Carmen Scholten

I'm the Head of Content at kimkim, and booked part of my recent trip to Jordan with Carmen from In2Jordan. A major goal of my trip was research for original article ideas, and my criteria was pretty challenging. Carmen did an amazing job of curating interesting, unique, and immersive experiences that lived up to my "off the beaten path" standards.

One of my absolute favorite memories is from my time in Wadi Rum, the desert wilderness in southern Jordan. I was originally scheduled for an... read more

I'm the Head of Content at kimkim, and booked part of my recent trip to Jordan with Carmen from In2Jordan. A major goal of my trip was research for original article ideas, and my criteria was pretty challenging. Carmen did an amazing job of curating interesting, unique, and immersive experiences that lived up to my "off the beaten path" standards.

One of my absolute favorite memories is from my time in Wadi Rum, the desert wilderness in southern Jordan. I was originally scheduled for an overnight "digital detox" experience, complete with private yoga sessions and sleeping under the stars (no tent!) in the middle of the beautiful desert. Due to crazy weather and some other unavoidable circumstances, this had to be canceled day-of. Carmen immediately got to work finding alternate options for me, and managed to book one of the very highly coveted bubble tents at Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp (see photo). This was unforgettable - I felt like I was waking up on Mars!

Thank you to Carmen for being reliable and available during my trip, and quickly coming to my rescue with a fantastic alternative to my original plan!

If I were to do this again,

I would want more information up front from the guide about what has been paid for already and what hasn't.

Wonderful country and nice people.
We enjoy a lot and our trip was a great experience.
Good organisation, maybe just one driver had been better as a new one every day !
Thank’s a lot !

The trip was amazing. Carmen did a great job planning the excursion, she was always available to answer any questions or make last minute accommodations.
Akram was our guide for most of the trip. He was knowledgeable about all the sites we travelled to. Gave us lots of free time to explore. His english is impeccable but most impressive was his driving skills. Couldn't ask for a better guide.
Petra was unbelievable. We were there for 2 nights and 1 full day. If you like hiking I would recommend 2 to 3 days there. A lot more to see then just the treasury.
Overall the trip was 5 stars

I booked this trip as a surprise for my husbands 40th birthday. Carmen was amazing in putting the itinerary together and answering all of my many questions, no question to stupid, ensuring it was a birthday to remember!
From Jerash to the Dead Sea we saw so many amazing sites with our driver Bashar nothing was any trouble!
For the birthday day itself we went to Petra which no words can describe it’s beauty and wonder! Followed by a night under the stars at Wadi Rum.
Even on returning home... read more

I booked this trip as a surprise for my husbands 40th birthday. Carmen was amazing in putting the itinerary together and answering all of my many questions, no question to stupid, ensuring it was a birthday to remember!
From Jerash to the Dead Sea we saw so many amazing sites with our driver Bashar nothing was any trouble!
For the birthday day itself we went to Petra which no words can describe it’s beauty and wonder! Followed by a night under the stars at Wadi Rum.
Even on returning home Carmen and her KimKim team have been amazing as I left my Bose headphones in the car transfer to the airport!!! Carmen had tracked them down and sent them home to me.
First time using KimKim and I’m sure not the last! Fantastic service from everyone!!

We just returned from our Petra/Wadi Rum trip and it was an outstanding experience. The entire 4 days were great - filled with many new tastes, mind-blowing sites, and relaxation. Working with Carmen was smooth and easy. Our driver - Mohammad Karajeh - went out of his way offering guidance, coffees, tastes of native foods, etc. He really added touches that made our trip so memorable. My only suggestion might be to offer a range for the tent stay in Wadi Rum...I believe we might have chosen a... read more

We just returned from our Petra/Wadi Rum trip and it was an outstanding experience. The entire 4 days were great - filled with many new tastes, mind-blowing sites, and relaxation. Working with Carmen was smooth and easy. Our driver - Mohammad Karajeh - went out of his way offering guidance, coffees, tastes of native foods, etc. He really added touches that made our trip so memorable. My only suggestion might be to offer a range for the tent stay in Wadi Rum...I believe we might have chosen a place that had hot water. (The place was stunning and this is a minor issue). Last piece of advice: stay 2 days in Petra and 2 in Wadi Rum - so much to take in, so much to see!

