Travel Guard Names the World’s Unluckiest Traveler® Contest Winner for 2024

As grand prize winner, Julie S. has received the title of World’s Unluckiest Traveler and won a cash prize of $10,000. In her story “From Bodybag to Skydiving,” Julie tells of a trip to Phoenix to go skydiving with her friend, Sam. After a night-before excursion goes awry, Sam needs to be taken to a local hospital, but because a stretcher will not fit through the door of her room, she must be transported in a body bag. After a harrowing night under medical care, Sam makes a full recovery and insists on completing the mission at hand – to go skydiving.

The runner-up entry “MexiNO!” recounted Jennifer G’s diagnosis of kidney failure and a decision to go on a travel adventure before her course of dialysis began. To escape the Wisconsin winter, she booked a vacation at a resort in Mexico that – as it turned out – had no beach access, a closed pool and a room with mold, bedbugs and no running water. She decided quickly to make her escape but could not get a same-day flight. Not wishing to share a bed with parasites, she lined the bathtub with towels and spent the night there. Amazingly, that was only the beginning. The runner-up winner won a cash prize of $5,000.

In third place, “Don’t look up while walking” offers a cautionary tale about visiting Maho Beach in Saint Martin to witness the planes flying low overhead to neighboring Princess Juliana Airport. The third-place winner won a cash prize of $3,000. And fourth place, “A Trip That Took Many Years Off My Life,” tells of a mother and pre-teen son traveling to southern Italy for the first time, only to have the child wind up in a hospital with a bacterial infection that required seven consecutive daily visits for ultrasounds. The fourth-place winner won a set of Victorinox luggage.

“The stories of our winners are not typical, but travel mishaps can befall anyone, so we encourage travelers to prepare for and protect their trips,” said Jeff Rutledge, CEO, AIG Travel. “We launched the World’s Unluckiest Traveler to recognize those who have endured the worst in pursuit of their love of travel and to highlight those sorts of unexpected misfortunes that might make a travel insurance plan worth considering.”

The 2024 World’s Unluckiest Traveler promotion also recognized a couple of “lucky” participants:

Melanie A. was randomly selected – among the nearly 33,000 votes for the promotion – to win the sweepstakes prize of a GoPro® action camera and kit.  Travel Guard also invited their U.S. and Canada travel advisor partners to participate for a chance to win an iPad Air by resharing Travel Guard’s social media posts about the contest, and Sheri B. from Sheri’s Ultimate Dreams Cruise Tours and Travel was named as the winner of that prize.

The full stories from each of the winners can be viewed at www.worldsunluckiesttraveler.com.

For more information about Travel Guard, its products and services, visit www.travelguard.com or follow Travel Guard on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

¹The Promotion was open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who were 21 years of age or older at the time of entry, and residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) who were 19 years of age or older at the time of entry. The promotion is not available where prohibited by applicable law.
²GoPro, HERO and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of GoPro, Inc. GoPro is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.

About Travel Guard
Travel Guard meets the diverse needs of leisure and corporate travelers alike through its comprehensive portfolio of travel insurance plans and assistance services as well as a network of experienced providers. With global service centers placed strategically around the globe, our 24/7 multilingual team is always just a phone call away and ready to assist when our customers experience travel issues – from lost luggage or minor travel inconveniences to medical emergencies or life-threatening events. We help customers recover from travel disruptions and enjoy their journeys knowing Travel Guard has their back every step of the way. Learn more at www.travelguard.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Travel Guard

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