Potato! | Lost

I went traveling once.
Round Germany.
It was the first time I'd been abroad.
I got lost in Hamburg and stopped to ask an old man for directions.
Unfortunately, I didn't know any German and I'd lost my phrasebook as well.
"Excuse me," I said, "can you speak any English?"
He shook his head.
I decided to press on regardless. "Do you know the way to the airport?" I asked.
He just looked at me.
"The airport, you know, aeroplanes..." I continued.
He carried on looking at me.
In the end, I spread my arms and moved around making a whooshing noise with my mouth like a plane taking off. Immediately he smiled and nodded.
"Ja ja!" he said, and led me over to a map where he pointed it out.
It wasn't until much later that I discovered that he'd directed me to the local mental hospital.