel warnings stating not to
travel there unless absolutely necessary, the fear of pirates, identity theft,
diseases such as vaccine induced polio, rabies, malaria, dengue fever or other
mosquito transmitted diseases. Would this trip really be worth all these risks?
My head said "no way", and yet, I was still
driven forward. I tried to look for another option, but nothing
worked. Eventually, with some help from my emotional health coach, I let the
fear go and booked the trip with only five weeks to prepare.
The preparation time flew and before we knew it, we arrived at our destination of Kota Kinabalu after 12 long hours
of travel. We breathed a sigh of relief and tried to get some sleep in a small hot
and stuffy room. We were both so tired that neither of us noticed the air-conditioning
switch on the wall! The following morning we gingerly ventured out of the
hotel, armed with a map, a few dollars of Malay ringgit and some Indonesia rupiah, and headed towards the wharfs to catch a boat to an
island. We really had no idea what we were doing and had very little cash with
us. Once arriving at the docks, we were very quickly pounced upon and asked if
we wanted to go to an island. These young fast talking men all wanted us to get
on their boat and we were quickly educated that a) they only deal in cash and
b) they only use Malay Ringgit and not Indonesian rupiah as we had been
advised. Luckily, there was a money exchange nearby and we converted what we
thought would be enough money to get a boat ride to an island and hire some
snorkelling equipment. That left us with enough small change to perhaps buy an
ice cream on the island.
Arriving at the island, our boat off in the distance, we
were advised that we needed to pay an island conservation fee which totalled 4x
the amount of money that we had in our possession. We looked at each other in
dismay, explained and showed what we had. Of course, credit card was not an
option. Seeing our distress, the woman behind the counter took all the small
change we had and let us through.
We sat on the beach and took a deep breath. I was still
shaking and wondering if I had made the right decision to come to Borneo, as
this wasn't a good start. And yet, we were here, sitting on a beach, on an
island off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. We asked a life guard if we could leave
our bags with him (as we had no money to use a locker), so we could both enter the water and see some fish. The sand
consisted of ground up coral which was hard to walk on. The water was warm, yet
refreshing and once we negotiated our snorkelling equipment, we were on our way
to seeing some tropical fish. We entered the water a second time when Sebastian
realised his snorkel had detached from his mask. We desperately looked
everywhere for it, but it had most likely been swept away by a wave as we tried
to enter the water backwards with our finns on. Sebastian burst into tears as
he remembered the warnings from the man we hired the equipment from "don't
lose it or you will have to pay"!
We found a shady place to sit and relax, eating our
snacks that we had brought along. There wasn't much we could do. Sebastian played
in the sand while I read a book and tried desperately not to stress about the
lost snorkel and how I would pay for it without any cash. Hours later, it was
time to return to the mainland and I thought I would ask the friendly
lifesavers if any snorkels had been handed in. They said no, but one pointed to
something in the sand just near the waters edge. We ran over to it and sure
enough one had been washed to shore. While it wasn't the one Sebastian had lost,
it completed his set and we rushed to the jetty to board our boat in the hope
that all would be okay.
Once back to the docks, we handed the equipment back to
the man who had been waiting for our return. We hurriedly walked on when the
man yelled "excuse me lady". My heart sunk as we stopped and turned
around. "I think you mix up the snorkel" he said. "Oh, is it
ok?" I questioned hopefully. He looked at me, paused, smiled and said, "is ok, is ok".
We thanked him and walked quickly away.
What a day we had, all this and the tour hadn't even
started. But even through the stress of it all, the unfamiliar surroundings,
the smells, the culture and language differences, I felt an undeniable calm. We were being
looked after and we would be okay.
As our tour began, we met the other four families and
our tour guide, and this same feeling of calm continued to stay with us. When things could
have gone terribly wrong, they just didn't. When an experience could have been
ruined by heavy rain, the sun shone and when the activity was over, the heavens
opened. We began to notice our room numbers having some significance. Our first
room number being 1016 with 10 being Sebastian's age at his soon to be birthday
and 16 being the date of my birthday. Then we had 1908, a number I use a lot in
passwords including my iPad and phone and in other password combinations. Then
53, the age I will be at my soon to be birthday, and 711, signifying July 2011,
when we travelled to Germany together as a family, a dream of Mark's to travel
overseas. And finally room number 902, a number I could not decipher and finally
I thought all these room numbers were merely a coincidence. But then Sebastian
said, but wait Mum, didn't you say that yesterday was the "best day
e-v-e-r"? I agreed I had said that, as we had once again been on a beautiful
island spending most of the day snorkelling on different reefs and seeing the
most beautiful uninterrupted display of nature I had ever seen. "Well
yesterday was the 11th and 9+0+2=11, so there you have it" he grinned, his mathematical mind much like his fathers.
I can't deny that this adventure has opened me up to
travel, strengthened my faith, filled my heart with love and gratitude and made
me feel alive again. The happiness I feel inside is undeniable, as is how proud
I am of myself for facing my fears and letting them go. Sebastian also made
a new friend along the way and embraced the journey with as much grace as I
knew he would. He too has grown a little more mature and learned more about
himself and the world around him. This journey was as much a personal growth journey as it was a physical one. A fearless inner strength now burns inside both of us, as our lives begin to move into new areas. Me with my Nutrition Business and Sebastian as he grows into adolescence. But the journey was not yet over...
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