Page 29 of The Trip of a Lifetime

Erin was exasperated with the difficulties of public transport. She wanted to say that this was a tourist place and how was it that there were hardly any buses, coaches or trains, but she didn’t. They were in a race without much money. They weren’t tourists with plenty of time to wait for the next bus while they took in the sights. And anyway, the lovely man who took the keys back from them was being nothing but helpful. Erin could hardly expect him to take kindly to her disparaging of his city or indeed his country.

‘You can get a coach to Calgary today,’ he said looking at his screen. ‘And if you can get there before five thirty, you can catch the last shuttle bus from downtown to Banff. You need to hustle, though. The coach leaves in half an hour and you’ll need to get tickets.’

‘Thank you,’ Martha said. ‘You’ve been so helpful.’

Then they ran with their backpacks bouncing around and their brunch lying heavy in their stomachs. They made it onto the coach with Erin jumping on board after pushing her bag underneath in the baggage area and Martha behind her, wincing a little on each step. Erin took Martha’s rucksack from her and went back out to store it with her own. She made sure to put them as close to the front and side as possible so they wouldn’t get buried with the others and Noah filmed her doing it. Then they all settled into their seats for the three-and-a-half-hour journey. They would have to run again to catch their connection, but they were on their way and would hopefully be in the hotel in Banff by the end of the day.

‘I think we’re doing so well, don’t you?’ Erin said. ‘I very much doubt anyone else is as fast as us.’

‘Any of them could be as fast if not faster than us,’ Martha said. ‘Don’t fall into the trap of thinking we’re breezing it. But I do think we are doing our best. If we hadn’t stopped for food, we would have made the earlier coach but then if we hadn’t stopped for food, we’d never have had the energy to run and might have missed this one.’

Erin couldn’t keep up with her grandmother’s logic and she rested her head back and closed her eyes. She had never driven so far as she had in the last couple of days and hoped it had gone some way to showing Martha how serious she was about this race.

‘I just wish we had some way of knowing how the others are doing,’ Martha said and Erin opened her eyes. ‘All the others.’

‘How much money have we got left?’ Erin asked but Martha put a finger to her lips and nodded her head back to Noah sitting behind them.

‘You’ve got 81 per cent of your budget,’ Noah suddenly said. ‘Cally makes a note of exactly what you’re spending. We’ll be doing a running commentary on each of the contestant’s progress and give the viewer a percentage of your available funds after each checkpoint. Don’t forget that each of the producers are talking to one another about what’s going on. They’re trying to capture the best and the worst moments. You guys will see this as a personal race but for us, we’re making a TV show.’

‘How does 81 per cent compare to the others?’ Martha asked, and Noah laughed.

‘As if,’ he said. ‘Cally and the other producers will be talking about how to get the best out of you all but just as she and I aren’t telling the others about your progress, you won’t be finding out about theirs.’

‘Fine,’ said Martha. ‘I promise not to ask again.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ Noah said and picked up his camera. ‘Why don’t we get a moment of you talking about how you feel your race is going?’

They spent a good while discussing their plans to catch the bus to Banff and how the timings were going to be tight. They talked about where they thought they might be going next and how challenging it might be, but Erin felt it was all a bit forced and she didn’t imagine for one moment that they were making great TV at all, especially as she kept yawning. Then, somehow, despite the constant bumping of the coach, the scratchiness of the seats and the fact it was only the afternoon, she fell asleep.

‘Look lively.’

Martha’s voice cut through Erin’s dream about her hanging from a mountain with Sam at the top, his arm down to help her and her slapping his hand away.

‘We’re just pulling into Calgary, get ready to run,’ Martha said. ‘You too, Noah.’

And then they were off with their bags collected from underneath the coach. The driver gave them a quick tip on a shortcut to where they needed to get tickets and pick up the next bus.

‘Good luck,’ he called after them as they set off towards downtown Calgary with Noah running after them and filming as they went.

They were in and out of the ticket office like lightning and more cash was handed over in pursuit of getting them to the checkpoint.

‘Down here,’ called Erin as she saw a sign for where they needed to be. ‘And over the road, and across this walkway. There, I can see the shuttle bus, I can see the bus!’

Erin picked up her pace, desperate not to miss their connection. And then, just as she ran along the pavement, her arm extended and waving, the bus started pulling away.

‘NO!’ she shouted, and with an extra push and a bit of luck that the bus was stuck behind a taxi, she was at the back of it and banging on the window. The door hissed open and she ran to see the look of surprise on the driver’s face.

‘I’m so sorry for banging on your bus,’ she said breathlessly, but he smiled.

‘I’m your last bus out to Banff today,’ he said. ‘I’d have banged too. Jump on.’

Erin, Martha and Noah climbed onto the second bus of the day as Cally drove past them in her producer’s car. She’d spoken to Noah on his phone and apparently now she wanted to get to Banff for their last sprint to the checkpoint.

Erin was beginning to feel nervous again. After a couple of days of fairly gentle travelling it was going to be another sprint to the finish. One in which she could easily be neck and neck with Sam. She shook off the image and looked down the bus for their seats. And that was when she saw Priya and Tara smiling up at them from the back seat. She walked down the aisle to join them with Martha following behind her.

‘I can’t believe we’re on the same bus,’ Martha said, sinking down onto a seat in front of the two women.

‘You only just made it,’ Priya said. ‘I was trying to get the driver to ignore you.’