The trip planning had up and downs with regard to hotels. Carmen suggested the Movenpick as a 5 star option, but I had already seen that rooms were not available. She then came back with news that rooms were not available and suggested the option of the Hyatt Zamman as a 5 star option. Turns out it was not even a part of the Hyatt chain but just a local hotel claiming to be 5 star but certainly not of international standard. I had to demand WiFi in the room ( arranged finally after being told... read more

The trip planning had up and downs with regard to hotels. Carmen suggested the Movenpick as a 5 star option, but I had already seen that rooms were not available. She then came back with news that rooms were not available and suggested the option of the Hyatt Zamman as a 5 star option. Turns out it was not even a part of the Hyatt chain but just a local hotel claiming to be 5 star but certainly not of international standard. I had to demand WiFi in the room ( arranged finally after being told that WiFi was only in community areas).
The driver and car assigned were good (once one got accustomed to the strong cigarette smell).

Thank you to Carmen who facilitated our first trip to Jordan. It eased our apprehensions knowing we have transports and guides to assist us in a foreign land. The recommendations to stay at the Wadi Rum Luxury Night camp, and accesss to the Dead Sea at Dead Sea Spa Hotel —spot on! The Backdoor hike to Petra’s Monastery from little Petra— incredible ! We are also grateful to our guide, Ibrahim whose personality and character, stands out amongst the many we have met.
Thank you again. Hope to be back soon.

A fantastic trip to Jordan thanks to Carmen’s expertise and knowledge. It was busy but never too hectic as we saw the amazing sites. Wael, our driver and guide was easy going and friendly, as well as very punctual. He put some miles on that car shuttling us from Amman to Wadi Rum and back again! Petra of course had to be a highlight, just magical. I also loved the vastness and beauty of Wadi Rum and our friendly guide, Rashid. I think we may have been running out of energy towards the end,... read more

A fantastic trip to Jordan thanks to Carmen’s expertise and knowledge. It was busy but never too hectic as we saw the amazing sites. Wael, our driver and guide was easy going and friendly, as well as very punctual. He put some miles on that car shuttling us from Amman to Wadi Rum and back again! Petra of course had to be a highlight, just magical. I also loved the vastness and beauty of Wadi Rum and our friendly guide, Rashid. I think we may have been running out of energy towards the end, but I really enjoyed the Amman city tour and the fantastic city of Jerash. All in all just WOW! Thanks so much!
Mark N

Mark and I had a great trip thanks to Carmen and the travel team she organized for our time in Jordan. Everything went as planned and the sights and schedule of activities exceeded our expectations.
I will definitely recommend Kimkim to my friends and will be using Kimkim for my upcoming trips.
Thank you very much!

My overall experience with the travel arranged for me in Jordan was quite nice.

Plus
- all the drivers arranged for my pick-ups were professional, polite and kind. They made some calls for me on the way to the hotel and so on to make sure everything goes smoothly. I really appriciated that

Minus
- I feel like I didn’t get enough information about Jordan and all the destinations I was going to prior my trip. Carmen created Vamoos app for me for my itenerary, which was great, but I thought... read more

My overall experience with the travel arranged for me in Jordan was quite nice.

Plus
- all the drivers arranged for my pick-ups were professional, polite and kind. They made some calls for me on the way to the hotel and so on to make sure everything goes smoothly. I really appriciated that

Minus
- I feel like I didn’t get enough information about Jordan and all the destinations I was going to prior my trip. Carmen created Vamoos app for me for my itenerary, which was great, but I thought I’d get more personalised information about some interesting places , where to dine, or some local facts I wouldn’t normally get from the internet. Clicking the map didn’t help much, since most of the places on the map don’t have any information. Also the traveling date was wrong, and is still wrong up til now. It’s Febuary in the app.

- on my first day, my visit to Amman beach was pretty disappointing. The facility was not great, shower room broken, no hair dryer, lockers with no lock, and no staff to borrow the lock or lend towels from. Good thing I had my towel with me so I didn’t have to, but i had a hard time showering and drying my hair after the swim, espeically with that much salt on my body and hair. I would have been willing to pay more for better places, like one of those 5 star hotel facilities nearby (Kempinski, movenpick, dead sea spa etc.)

- on my last day, it seemed like my bus ticket from Aqaba to Amman was wrong. I couldn’t read Arabic of course, but my driver was kind enough to check for me at the bus station when he dropped me off, so they changed the new one for me.
And since my bus was at 6 PM and i was dropped off at 10 AM with my luggages, I had to find a place to store those before I could do anything, which was pretty troublesome. At that point I wish I was told or suggested beforehand what to do with my luggages. In the end I mannaged to ask Movenpick hotel to keep them for me, eventhough I wasn’t staying with them.
And I also wish I was given some interesting information about Aqaba, restaurants, cafe and attractions. Since it was a very low season, whatever I tried to do (glass bottom boat tour etc.) everything was unavailable due to too small group of people joining.

I think that’s pretty much my opinion on my trip to Jordan. Thank you Carmen for all the help in planning and everything. Jordan was an amazing country and I loved my experiences there.

Thanya