Page 12 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘You’ll barely know we’re there,’ Cally had said. ‘The camera is tiny and not at all intrusive. We’ll follow you but from a way back. You have to know, though, that if you’re going to get a bus or a train or a lift, you can only get on it or in it if there’s at least one other place for the camera. No camera, no show, I’m afraid.’

‘That makes sense,’ Martha had said.

‘I wasn’t joking about the bear spray either,’ Cally said now as a ranger handed over a canister.

‘Bear spray!’ Erin said, but she knew she didn’t sound as shocked as she had the previous evening and it fell a bit flat.

She took it and tucked it into her rucksack, which was already full to bursting. She began to wonder how many miles she would have to lug it and whether they’d even need bear spray. She also had thoughts about accidentally using it on Sam.

‘Here’s your map of Canada,’ the ranger said. ‘And a guidebook and your cash.’

Martha took the money and briefly leafed through it. It didn’t look like much.

‘You’ve been here before, Martha,’ Cally said. ‘It’s not enough for any sort of comfort. It won’t get you good food and fancy accommodation. In fact, if you want to eat decently and get public transport, it probably won’t get you any sort of accommodation. You’ll have to spend very wisely. Beg, borrow, steal, work. And of course, you know you’re not allowed to fly, but then you can’t afford to anyway.’

She then handed over a money belt. Martha tucked the cash inside and then clipped it around her waist, underneath her top, with no question that Erin should have it. The way Erin was feeling this morning, she would wholeheartedly agree. She wasn’t to be trusted with anything as important as their worldly wealth.

Erin had barely slept. She wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. The first nice-looking man to show a mild interest in her since the Hamish shit show and he turned out to be, well, possibly worse than Hamish. She couldn’t bring herself to share her stupidity with Martha, though. When her grandmother had quizzed her on her mood last night she’d said she was just tired and feeling a little overwhelmed at what lay ahead for them. This wasn’t untrue, she was feeling both of those things but there was also her utter shame. Her nana wouldn’t be impressed if she knew all that Erin had divulged. Erin had had one job to do: stay in the hotel room and not speak to anyone. And now, to think of Samuel, or Sam, or whatever his actual name was, laughing with Harrison was unbearable.

‘So, we’re a team,’ Erin said now to Cally.

‘No,’ said Cally. ‘I’m not fussed if you win, I just want to make great TV.’

Erin felt Cally had made herself perfectly clear on that point.

Outside, they were handed an envelope. Erin took it and read what was written on the card inside.

Welcome to The Trip of a Lifetime in Canada

Your final destination is St John’s

Your first checkpoint is Tlell

The race begins at midday

She looked up to see Martha smiling and beginning to unfold the map as the camera guy, who’d been introduced last night as Noah, began filming. He was familiar, Erin thought, but she couldn’t place him. Martha and Erin crouched down over the shape of Canada laid out on the grass. There was no getting over it, it was massive.

‘Where’s St John’s?’ Erin asked, overwhelmed at the scale of the map.

‘I’m going to guess a long way away,’ Martha said, running her finger from where they were in the westernmost point all the way over to Newfoundland in the east. ‘There,’ she breathed and looked up at Erin.

‘But that’s…’

‘Yeah, thousands of miles,’ said Martha.

Erin felt her legs go a little weak at the prospect but Martha was still smiling for the camera.

‘And what about Tlell? Where’s the first checkpoint?’ Erin asked.

They both looked at the map again, Martha’s finger tracing back and forth over the major cities in the south of the country between Vancouver and Newfoundland. Erin just thought this was an impossible task. Canada was enormous and there looked to be a whole lot of nothing in the north. The huge expanse of Hudson Bay punched a hole through that whole lot of nothing, too. She let her eyes travel further across to the group of islands on the Pacific side: Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, further west than Vancouver itself.

‘It makes sense if our challenge is to do a proper coast to coast,’ Erin said and Martha agreed, beginning to move her finger in that direction. Erin’s eyes flicked over the many place names scattered across the map and found it on the island of Haida Gwaii. ‘There. It’s right there.’

‘Okay,’ said Martha brightly. ‘So, we’ll have to get a boat from… I’m not sure. I guess Prince Rupert? There’s a dotted line across the water to the island from there. Or maybe from Vancouver Island. It really depends on how much the ferries will cost versus bus or train travel further north. I’d normally just look it up on my phone of course. Right, let’s get back to the city and ask in the bus or train station. There must be loads of connections going north.’

Martha began to fold the map back into its neat little package and then got to her feet, that smile still held tightly in place.

‘Challenge accepted,’ she said directly into the camera.