Part I, "Point Grey to Burnaby," introduces the novel's protagonists, Marta and Jake, in their home environments in downtown Vancouver and their work environments at Point Grey and Burnaby, respectively.
The section's epigraph originates with Karl Lagerfeld's remark about his Pre-fall 2012 Chanel collection: "It’s much more inspiring not to go to places than to go." He was referring to a collection built upon his fanciful and sequined ideas of India rather than clothing that resulted from an actual hands-on field trip (it's difficult to imagine fastidious, wealthy Lagerfeld wandering the dusty, impoverished streets of Calcutta snapping pics for inspiration).
His comment was interesting because of its reversal. We always imagine a journey as broadening, invigorating, eye-opening. And in lit of course, the journey or quest - whether to Troy, the Underworld, or the heart of darkness - has been written and rewritten for millennia.
In the case of Marta and Jake, the location shoot in the Okanagan, is viewed as an opportunity for escape (for Marta) and as an unpleasant if necessary part of the job description (so thinks Jake). But since the journey is also a comic one, there's not much relation between what Marta and Jake expect from the trip and what they receive.
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