Yuli and Bigfoot

Yuli sat at his HP computer class clicking rapidly at the keyboard, meticulously comparing flights to rural Osaka. He hadn’t taken a proper break from work this year, and after graduating from university just three weeks earlier with a physics degree, he decided he had earned one. While some people celebrate such a milestone with a party or a luxurious vacation, he had something rather different in mind. Regardless, he purchased a business class ticket from Brisbane to Osaka. You definitely could say he wasn’t money smart. The plane was scheduled to depart in 5 days, so Yuli went straight to packing.

“So, what do we need here? Well, we need clothes, underwear, my New York City cap, mosquito spray, a book..." He paused, staring at the open suitcase. "...and a torch," Yuli told himself out loud. He reached behind him and picked up an expensive-looking torch from behind him. “I swear, if this doesn’t work...” he muttered to himself, frustration building up in his voice. After he examined and tested it, Yuli’s face turned apple red, his fists clenched. His jaw tightened. His breathing changed from calm to heavy, with his head in his hands. The one thing he actually needed had decided to die five days before he left. All because the torch didn’t work, and there was no other one that did. This was really just his luck. His parents were Japanese, but this was the first time he’d been. Yuli was a world explorer, as he’s been to: Bangkok, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, Barcelona, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Cairo, Warsaw, Auckland, Abu Dhabi, Ottawa, Shanghai, Rome and much, much more countries and cities except Japan. He was going to experience the adventure of his life.

5 DAYS LATER...

Pressure and nervousness was surging through him, as this was only the second time he had been on a plane in his life. This was only the second time Yuli had been on a plane in his entire life. He had reached all those other global destinations by long-distance cruise ships, only flying once before on a return trip from Cairo when he was six years old. It was strange to be so comfortable at sea but so terrified in the air. Yuli still felt knots in his belly from the very bumpy Uber ride to the large airport, but he tried to ignore it. 4C, 4C, he instructed himself, because that was his business- class seat. It didn’t take long to find. Aerobridges are actually quite helpful for business class flyers, and actually quite useless for economy class flyers. Yuli settled into his comfortable seat, and relief washed over him. He was lucky for once; there was a screen! Eventually, the kind cabin crew gave out surprisingly comfy noise-cancelling headphones. The boring safety video rolled, but Yuli ignored it. Everyone else, as far as he could see, did too. The massive A330 entered the runway after 5 minutes of taxiing, and the engines roared resonantly. This was the fastest he had ever gone in an extremely long time, but it didn’t last long. The A330, or “Wallaby” as it was called, lifted up and became airborne at last, and Yuli’s ears got blocked immediately. It’s not actually that bad! It’s kinda...fun? he realised. At last, the screens were unlocked. Yuli was the first passenger to log in. He started a movie, then challenged seat 3D to a game of Battleship. Yuli won, but he cheated by leaning over to peek at his opponent’s screen. When the game ended, the defeated passenger realised where seat 4C was and glared backward, narrowing his eyes. Yuli could not help but giggle quietly and grin. He messed around with the seat-to-seat chat feature for a bit, before settling in to watch movies until the nine-hour flight passed with ease. BAM! Touchdown! It felt incredibly hard, but Yuli knew that’s just how it is; it doesn’t get much softer than that.

“Welcome to Osaka everyone! If you are on a holiday, have a wonderful time, but if you’re returning, welcome home! Thank you for flying JetSquare. Have an awesome day!” came an energetic pilot’s voice through Yuli’s headphones, which shouldn’t still be connected. He took them off, lost in thought, imagining the city. It must be awesome. Still thoughtful, he grabbed his carry-on and exited Wallaby. Oh wow, it’s chilly. Yuli was not prepared for this. He hurried into the bathrooms which were surprisingly clean and, luckily, spacious. He laid down his carry-on bag, which is what had most of the clothes, and shoved on 2 jumpers and 1 puffer jacket, along with a toasty beanie. Out of the corner of his eye, a strange shadow made him jump. Hurriedly, he repacked his luggage, tapped the biggest smiling face on the digital airport satisfaction screen, and rushed toward baggage claim. At the arrivals luggage pickup, Yuli waited 7 minutes, and he finally got his giant, overweight luggage back. As he left Osaka Airport, some Japanese airport workers respectfully bowed to him.

Yuli walked to the city, which wasn’t too far from the airport, and it was bustling even though Tokyo is Japan’s main city. Before he could take it all in, he was hungry. Real hungry, as he rejected 4 out of 5 meals on the plane, and he only ate the very first one he was served. Yuli walked to a nearby ramen place called “Tacchira”. He walked in, but apparently you had to pay first, so he went back outside. It didn’t take long to understand; all you had to do was click on what you wanted and insert the coin/s in the slot below. He went inside and waited only 5 minutes for his steaming ramen and gyoza to arrive. Once it arrived, Yuli slurped it up in a polite way.

