So first time abroad for me, Mum and Dad in Yugoslavia as it was known then, and I was using a phrase book and trying to communicate the best i could, but we couldn't find a toilet whilst away from the hotel so Dad said leave this to me!  So when the next person walked by he said "excuse me guv, where's the lav?"  You won't be surprised to know we never got a response or directions, I said "that went well Dad!" On many occasions we reminisced about this story.