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They are stories about travel – horribly –distorted This will trivialize your complaints about running away.
The ‘World’s Unluckiest Traveler of 2025’ has been revealed in an annual competition run by a travel insurance company which recruits holiday nightmares from around the world. us and Canada.
After weeks of voting, the winner has been announced, travel guard Grand Prize of $10,000 awarded to Lloyd L for once-in-a-lifetime trip Rome Meeting the Pope turned into a breathless, soul-destroying saga.
Here, we reveal to you the entire sorry story of his water-soaked adventure and the disaster that led to the $5,000 runner-up and $3,000 third prize.
Hell of a Soak – Grand Prize Winner
Lloyd L flying to Rome “A once-in-a-lifetime public audience with the Pope in St. Peter’s Square” – a trip he had been looking forward to for months.
Before setting off, he told The Travel Guardian that he “imagined sunshine, reverent silence and maybe a few tears of joy.” But the steady rain left him in misery.
“From the moment we walked out, it was like the heavens were testing our loyalty from the pouring rain,” he explained.
Recounting the harrowing experience, he said: “We left the hotel before sunrise and once we arrived in St. Peter’s Square we took bags of fruit and pastries to eat for breakfast. “By the time we arrived, the bags were soaked and split like a piñata, and all the food was spilled on the cobblestones.”
Then things got worse.
Lloyd continued: “We huddled shoulder to shoulder with thousands of hopeful pilgrims; all wearing cloaks and holding umbrellas, waiting patiently for the Pope to parade around the square in his papal car.”
“With heavy rain and umbrellas, it was hard to see him as he drove through the crowd. At this point, I was soaked, cold and hungry and couldn’t wait for it to be over and out of there,” he added.
Lloyd acknowledged that Rome had baptized him, just not in the way he expected.
He added: “While I can’t wait for it to end, I acknowledge that it’s the painful memory that makes for a great story.”
Trigger Fiasco – Runner Up
Daniel B admits that his tragic story “is less a case of bad luck than a testament to my ignorance, arrogance, and stubbornness.”
He recalled that at a high school reunion in California, two of his old friends came up with the “great idea” to explore the Vasquez Rocks, located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains in the northern United States. Los Angeles County Famous for its stunning rock formations, it is a favorite among Hollywood directors.
He explained: “My friends thought it was cool star trek Filming location. I vaguely remember seeing it in a travel guide, but didn’t think much of it. I imagined some unassuming rocks in the desert. No big deal. I just wanted to relax with my friends. “
He showed up in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, which was perfect for the hot weather but, he soon discovered, “bad for what was to come.” It was a race to see who could climb the highest.
Daniel realized that he had “misjudged the situation” because his friends were all wearing “proper shoes.”
But he climbed regardless, “pride is a powerful motivator.”
“At first, I held on,” he recalls. “But as the rock got steeper, my fear of heights began to intensify. I froze. My friends perched above me like smug goats, sneering in triumph. I waved the white flag. Then came the real challenge: coming down.”
“My anxiety went overboard. I panicked. Vultures – real vultures – started circling overhead. My friends kept giggling. I was angry at them and even more angry at myself,” he continued.
He added: “After 20 painful minutes of slowly walking down my back, I finally regained my footing. My flip-flops survived. My dignity? Not that important.”
$28,000 in ski souvenirs—Third Prize
Canadian Ryan P reveals he had the ‘ski trip of a lifetime’ in 2017 Austriajust not what he imagined.
“Two hours into the first day on the slopes, I made a wrong move and suddenly found myself sliding on my back into a blind spot,” he recalled. “Despite my years of experience, I was still a foreigner on this slope.”
“As I neared the edge, I dug my palms into the snow. I hit the icy bank and braced myself for a fall. The next thing I knew, I was on my back in thick powder. I chuckled at my apparent luck and continued down the mountain,” he added.
But things quickly took a turn for the worse: “At first, I was in complete denial… I rode down the slope to the next hut and unhooked my surfboard as if nothing had happened. But when I took off my gloves, everything changed. My wrist was deformed. It looked like it had been assembled by Picasso.”
Ski patrol arrived and insisted that Ryan had to be flown to the hospital by helicopter because snowmobiling could aggravate a severely fractured wrist.
Ryan continued, “At the hospital, X-rays confirmed the bad news: My wrist had exploded. Surgery was immediate, expensive, and unavoidable. I spent the next few days taking more painkillers and clumsily trying to cut a steak with one working hand. On top of that, the day after I got out of the hospital was my birthday; not the kind of celebration I wanted.”
“When I was released, I had enough metal in my arm to set off every airport detector and a stack of receipts to wallpaper my room with.”
