Chris McCarty

Chris did a great job putting together a memorable trip around Iceland, encouraging us to explore some of the more remote areas. We had all kinds of weather from sleet and snow and wind to warm sun. No problem at Lake Myvatn with bugs, probably because it was a bit cool. Good marsh bird watching there and at Djupivogur. Loved Seydisfjordur and the newly renovated guesthouse, Vio Lonio. Appreciated being pointed to the various little museum: Sheep Farming Museum in Holmavik, Herring Museum in Siglufjordur, Heritage Museum in Isafjordur and others. The Kia he rented for us handled the mildly terrifying, narrow dirt roads up and down the fjords beautifully. Other memorable hotels were the Vogafjos Farm House at Lake Myvatn, Guesthouse Skalafell outside Skaftafell Park., and Helgugata Guesthouse in Borgarnes. Less memorable were the Fosshotel in Patreksfjordur (costly and less unique) and the Arnastapi Cottages (beautiful location, but be sure to ask for a guesthouse or hotel room with an unobstructed view of the ocean. Also, no good place for dinner). The Sea Monster Museum was pretty lame, but some might like it. Waterfalls were all spectacular and we even saw some crazy kayakers go over one as part of a film shoot.) I'd also recommend the Insight Guide, Explore Iceland as an adjunct to Chris' suggestions. Thanks for everything!

Great trip overall. Chris was very responsive and easy to work with and has been supportive of working with me to address the few issues that did come up on the trip.

KimKim really is a great service. Chris (online) listened to what I wanted to see in Iceland and planed things out perfectly. We were on a very short trip — just 4 days, but we got to see everything we wanted and then some. Our actual tour guide Rhenar (hope I'm spelling that correctly) was amazing. He drove the mini van and told us about every location we went. Rhenar really brought Iceland to life for us—telling us all about the volcanic activity, the glaciers, the ego-thermal areas, and so much more. He even entertained us with stories of Icelandic folk-law. He really knew his stuff. Our group was just 13 people—the perfect size. We stopped between sights for amazing photo opps—of course its hard to take a bad picture in Iceland. People say Iceland is expensive—but between Rhenar taking us to get affordable sandwiches for lunch and finding out of the way restaurants in the evening —I'd say it's well worth the trip.

Great trip
Beautiful country
Great and friendly service
I will use your services again!
Thank you

Chris was very helpful in helping select, discuss, and finalize the exactly right itinerary for my trip needs. All the details were quickly, efficiently and correctly handled. Very thorough knowledge of all aspects of local life and entertainment and fantastic value overall as a service.

I procrastinated my trip planning to Iceland until it was a week before my departure and I decided to try Kimkim. Chris was pleasant to work with and the process was seamless. It took less than 2 days to complete the planning as I wasn’t very picky on what I wanted to do and just let Chris do his work.

Chris did a great job helping plan our unforgettable trip.

I have a few suggestions; please advice traveler to Lake Myran (sp) of the absolutely aweful sworn of black flys in the area. We couldn’t walk around the lake because we were not prepared for the flys. We were pretty disappointed as the area and walked looked beautiful. Face nets are essential.
Also, toward the fiords in the northeast coast, were advices to take road 92 to 96. These roads are now just highway one.
Lastly, our last accommodation took cash only! We were ill prepared for this as well. Luckily, the women was kind and took what we had. Which was only less than half what we owed.
Otherwise, these were our only problems, and they were minimal!

Thank you for a wonderful trip.

Shaky. Definitely made it right - but I think we all would have preferred a smoother communication channel and not necessarily between us and Chris but rather getting the needed info to us to smooth the process i.e. direct contact info for accommodations (phone #'s!), the very important knowledge that an accommodation does not accept credit cards even though the reservation was secured with a credit card. Little things that need to be tightened up.
We could book through booking.com ourselves and accomplish the same thing, we were looking for the "smoothing" aspect using Kim Kim.
As for the suggestions of places to visit and time to allow, I think Chris did an exceptional job! All of the accommodations were perfect for our trip and the vehicle suited the terrain we were traversing.
Despite the various hiccups, we all loved Iceland and our experience overall.

What an amazing country and a well planned trip! Plenty to do and see.

