A memoir of travel, business & ambition
"I didn't set out to write a business story. I set out to travel the world. But somewhere between sleeping in the back of a car in Australia and opening the doors to an office in Camden Town, travel became something else entirely."
A true story of ambition, travel, and risk — where building a business becomes a journey of its own.
Coming SoonThe Book
In the 1980s, after 3 years working for Trailfinders, long before online booking and budget airlines, Jerry Bridge set out to follow in his father's footsteps and build a travel empire.
What followed was a fifteen-year journey through risk, relentless pressure, and the shifting world of long-haul travel, where survival depended on instinct, relationships, and nerve.
Travelman is a travel-themed memoir of what it takes to build something from nothing, and what it costs along the way. It's a story about a father's legacy, heartache and a passion for travel that became an obsession.
From the Archives
"An archway-urchin, who followed his passion for travel and turned it into a successful career in the travel business."Jerry Bridge
The Beginning
Jerry’s father, Walter Bridge, was one of the early pioneers of the British travel industry. In 1949, he founded Swiss Travel Service, helping open up overseas holidays to ordinary people in the years after the Second World War. Walter spoke five languages, lived in Milan during Mussolini’s rise to power, and saw Hitler speak at rallies while living in Berlin in the 1930s. Over the following three decades, he expanded his business, adding Paris Travel Service, Belgium Travel Service, Amsterdam Travel Service and London Travel Service to his portfolio. In 1952, he married his secretary, Alma, and together they had four sons. Jerry, the youngest, was the only one to follow him into the travel industry. Walter eventually sold the business to a Belgian travel company in 1979. He died in 2000 at the age of 92.
It’s a shame Walter didn’t write his own travel-themed memoir, for he led a fascinating life, helped, I’m sure, by his linguistic abilities and business acumen. He was a generous man, both in spirit and deed, and always urged Jerry to consider those less fortunate. Above all, he was an English gentleman, a wonderful father and a genuine Travelman. That’s right, Walter Ernest Bridge, born in 1908, was, to Jerry, a true inspiration. Not that this book is about him. Let’s just say he also has a legitimate Travelman claim, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
Walter encouraged Jerry to buy his first backpack and set off hitchhiking across Europe at the age of sixteen.
The Adventure
After university, Jerry set off on a 22 month overland journey to and from Australia with no mobile phone, no guidebook and no credit card. He didn't book a traditional round-the-world ticket, as he wanted the flexibility to travel where he wanted, when he wanted. The route took him through Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Pakistan, India, Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore before reaching Australia, where he and his school friend, Chris Reeves, spent eight months driving 24,000 kilometres around the country in an old Holden station wagon they nicknamed, Mr Roo.
To keep the trip alive, Jerry arrived in OZ with just $40 to his name, they took whatever work they could find along the way, from abattoirs and trench digging to gardening, kitchen work and groundskeeping. Sleeping in the back of the car on a foam mattress and cooking meals on a billycan became part of the adventure. It was freedom in its purest form and a journey that would be hard to repeat today.
Camden Town
From a modest office in Ferdinand Street, Camden Town, Jerry and his business partner, Brian Barton, built Bridge the World into one of Britain’s leading long haul travel companies. At its peak, the business employed 150 staff and turned over £50 million, selling flights and tailor-made holidays to destinations across the globe, including complex round-the-world itineraries. Together they built the company through instinct, relationships, hard work and nerve.
Entrepreneur of the Year. OzCARS Winner for Outstanding Contribution to the Australian Tourism Industry. Multiple travel awards from airlines and tourist boards. No wonder one of Bridge the World's straplines was 'The Award Winning Company'. The industry recognised what Jerry had built — and the travel trade would never be quite the same.
Recognition & Awards
Winner of Tourism Australia brochure of the year 1998
Award winning newsletters, mini brochures and leaflets
Air New Zealand World 50 award for sales achievement
Top agents sales schievement award - Malayaian Airlines
Jerry and Richard Branson top agent award - Virgin Atlantic
Observer & Guardian newspaper best tour operator award
Greatest contribution to Australia - Tourism Australia
European brochure of the year award Tourism Australia
Tour operator of the year 2002 Tourism New Zealand
Direct Mail, mini brochure sand pamphlets awards
Outstanding contribution to Austrlalian tourism
Entrpreneur of the year award semi-finalist - Ernst & Young
If You Liked...
Phil Knight
The messy, perilous, and chaotic journey of building Nike from nothing. Travelman brings the same raw honesty, but set in the world of international travel.
Richard Branson
Branson's entrepreneurial adventure and larger-than-life personality. Jerry's story sits in the same territory - risk, ambition, and a refusal to play it safe.
Paulo Coelho
Following your heart even when your head tells you to do something different. Travelman is the real-life version of that journey. A personal legend played out across the globe.
A true story of ambition, travel, and risk, where building a business becomes a journey of its own.
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