Funniest Thing for January

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is CHARLES W. SCHUEDDIG of Naples, Florida:

Arriving in Bangkok, Thailand, from Los Angeles, we discovered that our checked luggage had become “delayed luggage,” which meant it hadn’t been placed on the plane with us. Exhausted and hot, we took an expensive taxi ride from the BKK airport to our hotel, the St. James, checking in after midnight.

My wife wanted to wash her hair before retiring for the night, but then she realized that her hair conditioner was in our delayed luggage, still in L.A. She had plenty of shampoo but wanted hair conditioner to help untangle her long hair when washing.

She called the hotel front desk asking if they had “hair conditioner.” Languages being what they are, she repeated herself several times: “Do you have hair conditioner?”

At last the receptionist replied, “Yes, five minutes.”

Within five minutes there was a knock at our hotel room door. My wife opened it, and there stood a maintenance man with a flashlight, welding torch and ladder.

With a big smile and in his best English, the maintenance man said, “Excuse, Madame. I’m here to fix air-conditioner.”