Taking the Risk

. New paperback edition of acclaimed hardback that was originally published to coincide with Bradt Guides' 50th anniversary, in 2024 . An inspirational and eye-opening memoir from a leading travel industry figure . For her services to tourism, Hilary Bradt has received an MBE and four lifetime achievement awards, and been made an Officer of the National Order of Madagascar. About Bradt Travel Guides . Founded in 1974, Bradt is now the UK's largest independent guidebook publisher, with over 200 titles in print. . For more information, follow us on X, Instagram and Facebook, or visit bradtguides.com

Taking the Risk - engaging memoir about serendipitous adventures in travel and publishing from a travel industry trailblazer. Hilary Bradt looks back on 50 years of escapades, surprises, mishaps, disasters. and success. Contains stories from six decades of hitch-hiking, tour leading and living in the USA, South America, the Falklands and Africa.Taking the Risk is Hilary Bradt's engaging, insightful, amusing and sometimes alarming memoir about serendipitous adventures in travel and publishing. A travel industry trailblazer who co-founded Bradt Guides, Hilary looks back on 50 years of escapades, surprises, mishaps, disasters. and success. From her first solo trip aged three (on a British beach), she revisits six decades of hitch-hiking, feeding the travel habit by working abroad, and starting a successful travel-publishing company where knowing nothing proved a surprising asset. Barely into her twenties, Hilary Bradt thumbed lifts around the Middle East for three months before spending four years working and travelling in the US. Between 1973 and 1976 Hilary explored, and worked in, South America and Africa with her then husband George, often journeying through literally uncharted territory in their quest for new hiking routes. The discovery of an ancient trail to Machu Picchu unexpectedly inspired their first guidebook. From 1977 the pair wrote several backpacking guides, and set up Bradt Guides. This was just as well, because Hilary's career in occupational therapy ended when potential employers noticed that time taken off for travel exceeded periods of employment. During the 1980s, Bradt Guides grew and became successful - but that didn't stop Hilary travelling, including as a tour leader. Join Hilary as she relives the rigours of travel before the days of the internet or mobile phones, including smuggling her husband across an international border and frequently getting arrested despite efforts to be responsible tourists. Learn how Hilary's lack of experience made the early days of publishing quite unlike those of any other successful publisher. Laugh (or cry) at Hilary's ability to court media disasters while seeking the limelight, including waving around condoms on BBC TV. Taking the Risk comprises the collected stories of an inveterate, intrepid traveller whose joyous exploration of the world has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people - anyone who has ever owned a Bradt Guide. A unique book from a unique individual, it will delight anyone who has ever travelled or ever wondered what goes into making the books we read.