Funniest thing

December 2013 issue

Putting a newly learned foreign word to good use

Tell us about the funniest thing that happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Include your full mailing address. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged. 

This month’s winner is ROSEMARY HAGEN of Englewood, FL:

 

This happened many years ago when Berlin was still a divided city and, when leaving East Berlin for West Germany, you had to go through East German Customs....

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January 2014 issue

How to ingratiate yourself with a Scot
By Ken Young

This month’s winner is KEN YOUNG of El Lago, TX:

 

A few years back, I was having a beer in a small pub near Inverness, Scotland, and one of the locals began a friendly conversation. When I happened to mention that my mother was a Wallace (as in William) and that I also had a son-in-law named Robbie Bruce (really!), the locals cheerfully bought me a brew.

The clincher came when one of them asked, “So, you’re from the United States, now, ain’t ye?”

“Well,” I said, “I’m from Texas.”

Slightly puzzled, he asked, “Aye, but Texas IS part of the United States, is it...

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November 2012 issue

No problem
By Paul Roth

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. 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 PAUL ROTH of Elizabethtown, PA:

In 1991, my wife, Meriam, and I traveled back to the Philippines for my father-in-law’s funeral and to visit family. We flew into Manila and headed for the islands of Cebu and Mindanao....

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December 2012 issue

Grasping the meaning
By Marilynn Brown

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) 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 MARILYNN BROWN of Norman, Oklahoma:

In Buenos Aires in 2000 at the end of a group tour of South America, my husband, Homer, and I decided we wanted to have an “American lunch” and chose a nearby KFC restaurant. Although my Spanish was quite limited, I...

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January 2013 issue

Just nod and drive on.
By Madge Christensen

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. 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 MADGE CHRISTENSEN of Greenwood Lake, NY:

Back in 1997, before there were GPS units in rental cars, my husband and I stopped a lovely young couple to get directions to a B&B we had reservations for in a small town in...

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February 2013 issue

Paper or plastic?

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. 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 GLORIA HELMUTH of Tulsa, OK:

My husband, Ed, and I visited the Arabian Gulf area in November 2012. Upon first arriving at the Doha, Qatar, airport, we entered the queue to go through the Immigration line. As we handed...

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March 2013 issue

The two-step

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) 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 REYNOLDS BRANDER of Grand Rapids, Michigan:

About 20 years ago while visiting London, my wife and I were leaving the play “The Mousetrap” when I came face to face with a sweet, older Englishwoman, and it was one of those right foot, left foot, right foot...

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April 2013 issue

Render unto Caesar. . .
By Sol Gold

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. 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 SOL GOLD of Las Vegas, NV:

While on a tour of Turkey about 10 years ago, I was walking through the ruins of Pergamum with another tour member when we were approached by a young local man who asked if we would like to...

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