Oh my god. This is so good. This is not possible, thought Yuli. It was so good. This was the best ramen he’s tasted in his life.

“Arigato!” Yuli had to yell because it was so noisy in the kitchen. He did learn some basic Japanese from one of the random people he messaged on the plane. He walked out and on to the main road. The campsite was a 30-minute drive, but an hour walk. So Yuli made the smart decision and rented a car through GoGet, using his brand-new iPhone 17 Pro MAX. It just turned out that he got a Rolls-Royce Boat Tail. Maybe he wasn’t so unlucky after all. The car was a 35-minute walk away, but you can’t argue over a Rolls-Royce! I mean, a Rolls-Royce is a Rolls-Royce! He walked over, admiring the car. Yuli thought he would look so cool driving it (until everyone saw the GoGet logo). Luckily, he has a legit driving license and he barely passed the ID25 test. He got in the fancy car and set up GPS to the campsite. This was really an experience. Yuli finally got to tour Osaka. It was absolutely beautiful.

He arrived at the destination in less than 30 minutes because he was speeding, but no cops noticed him. His campsite was #5, clearly labelled with a wonky wooden sign that it was straight ahead. Yuli felt slightly guilty using a rented red Rolls-Royce for minor off-roading, but he knew that there was no extra fee for “dirtiness”. There was no disclaimer about that on the website. Anyways, there were rows and rows of neatly set up tents, and it wasn’t as busy as Yuli had imagined it to be. There was a decent amount of space between each tent, and there was a general campsite, with no tents; just managed forested land. Just the sight of it was foreboding, yet campers sat around a tree on some tree stumps. Yuli checked his phone, and apparently his tent was bright green and numbered 25.

I’ll look for it later, he thought. Right now, I need to worry about parking availability. He did need to worry, because there were very little parking spots. Not there, not there, nowhere. Argh! Oh wait, there’s one. Let’s go! Yuli pushed himself out of the Rolls-Royce and walked to the back, opening the boot. There was a ginormous camping bag sitting for him patiently. Yuli struggled to lift the weighted bag, but after lots of effort, he eventually resulted in success. He marched towards all of the tents, looking awkward, but there was no other option. There were a few tents that were green, but none that were labelled 25... aha! There! Yuli did not happen to know how to open a tent, although it wasn’t too difficult to figure it out. There was a cover with 2 zips for privacy, and there also was a bug net to prevent those pesky bugs from swarming in. He opened the tent up, careful not to tip it over. Wow. This was way more spacious than it seemed from the outside. Yuli thought all the nonsense in cartoons where it’s just a hut but inside is basically the whole earth was silly, but this was quite impressive. He set up his sleeping bag neatly, making it look like a hotel. Yuli lay down on top of it for a demo on how it’s going to feel at night, and the answer was: not good. It was rocky and hard, and he didn’t think he needed a stretcher (not an ambulance stretcher, a camping stretcher. If you thought of it as a hospital stretcher, get real!), but he highly regretted his horrible decision. “Woah!” He slipped, but the tent saved his fall, also proving it was robust. He checked his new Apple watch (Yuli was obsessed with Apple products) and it read: 9:27PM.

“Guess I must go to bed. Goodnight, everyone. Oh, also, don’t get robbed Rolls-Royce,” Yuli muttered to himself, and he turned off the mini lamp he had to use for an alternative with the torch. Pitch black, not a sound from outside. Perfect sleeping environment. Or was it?

THE NEXT DAY...

Maybe it wasn’t such a perfect sleeping spot after all. The wind howled and the tent rattled vigorously, which was quite a fright. Yuli felt for sure the tent would blow over and fly all the way to Africa, and Yuli felt if he moved a single muscle, he was going to be a sugar glider that woke up startled. The noise was relentless, the tent flapping louder with every gust. After what felt like forever- thirty long minutes- the windstorm finally eased.

“What’s the time?” Yuli groaned. He felt around for his handy alarm clock (which he hadn’t set any alarm) and smacked the light button on the top of the clock. He squinted at the glowing digits: 8:16 AM.

“Time to get up then.” He stretched until he was ready to get out of bed. The tent was dim, but he knew daylight was waiting outside. He rummaged through his luggage, pulled out his clothes for the day, and threw them on without much thought. His eyes scanned the phone. Then he checked the weather app, scrolling to the “Past” section. His eyes widened in bewilderment.

