World’s Unluckiest Travellers: The Harrowing Stories Of The Winners

A travel insurance company has revealed the winners of the World’s Unluckiest Traveller awards for 2024, featuring a collection of frightening and bizarre travel misadventures. This contest of stories of travel nightmares received nearly 500 entries from across North America. After weeks of voting, a winner has emerged.

Julie S was named the World’s Unluckiest Traveller and won $10,000. Her story, “From Bodybag to Skydiving,” recounts a trip to Phoenix with her friend Sam. After a night of mishaps, Sam had to be transported in a body bag due to space constraints but recovered and insisted on skydiving.

The runner-up, Jennifer G, shared her story “MexiNO!” about her kidney failure diagnosis and decision to travel before starting dialysis. Her vacation in Mexico, meant to escape Wisconsin winter, turned disastrous with no beach, a closed pool, and a mouldy, bedbug-infested room without water. She spent the night in the bathtub and won $5,000.

In third place, “Don’t Look Up While Walking” shares a cautionary tale of visiting Maho Beach in Saint Martin to see planes flying low over the neighbouring Princess Juliana Airport. The third-place winner received $3,000. Fourth place went to “A Trip That Took Many Years Off My Life,” about a mother and her pre-teen son visiting southern Italy for the first time, where the child ended up in the hospital with a bacterial infection requiring seven days of ultrasounds. The fourth-place winner received a set of Victorinox luggage.

According to the web portal of the company, Anna F received the fourth highest votes (1,082 votes) and won the fourth-place prize, a new set of Victorinox luggage (valued at $1,900). Our thanks to Victorinox for donating this amazing prize. And, Sweepstakes Winner Melanie A was a randomly selected voter and won the sweepstakes prize, a GoPro action camera and kit (valued at $450).