Bonnie's Journeys






 I'm Bonnie Boyce-Wilson and I love to travel.  My husband, David, and I have been to all seven continents and have taken at least one major trip each year, from Iceland to Brazil to Russia and Fiji.  Join me here as I recount many of the trips in a day-by-day style with plenty of photos.

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1996 - Bonnie’s Journey to the Holy Land - Israel and Egypt

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  Day 1 - Thursday, July 25, 1996: Colorado to New York City Note: I am publishing this blog from my trip journal of 25 years ago. We were living in Colorado then and I still had auburn hair! The Israel part of the trip was with a group from church. Following Israel, we went on to Egypt with a different tour. At 5:20 AM David awakes ahead of the alarm eager with anticipation. We get ready, I finish packing, and our driver, Kathy, arrives as planned. I can’t find my luggage key though I hunted it up specifically a couple days ago. We close up the house and head out in Kathy’s car. She is excited for us, and we chatter all the way to Colorado Springs. She shares her plans for her family reunion to be held the next weekend.  We arrive at Colorado Springs airport ahead of schedule and Kathy has tears in her eyes as she hugs us and says farewell. I take a Marezine at 8:30 AM to ward off motion sickness.  Our flight is on TWA, the airline that just had a huge explosion ...
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2017 - Bonnie's Journey to Iceland and the Baltic

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  Iceland and Baltic Cruise August 2017 Viking Homelands  Itinerary -Viking Homelands Cruise  Day 1 Wednesday, August 9, Reykjavik, Iceland Day 2 Thursday, August 10,  Reykjavik, Iceland Day 3 Friday, August 11,  Reykjavik, Iceland Day 4 Saturday, August 12, Stockholm, Sweden Day 5 Sunday, August 13, Stockholm, Sweden Day 6 Monday, August 14, Helsinki, Finland Day 7 Tuesday, August 15, St. Petersburg, Russia Day 8 Wednesday, August 16, St. Petersburg, Russia Day 9 Thursday, August 17, Tallinn, Estonia Day 10  Friday, August 18, At Sea Day 11 Saturday, August 19, Gdansk, Poland (cancelled) Day 12 Sunday, August 20, Berlin, Germany Day 13 Monday, August 21, Copenhagen, Denmark Day 14 Tuesday, August 22, Alborg, Denmark Day 15 Wednesday, August 23, Stavanger, Norway Day 16 Thursday, August 24, Eidfjord, Norway Day 17 Friday, August 25, Bergen, Norway Day 18 Saturday, August 26, Bergen, Norway Days 1 and 2 August 8-9 Travel Days to Reykjavik We booked thi...
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2001 - Bonnie's Journey to Brazil

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Brazil 2001 Itinerary March 1 and 2 Fly Delta from Phoenix to Atlanta to Rio March 2 Transfer from Rio airport to Buzios March 7 Return to Rio, Atlantis Copacabana Hotel March 11 Fly Varig Airlines Rio to Iguazu March 12 Jungle safari and Falls tour, Fly Varig to Curitiba March 14 Fly Varig Curitiba to Sao Paulo; fly Tam Sao Paulo to Uberlandia March 17 Bus from Uberlandia to Goiania March 20 Fly Varig Goiania to Brasilia; Brasilia to Manaus; go direct to missions boat March 21 -24 Medical boat on Amazon River March 24 Jato speed boat Urucara to Manaus March 25 Fly Varig Manaus to Rio March 26, 27 Rio to Atlanta to Phoenix Our friends, Julie and Pastor Lynn Cleaveland were missionaries in Brazil, where they established local churches.  These churches have since developed their own missions project of a medical mission boat on the Amazon. The boat provides medical care to villages along the Amazon during the day and conducts worship services in the villages in the evenings. The...
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2018 - Bonnie's Journey to the US Eastern Seaboard

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 Eastern Seaboard Cruise Sept 17-30, 2018 Itinerary Tuesday, September 18           Montreal, Quebec, Canada Wednesday, September 19     Montreal, Quebec, Canada Thursday, September 20         Quebec City, Quebec, Canada Friday, September 21               Saguenay, Quebec, Canada Saturday, September 22          Scenic Cruising St. Lawrence Seaway Sunday, September 23              Gaspe, Quebec, Canada Monday, September 24            Scenic Cruising, St. Lawrence Seaway Tuesday, September 25            Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Wednesday, September 26      At Sea Thursday, September 27          Boston, M.A, USA Friday, September 28,                Boston, M.A, USA Saturd...
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2024 - Bonnie's Journey to the Caribbean

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  Background The summer of 2024 we stayed in Arizona because I was receiving chemotherapy for lymphoma. Treatment was successful, and in September, my oncologist said the cancer was in remission. We decided to celebrate with a two-week Caribbean cruise, during the middle two weeks of November, making a loop in the eastern Caribbean and a second to the western Caribbean, starting and ending each week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We are travelling with friends Walda and Janet, and Walda's friend Bea. Itinerary: Nov 10: Sail from Fort Lauderdale, Fla, US Nov 11: Nassau, Bahamas Nov 12: At Sea Nov 13 St. Thomas, U S V I Nov 14: San Juan, Puerto Rico Nov15: Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Nov16: Sea Day Nov 17: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US Nov 18: Sea Day Nov 19: Costa Maya, Mexico Nov 20: Georgetown, Cayman Islands Nov 21: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Nov 22: Sea Day Nov 23: Debark ship, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US November 9, 2024 Our Uber driver picked us up. We had not anticipated the closure o...
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2024 - Bonnie's Journey through Lymphoma

