Jess Weiss

What a brilliant trip. Jess did an amazing job planning it all. I don’t think we would have managed to do so many things without her support. Laura was our contact whilst travelling, it felt like having a local friend, someone watching out for you. Hotels were lovely, all small charming boutique places. Thinking back, my daughter and I really find hard to decide what we liked best because every adventure was unique and special. Definitely, go to Barichara, such a beautiful and tranquil place, on in the way there don’t miss to visit Las Gachas close Guadalupe, we had so much fun swimming in the river pools. Cartagena is my favourite place, if I’d plan the trip again, I’d spend more time there. My daughter liked floating down Palomino river best. Overall a great trip, lots of fond memories. Thank you Jess & Laura.

Me and my wife had a 12 days trip in Colombia, more specifically in the coffee region (Cauca Valley / Quindio), Medellin, Cartagena and Isla Grande. It was a lot to pack into 12 days, but Jess, our local expert from KimKim, managed to strike the perfect balance; it was a great mix of the things we asked for: adventure, coffee and food tasting as well as a bit of relax! We also had some bumps along the way (such as forgetting our mobile phone in a taxi), but Jess and her team managed to help us and fix things!

A few highlights:
1) Do visit the Cauca Valley and Quindio areas: beautiful villages, nature and obviously coffee. Also, if you plan to hire a tour guide you should really ask of David: he was the best guide we ever had, incredibly passionate and knowledgeable, as well as super friendly and fun.
2) If you love food, ask for a cooking class: Colombian food is superb, we did one in Cartagena at Oh La La and it was amazing.
3) If you love history, and want to know more about Colombia's own history, visit Medellin: Real City Tours and the Memorial Museum are a must.
4) If you love sea life, go to the coral reef around Isla Grande and ask for snorkelling or diving, there will be plenty of opportunities.

Thanks again to KimKim and all people involved in this great trip!

Jess did a great job adapting to our requests and providing great suggestions. We made some changes on the fly and Jess was able to roll with it and make our trip a delight. Jess even booked us restaurant reservation and was always available.
A couple of comments and suggestions.
The city tour in Bogata really works better if you start by going up to Monsarrat then venturing into the city.
A ceviche tour in Cartagena, which we heard about from other travelers at our hotel, sounds great and we suggest you folks add it to your options.
Medellin tour to Guatapa was great .
The rum tasting was a highlight, Abraham is a great guide to the world of rum. All of our guides, while all very different were great, informative and adaptable, not going from a script.
The transportation options were good, we never waited for a driver.
We handled most of our own hotel options, we liked both the Bastion in Cartagena and the Charlee in Medillin and would recommend both hotels.

Thank you Jess we had a great time.

Best Brian and Terri

I travel ninety-nine percent of the time independently and without the assistance of any organization or agency of any kind. I forgot how I stumbled upon Kim Kim but I thought the services looked so interesting and beneficial that I decided to take advantage of them.
Jess was very helpful and responsive to my inquiries. We also spoke by phone as necessary which was very helpful. The day she was not available, one of her colleagues was in touch with me by phone when my plane was delayed. I also appreciated someone keeping track of my trip.

I would have been curious to know what the breakdown of my expenses was. I know you get special rates but I would have liked to have known what they say are. The only breakdown was for the flights within Colombia.

I ended up needing a refund for one of my hotels since I was downgraded from a mini Suite to a standard room. That was taken care of very quickly so I'm pleased about that.

Just a minor comment about the website, I would suggest putting the countries you work in an alphabetical order.

I also was contacted by phone once from headquarters in Palo Alto. I forget why but I appreciated being able to talk to somebody there.

I've already shared with several people that I used Kim Kim to help plan my trip so I'm spreading the word about you and would definitely consider using you again.

And a personal kind regards to Jess!

Kimkim made my trip to Colombia so memorable! I spent 12 days there, and everyday went smoothly & I had great experiences with all guides/tours. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The local guides were very knowledgeable & friendly, tours were super fun & organized and the hotel provided by Kimkim was exceptional. I would trust Kimkim to plan any of my future trips. They really take the stress and anxiety out of planning trips so you can just enjoy and relax. My favorite parts of Colombia were definitely hiking the cloud forest in Salento, the city bike tour & hiking Monserrate in Bogota, the walking tour of Medellin, and roaming the streets of Cartagena. Would definitely return. Thank you :)

We had a great 4-day trip the Amazon region of Colombia. Our full-time guide for our trip was Odin and he was simply amazing. He was very attentive to our bilingual needs, since half our group only spoke English and the other part spoke mostly Spanish. Odin and every other guide was extremely professional and punctual for both the walking tours and the tours that required a boat ride. The Calanoa lodges where amazingly comfortable and well surpassed our expectations. The food was delicious, we tried a variety of local fruits and dishes that would compete with anything served from a high end restaurant. Booking with Jess from kimkim.com was smooth sailing. We simply gave her our information and the activities we where interested in doing and she booked everything from the pickup at the airport till the drop off at our final destination. Will definitely be using this service too book future trips.