“75 kilometers per hour!? Really!?” He couldn’t decide if that was impressive or terrifying. Still baffled, Yuli laced up his expensive hiking shoes, ready to take on the world (or at least the hill beyond the campsite). This hill was part of the campsite’s property, although it was rarely managed, and who knows what could be there! It’s more like a miniature forest with an unfathomable number of tall trees. He unzipped the tent, and outside was much, much brighter and sunnier than he expected it to be. Yuli strode to that hill- forest thing, and it was quite empty. Convenient, thought Yuli to himself. Without thinking what could possibly be lurking in the woods, he walked in like it’s totally normal to be wandering in a forest.

“Wow. That’s a lot of trees. 1....2....3.... 4.. There’s too much to count!” Yuli trudged through the small forest, eventually getting lost, and realising that it was larger than it seemed from the outside. Rustle. Rustle. Yuli pivoted around, leaning towards the sound coming from the dense bush behind him. Ooh! It’s a rabbit! He was admiring the rabbit’s cuteness. But the forest had fallen strangely silent. Yuli froze. Only a moment ago, birds had been singing and trees had rustled gently in the breeze. Now... nothing. Not even the rabbit was moving. A slow, heavy thump echoed somewhere behind him. The ground seemed to vibrate intensely beneath his boots. Yuli swallowed hard. "Probably just another camper..." he whispered, though he didn't believe it himself. A deep, rumbling growl rolled through the trees. Every hair on the back of his neck stood up. He spun around- and almost dropped his camera. Standing between the towering trees was something impossible. It was enormous. Its dark brown fur hung in tangled clumps, its shoulders wider than a car. Its feet looked large enough to crush 25 people in one go. Two piercing eyes stared straight at him without blinking. For a heartbeat, neither of them moved. Then Yuli's mind screamed only one word: run. “AARRGGHHHH!!! HEELLPP MEEEEE!!!!!!” He turned and sprinted through the forest, branches whipping across his face. Sadly, no one was around to help him. Everything... except one thing. The idea sparked like a light bulb in his brain. Behind him, he still heard a sequence of deafening thuds. Before he got his excellent plan to work, Yuli had to get his camera out and snap some images. Still running, Yuli yanked out his camera and aimed it over his shoulder. CLICK! The photo blurred. CLICK! A massive furry arm filled the frame. CLICK! The third picture captured Bigfoot perfectly. While sprinting as fast as his long legs could take him, he peeked at the camera photos he just took. A brown, furry creature that was very large in size. Its feet were crazy giant. Even the sight of the picture was terrifying, although the whole point of the picture was to prove to the world that Bigfoot- or whatever this creature was- was real.

Kicking off his plan, Yuli sprinted toward the tents, with Bigfoot’s heavy footsteps thundering behind him. The rows of tents stretched endlessly- the flaps flying like warning flags. Number 25 was still far ahead. Perfect. He slipped between tents, his lungs struggling for air, the air thick with suspense and panic. Bigfoot didn’t seem to show the slightest hint of exhaustion. Yuli’s mind raced- if anyone saw this area afterwards, they would think he’d lost it. No one would believe Bigfoot was real, so there would be no one else to blame.

He ducked under a rope, heard a fabric tear, and risked a speedy glance back. Bigfoot was tangled in the mess of cloth and poles. Convinced it would make a comeback, Yuli bolted for the car park, heart hammering. Luckily, the Rolls-Royce beamed under the floodlights, looking like something straight out of Fast & Furious. He fumbled for the key, fingers drenched with sweat.

“Come on,” he muttered, shoving the key into the lock. The engine hesitated — an unwanted pause. Hurry up, he thought. Just start already. As he thought that, a mighty ROAR filled the carpark. The V12 of the car came to life. Without even touching the seatbelt, Yuli slammed on the acceleration pedal, absolutely flooring it. He was not sure the steering wheel would hold on for much longer from Yuli’s aggression with it, although he did not raise a finger. Yuli did not want to stay. After settling on a safe distance from the campsite, he got on his phone and scrolled through the flights, his heart still pounding.

“Twelve thousand, three thousand- I'm better off just flying budget. JetCircle is pretty value-for-money. It’s only $85!” Yuli reached into his deep pocket, pulling out his card to see the card number.

“Done! Departs Friday at 12:50 PM! Let’s get packing!” He had never been so keen to do something. So he got packing right away.

FRIDAY 12:50 PM...

This flight whizzed by, with Yuli not so scared about flying anymore. He thought he knew the most about the screens on the plane, as it was the same as last time.

“Hello everyone, and welcome to Bris-bane! If you are on vacation, have an awesome time, but of course- if you are returning home, welcome home! Thank you so much for flying JetCircle Airways, and we hope to see you flying with us again!” came a sleepy-sounding pilot over the headset. Yuli acknowledged himself as a home comer. The rest of the day went as a blur, all he remembered was having lunch, then researching about Bigfoot, although the sinking-in-bed part was unforgettable. Yuli had learned a life lesson: NEVER go camping again. He still had a knot in his belly; he didn’t feel safe. Because he wasn’t.