  Cancer journey begins  January 23, 2024 Over the third weekend in January 2024 I discovered a swelling in my left jaw and on January 23 went to same-day clinic to have it examined. The doctor ordered an ultrasound of soft tissue around head and neck that was completed that same day and the results came the next day. The results showed 3 enlarged lymph nodes. Recommended biopsy. February 1 Needle biopsy of left lymph node at Banner Thunderbird by PA, Chris, but a specific diagnosis was not yet identified because there was not enough mass of tissue from the needle biopsy. Results "unsatisfactory". Schedule biopsy consult. February12 I had a surgical consultation with Dr Goldfaden, and he ordered a STAT ultrasound with dye and scheduled surgery for February 23 at Del Webb Hosp.   February 13 Banner Imaging, Peoria, CT soft tissue neck with dye. February 23 surgery 2/23/24 Lymphadenopathy,  Dr. Goldfaden, surgeon;   Kevin O’Leana, nurse anesthetist ...
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2019 - Bonnie's Journey to Switzerland and The Viking Rhine Getaway

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 Viking Rhine Getaway  April 7-19, 2019    April 7, Travel Day to Zurich My husband David and I signed on for a Viking River tour called Rhine Getaway, which is so popular Viking runs 12 ships on the Rhine with cruises going in both directions, either from Basil, Switzerland to Amsterdam or the reverse. These ships depart from each end every day except Monday, and with 200 persons per ship, there are literally more than 2400 Viking passengers on the Rhine every day. We have chosen to add extensions to the cruise at both the beginning and the end, so will be in Lucerne, Switzerland for two days before the cruise begins, and will stay in Amsterdam for two days at the end.  This Netherlands visit was the primary purpose of the entire trip, as it was on my bucket list to see the magnificent Keukenhof gardens in full bloom. This happens in April, so of course, that is the timing for this trip for us. I reserved our airport transportation with Mike, our Uber dri...
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2022 - Bonnie's Journey to Alaska

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Alaska July24 -Aug 6, 2022 This Alaska blog covers a trip by Princess which began with a week's land tour and ended with a week on a cruise ship. Participants: David and Bonnie, daughter Tammi, granddaughter and grandson-in-law Brandon and Jami, great granddaughters Madison and EmmaLea and friend Pat. 20,133; 6,233; 13,315 July 24 Long travel day to Fairbanks   Pat is flying Phx to Seattle to Fairbanks and will arrive ahead of us. The Cones are flying from Gillette, Wyoming and will meet us in Denver, where David and I will meet them at DIA.  David and I drove from Steamboat to Denver and will leave our pickup at friends, Jeff and Peggy’s. We got up at 4:00 am at Jeff and Peggy’s. They were out of town but loaned us their place to stay. Bags out for Uber driver coming at 5:15. He was a bit early, but we were ready. We loaded up, locked the house and put the key under the milk box. Our driver talked about changes in Denver. We arrived DIA and checked the bags, hea...
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2023 - Bonnie's Journey to Australia and New Zealand

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 Bonnie’s Journal -  Australia and New Zealand, November 2023   We had been to Australia before but wanted to see New Zealand. We are travelling with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). We invited our daughter Tammi along and added the pre-trip Australia booking so she could see a few of the highlights. Before leaving on the trip, we went to the websites for Australia and New Zealand to complete electronic requests for visas. At the airports before we departed for each country, our passports were scanned and the approval for the visa showed up. Otherwise, we would never have been allowed to board the plane. After months of planning and anticipation, we were finally ready to travel. Travel from Phoenix to Sydney took three days. ·         November 8 - First travel day, 3:10 pm, American Airlines, Phoenix to LA (1 hr, 31 min), Layover until 8:25 pm, Qantas Airline, LA to Sydney (15 hrs, 10 min) ·       ...
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2017 - Bonnie's Journey to Galapagos

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 Galapagos Adventure July 2017 We have been planning this trip for over a year, inviting our family to join us and working with their schedules, we selected July 17 through 25, 2017. Family includes daughter Tammi, granddaughter Jami and her husband Brandon and their two girls, Madison, age 8 and Emma, age 7. Emma loves penguins and that is one reason we chose Galapagos. Despite being on the equator, there are some colder ocean currents that allow penguins to live here. Ecuador is the Spanish word for the equator. Maybe that is intuitive to you, but I had to actually read that somewhere before the light dawned on me. Galapagos is the Spanish word for saddle, which was applied to the saddle-shaped shell of the huge tortoises which the Spaniards actually rode. The name stuck and became the term for the area. Also of interest is that Ecuador uses US currency, so we do not have to make currency exchange. Cost of this trip $41,321. Ecuador Introduction A diminutive country that ...
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