Only issue was a few rough roads which could have been avoided that weren't really appropriate for an RV. In particular the road north of Detifoss. Best to approach from the south which is bitumen.

I am SO glad we used Kimkim to organize our trip. I can't believe how quickly the time passed between booking our flights and when it was actually time to fly out. All of that planning I thought I'd have time to do disappeared in 6 months. It was so convenient to have an idea of the distances to travel, what to see and where, things to skip when we were short on time, and the highlights of each location. It brought a lot of peace of mind and much-needed structure to our road trip.

Chris provided exactly what we asked for, and went above and beyond when we needed last minute help and changes. His timeline gave us plenty to do on each day, and while we couldn't quite fit in every single thing, it was nice to know we already had our next destination planned and there was no time spent wondering where to go next.

Chris put together a great itinerary and I am amazed at how much we saw. I really appreciated his insight and guidance on places to see. A great example is Seydisfjordur, a beautiful little Scandinavian village at the end of a fjord on the eastern coast. He had us there for a night and it was charming. Not knowing Iceland, I'm not sure on our own we would have ventured all the way out there.

Chris was very easy to communicate with and always promptly answered my questions or concerns.

I asked for breakfast included in all my accommodations, but some did not have breakfast and some others I had to pay extra and this was not communicated to me. Would also be good if there was more information given on the conditions of the roads in Iceland, as some were very bad with gravel and many potholes.

Some miscommunication about the tours cancellations. But at least the refund was completed promptly.

We loved Chris's attention to detail when planning our trip. He really sought our unique experiences for us, and crafted a wonderful itinerary. Each day was a good balance of sight seeing and experience the culture through food and museum suggestions. So many things we would have missed if it weren't for his suggestions and guidance - we are so glad we went with kimkim for planning our honeymoon!

Chris is GREAT! He was extremely attentive with all of our questions and concerns about anything regarding the schedule, booking day trips, even suggesting what to wear! We could not have gotten a better experience from our trip, and it's all thanks to his great itinerary.

Our trip was absolutely perfect. I wouldn't have changed a single thing about our route, durations of stays, or destinations. Chris was so helpful throughout the entire process and kimkim made our honeymoon unforgettable. Would highly recommend and use again!

We wouldn't have had nearly as amazing of a honeymoon if it weren't for Chris's endless help! Thank you!

Great planning and coordination, however hotel accommodations were a bit out of control in terms of pricing and availability. $350 each night was expensive- were there alternatives such as renting a van that could sleep 3-4, just a thought. Thanks!

Chris' attention to detail was really appreciated. He did an excellent job with our trip from my first inquiry through to his "check in" note during our travels. We really enjoyed the out of the way and less visited places he suggested, and the hotels were fabulous!

As stated earlier Chris was friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. His suggestions were excellent, particularly his advice about how much we could realistically see and do in 3.5 days

Response time was excellent, and the expert was very accommodating to my requests

Our trip was an amazing experience, we enjoyed the "adventure" of the suggested route, focusing on West and North Iceland. However, as a first visit to Iceland, we were disappointed we did not spend more time in Reykjavik and area. It deserves more. The suggested activities and places to see along the route were not always organized according to the drive. I also think it would be more helpful in the planning stages if you had more knowledge of the traveler(s) - sort of a "get to know your clients". All in all, it was great. Chris did a great job. Thank You.

We had a difficult time sticking to the timeline as it seemed there was too much stuff for us to do in a day if we wanted to sleep in until about 8 and be at our hotel by 6 or 7 pm or so. Would be nice to have discussed how much we wanted to squeeze in one day. Otherwise, fantastic recommendations. All the restaurants, hotels, hikes, etc. were fantastic. Iceland is amazing.

Chris was prompt in responding to any questions and did a great job of booking all of our hotels and flights and relaying the information to me. The only improvement that could be made here is to add a feature for saving all of your booking numbers, confirmation numbers, etc. for each flight, hotel, car reservation, lagoon reservations in one place. It was kind of confusing trying to go back and forth between our itinerary and my emails. Because I had to book the massages at the lagoon, I screwed up and only booked one, but that was totally my fault! Little things like that got confusing - like what I had to do vs. what Chris did for us.

Chris was great!