Room 711 (St Petersburg, Russia)

I’d joined a package tour in Helsinki to St Petersburg, as recommended by my Finnish friends.  The group of 14 or so turned out to be from down under, one of whom would pronounce her room number (711) with such clipped vowels (sounding something like “sivin ilivin”), when asking for her key, that every one of the different Russian receptionists on duty had trouble understanding her and she’d be asked to repeat it every single time. 

After a few times of this, I helpfully suggested that she might like to spell out­­ the numbers in isolation—as “seven one one”, which would perhaps solve the problem.  So she took my advice the next time she asked for her room key at reception: “Can I have the key to Room Seven One One, please?”  The receptionist on duty this time said, “Oh, you mean Seven Eleven?”

(Event happened August 1996)