Funniest Thing

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 the Rev. RICHARD LEONARD of New York City, New York.

In 1982, my wife, Polly, and I took part in a 17-day journey through China sponsored by General Tours. It happened that the airplane trip from Nanjing to Xi’an had to be canceled at the last minute and, instead, we were put aboard an overnight train with sleeping accommodations.

The sleeping car consisted of a number of compartments each designed for four persons, with two upper berths and two lower berths. The couple assigned as our companions for the night were Sam and Helen, strangers to us but coincidentally also from New York City. (The assignment, as I recall, was based on the fact that we were the only nonsmoking couples in the group.)

In addition to the four berths, our compartment contained one vertical ladder affixed to the wall beside the exit door. It happened to be on the side next to Polly’s and my beds. The two men took the upper berths, with our wives below us behind their curtains.

In the middle of the night I had to make a john stop. I carefully descended the ladder, peeked in on Polly, gave her several kisses and made the round trip to the men’s room.

Later, Sam carefully swung across to the ladder and descended for the men’s room. Polly, thinking it was me coming down the ladder again, ran her hand up Sam’s pajama leg before realizing her mistake.

We had occasion to see Sam and Helen in New York after the trip. Sam claimed that Polly’s mistake had been the highlight of his 17 days in China.