Jack Page might be the world’s unluckiest holidaymaker with all of his jaunts plagued by disaster.
Jack, 29, a freelance events specialist from Northampton, has spent the last decade visiting exotic spots all over the world with a string of mishaps along the way – including being marooned on a desert island and being trampled by a cow.
He has struggled through parasites on Mt Everest, been stranded for 36 hours on a derailed train in Burma and even had his supplies eaten by monitor lizards when he accidentally stranded himself on a desert island off Borneo.
Jack Page might be the world’s unluckiest holidaymaker with all of his jaunts plagued by disaster. Above, pictured in Nepal where he was struck by a severe illness
Talking about his bouts of bad luck, the avid adventurer said: ‘Most people say I’m extremely unlucky when I tell them what’s happened to me.
‘It can often be a combination of things. Last year in India I was arguing with a tuk tuk driver who was trying to rip me off when a cow appeared out of nowhere and charged at my girlfriend.
‘She got out of the way but it head butted me to the floor.
‘It just so happens we in the area at them same time some of the locals had been scaring cattle as part of a festival.
During Jack’s visit to Myanmar, his train derailed moments before it was about to go over the Goteik viaduct
The avid adventurer was then stuck in rebel territory for 36 hours whilst the locals used wooden planks to try and put the train back on the tracks
‘I was pretty sore the next day, but managed to escape mostly unharmed.’
Jack also ran into trouble while travelling in Borneo with his girlfriend, Alice.
They ended up getting stranded on an island, where there was nothing but a shop which remained closed.
We thought we would be OK but a group of huge monitor lizards had raided our supplies and eaten nearly everything
Continuing his tale of being a castaway, Jack said: ‘We thought we would be OK as we’d brought some limited food supplies with us.
‘But when we got back to camp we realised a group of huge monitor lizards had raided our supplies and eaten nearly everything.
‘We tried to scare them off, but we were stuck for four days living on rations before a boat came back to the island.’
Despite all his travelling mishaps the only time Jack has felt in fear for his life was as he climbed his way to the Mount Everest basecamp in Nepal.
During the middle of a 23-day hike in the Himalayas in April last year he was struck down with a severe case of giardiasis, a parasitic infection of the digestive system.
When Page visited Ukraine, he stumbled upon a political protest which was crawling with soldiers and police
Jack Page, 29 and his partner Alice Buck, 28, climbed to Everest Base Camp where Jack came down with giardiasis, which is an infection to the digestive system
Jack continues to suffer from the drug side effects a year
His symptoms were made worse by the effects of the altitude and he had a bad reaction to his medication.
Jack explained: ‘I genuinely thought I was going to die when I was up there.
‘I was already unsettled by the remains of the devastation caused by the earthquake and the tales of other climbers dying of altitude sickness.
I genuinely thought I was going to die when I was up there. I was already unsettled by the remains of the devastation caused by the earthquake
‘I was feeling terrible and the effects of the medication were very worrying. It was difficult to diagnose what was wrong with me and I was really struggling to walk.
‘Anywhere else in the world you feel like you can get medical attention, but in the Himalayas there was no chance.
‘But still I lived through it and I’m here to tell the tale.’
Jack says that he had another near-death experience while travelling through Myanmar. Recounting the ordeal, he said: ‘I saw a Burmese soldier threaten to shoot another tourist when our train derailed in the jungle.
‘We were there for 36 hours and tempers frayed, especially as we got stuck in a part of Burma we were not supposed to stop in.
‘A group of pompous young Brits started saying things like “I’m starting an engineering degree next year, let me tell you how to fix this” and getting in the way. I was also really annoyed at their behaviour.
Jack was told to delete most of his images from the political riot in Ukraine as it was a year since the Independence Square massacre
Jack and his partner went to a deserted island in Borneo, they were dropped off by boat which would return four days later
The duo struggled to find water and they were left without any supplies after three greedy monitor lizards raided their camp
‘Eventually a bunch of local guys with a whole lot of strength managed to shove the train back onto the tracks. It was impressive to watch.’
Unlike others he tells his tales to, Jack does not consider himself particularly unlucky.
Instead, he sees each of his experiences as another good story to tell.
He said: ‘When I went to visit Chernobyl in 2015 I got caught in a protest.
I unwittingly stumbled into the midst of a political protest, where more than 500 officers were poised in the park
‘I unwittingly stumbled into the midst of a political protest, where more than 500 officers were poised in the park overlooking the parliament building to put an end to it.
‘The protestors all threw potatoes at the parliament building, which I thought was extremely funny.
‘I was told to clear off and delete my photos by one of the officers, but I got out without too much trouble.’
Jack says that his partner keeps telling him that they should just go on a quiet beach holiday in a bid to avoid trouble.
However, Jack concludes: ‘I always like to visit places that aren’t an average holiday destination.
‘Afghanistan would be incredible, however I can’t see my family letting me board that plane.’