Anna Bromley

Wild Animals and Wedding Outfits: A Voyage of Self-discovery Around the World Anna Bromley

Publisher Marketing: Wild Animals and Wedding Outfits is the true story of Anna, who comes from a family of eccentric adventurers and longs to travel, but has somehow got to her mid-thirties without plucking up the courage to set out on her big adventure. She dreams of seeing animals in their natural habitat, of exploring the Amazon jungle by canoe and meeting tribes who worship strange gods and heal each other with folk medicine. But she worries that she is not intrepid like her great grandmother. And is it possible to have a big adventure and still find accommodation with an en-suite bathroom and luxury shampoo? Anna finally meets her chivalrous knight, Bill, who helps her to set off on their trip through 14 countries, includingIndia, Sri Lanka, Sikkim, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Australia, Peru, BoliviaandChile. En-route they get into hilarious scrapes, have some spiritual revelations and make some lifelong friends on the way. It is a rite of passage for Anna, who finally feels like a proper grown up by the end of the trip. Their adventure includes: - being chased by wild elephants in India meeting the King of the Vedda tribe in Sri Lanka seeing the pink river dolphins of the Amazon surviving the ordeal of a trek through the monsoon rainforests of Laosin search of the Akha tribe (with very poor bathroom facilities). Monty Halls, star of BBC TV's Great Escape Series says, "A whimsical tale that has at its heart a classic love story. Anna and Bill are the most amenable of travel companions, and by the final chapter you feel that you know them as friends through shared experiences on the long road. All truly good books provide some warmth in one's life, and this one really is a glowing little ember." Contributor Bio:  Bromley, Anna I have always wanted to travel. My grandfather was still travelling all over the world well into his nineties and he inspired me to explore the world. As a little girl, I loved to hear the tales of his adventures -canoeing down uncharted tributaries of the Amazon, discovering new species of birds of paradise, seeing elephants and tigers in the wilds of India, and the lost ancient cities of South America. I love animals of every shape and species, and have watched all the David Attenborough wildlife documentaries, dreaming that one day I would go to those countries and see the animals in their natural habitats.... But somehow I got to my thirties and still had not plucked up the courage to set off on my big adventure. I was far too comfortable working in London as the Commissioning Editor for a medical publishing company and two other things were holding me back. One was the fear that I was not hardy enough to survive the conditions I would surely find myself in if I wanted to see all these wild and exotic places and animals. The other was my deep-felt need to find a companion of the heart to share all these wonderful experiences with. In 2001 I embarked on a one-year self-development course with Spirit Horse - a mind-blowingly crazy pilgrimage, rich with ancient cultural traditions and their myths, stories, songs and poetry. It opened my heart and helped me reconnect with nature, with the earth, and with humanity. It also helped me to see what was right under my nose... Finally I met that companion of the heart at shiatsu school, where we were both training to become shiatsu practitioners. He is Bill - a wild, impulsive, intrepid creature - and a complete contrast to my English reserve. He helped me find the courage to put all my excuses behind me and set off on that adventure of a lifetime. After our year's travelling, Bill and I moved to Bristol, where I worked as a freelance writer and taught courses on shamanic journeying and shiatsu. I now live in beautiful, rural Herefordshire with Bill, our daughter, and a growing menagerie of animals. I continue to write and help Bill to run his landscape gardening business. I am currently training in Touch for Health kinesiology to add to my tool kit of healing therapies. Bill and I are setting up a complementary therapy centre, in which we will be giving healing treatments and running courses in self-development.