Doctor who was voted World's Unluckiest Traveler in Travel Guard contest won $10,000 dream vacation

BY Dave Goldiner

Thursday, January 20th 2011, 4:00 AM

Creative Commons

Gary Feldman, who fell off a cliff in Vietnam while on vacation, won a $10,000 dream vacation.

A doctor who fell off a cliff in Vietnam was voted the World's Unluckiest Traveler Wednesday night, winning a $10,000 dream vacation.

Gary Feldman of Ventura, Calif., beat out a Canadian couple whose helicopter crashed in the Grand Canyon and two college pals whose makeshift boat nearly capsized in a storm in Central America.

More than 800 people entered the "my trip from hell" contest sponsored by trip insurance company Travel Guard.

Feldman had just arrived for a medical mission in the Southeast Asian nation when he stopped to answer nature's call at the edge of a picturesque mountainside.

He slipped and plunged 30 feet, smashing his right leg. Instead of enjoying a feel-good retreat, he had to endure a 14-hour ambulance ride to Thailand, followed by seven surgeries. He's still not walking.