The World's Unluckiest Travelers
Think your vacation was a nightmare? Check out these travel disasters.
Dec. 15, 2010— -- To say that Diane Redcay's honeymoon was short would be a massive understatement.
Thanks to multiple flight delays she and her husband Mark ended up spending less than 24 hours relaxing at South Padre Island, Texas before they had to head home. To make things worse, they only had the clothes on their backs.
"They lost our luggage. It was a mess," Redcay told ABC News. "Everything went wrong."
Now the couple is in the running for a $10,000 dream vacation, the grand prize in a year-long search for the "World's Unluckiest Traveler" by a travel insurance company. They are among 11 finalists. There is also a doctor on a medical mission to Saigon who took a 30-foot fall when trying to go to the bathroom, and two students who got stuck at sea in an overcrowded open catamaran during a storm. Oh, did we mention the food sickness?
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Redcay and her husband got married on Valentine's Day. The the next morning they left their home in Coudersport, Pa. for Texas.
The problems started at the Buffalo, N.Y. airport. Their first flight was delayed because the plane had to be de-iced. Then their second flight was delayed by a malfunctioning door. They missed the last flight of the day to South Padre Island. Eventually, they arrived, but without their luggage.
The honeymoon was only supposed to be for three days. In the end, it was less than one.
If they win the $10,000 through the contest sponsored by Travel Guard, the couple will probably head somewhere warm, like Hawaii.
More than 800 travel mishaps were submitted during the course of the year, with finalists being chosen each month though online voting via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
(Clearly the message from Travel Guard is to buy insurance to, at the very least, mitigate the damage that might happen on a trip. Our advice: weigh the costs. If it's a once-in-a-lifetime trip, something with tight connections or an exotic adventure, insurance might be worth the cost. But read the fine print; not all of the mishaps here would be covered in all plans.)