Hi Jess,
Sorry it took me so long to get to providing feedback.
All round I had a really great trip - an unforgettable experience.
Starting with exploring various options through an internet search - your website struck me as really professional and the co-branding with well-known brands gave me the confidence to go with kimkim. Your responses to my initial inquiries about possible options were prompt, friendly and efficient - I felt the same about the booking process and your subsequent follow-up notices.
We received a very warm and friendly welcome from the agency team in Leticia - it was immediately obvious that it was a professional and experienced outfit. We were well briefed and looked after.
The guide was fantastic - knowledgeable, caring and supportive and really good at keeping us well fed. The translators (we had 2) were also great - really friendly and helpful.
The hike offered a good mix of variety of activities - walking (or battling at times) through the forest, staying with the local population, sleeping high up in the canopy and camping overnight, kayaking and crossing the Amazon into Peru, and then exploring the jungle further via boat.
All the meals and stays along the way were very enjoyable.
A final observation from a marketing point of view (and please take it coming from a 63 year old man - BTW the guide told me I was the oldest person walked with) - I would rate the hike on the "extreme adventure" spectrum (6-7.5 out of 10) rather than "for those looking for something a little more adventurous". The terrain is very challenging and while you don't need to be super fit, you need to be firm very firm footed with solid muscle strength. And you need to be comfortable with heights and about crossing streams and pools on tree trunks (in the dark at times).
Notwithstanding, it was a truly wonderful experience. Thanks to you and please pass on our thanks to the crew in Leticia. All the best Deon

The experience:
Our visit to Amazonas felt like a real adventure!
We were met in bustling Leticia by Darwin, our English-speaking guide, and spent the next 90 minutes awe-struck by the immensity of the river and the expertise of the boatman, who skilfully navigated past tree trunks and other floating debris as we sped our way upstream to Callanoa.
Our ‘home’ at the ecolodge was a beautifully designed 2-storey casita (more than just a cabin). Surrounded by a garden of heliconias and other floral delights, we were immersed in the sounds of birds in the secondary forest – the crested oropendolas with their liquid ‘glopping’ call, yellow-rumped caciques, and a multitude of diverse tanagers - with a rhythmic backing of frogs and cicadas.
We spent three comfortable nights here on the banks of the river Amazon as the river was rising at the start of its annual flood.
Each day started with a tasty breakfast –often in the company of a visiting troupe of squirrel monkeys or black-mantled tamarins. Then we would be hailed by the enthusiastic Darwin and taken off for a visit to the neighbouring village or, further afield, by boat, to flooded forests and islands, where we cruised amongst the trees spotting birds, sloths, pink dolphins and other wildlife. We will never forget the huge horizons and looming cloudscapes (nor the tremendous downpour that caught us midriver).
Going back to the lodge each day for lunch and supper –usually fish (always locally caught) and always delicious - provided opportunities to relax and rehydrate with a beer or exotic fruit juice.
We would love to return to the Amazonas wilderness in the future and, after a blessing from the local shaman at Callanoa, who knows, maybe in spirit at least...
The people who helped to make the trip so good:
-Darwin, a cheerful and knowledgeable guide. He appeared to know the area and the people and interacted well with the local guides to enable us to get the most out of our visit.
-The owner of the ecolodge, Diego. He was often present at meals when he was willing to answer our questions and to explain the ideas behind the Callanoa project. He aims to develop sustainable tourism as a way of restoring the natural forest and to provide the local people with employment and a cash income.

Jess, our agent/local specialist has been amazing. Our trip was very last minute and had some special circumstances, yet Jess was on top of it. It was our first time in Colombia and we had not time to research much, so it was amazing to have KimKim's recommendations, and then Jess's guidance in booking things. Jess checked in many times to ensure everything was going well, she answered all my questions almost instantly, which given the last minute nature of the trip was very much appreciated, she was very patient and detailed and professional in all her communication. She even informed us about the schedule of some museums that we wanted to visit and could not do on the days we had a guide for.

The activities booked all worked out as planned. The guides and drivers were not only on time, but in most cases early. I traveled most of the time alone with my 7-year-old, therefore having this service was reassuring. While there have been some minor communication errors between the guides, their bosses, the agency, mostly about the timing of the activities (somehow most of them had earlier times than us) , all the guides and drivers were very flexible, accommodating and understanding. All the guides had excellent English. The private rides were in very comfortable and clean cars, with working seat belts (not a given in any Colombian taxis :)), and nice chatty drivers (if you speak Spanish). We also liked that we had the same guide for our entire stay in one location.

Raffael, our walking tour guide in Cartagena was great in giving us the lay-out of the old city center and it's history. The chocolate making activity at the Chocolate Museum was very educational and fun for both my child and me. Our guide there (I believe Nelson) was fantastic. The day trip to Playa Azul was nice, but I have been to nicer and quieter beaches that didn't require a 45-minute speed boat ride to it, so unless you are desperate for beach time, you can skip this activity. With that being said, my 7-year-old loved it, and Cartagena is surrounded by water, so it would be a tease not to go to the beach while there.

Mauricio, our guide in the coffee region, was the most fantastic guide one could ask for. He clearly loves what he does and is very good at it. He is very passionate and knowledgeable about nature and everything in the region. He was fun, flexible, accommodating and an endless source of information. We LOVED our hike in Cocora Valley, a must for anyone going to Colombia. We did the entire hike (almost 14 km long), and our 7-year-old was fine with it. It is a quite difficult and treacherous hike though, so I only recommend it to those in good physical condition. You must ride in a Jeep to it, a Willy, if you don't mind some minor discomfort. We loved it! The valley is simply gorgeous. We really enjoyed the coffee farm tour and visiting some of the villages in the region the next day.

We spent two days in Bogota with our guide Sharon. She was very knowledgeable about the places we visited and accommodating for our needs. We went to the local market which was very colorful, but nothing unusual for a European. The trip up Monserrate is a must while in Bogota. The view is gorgeous. We went on a walking tour of the Candelaria neighborhood, the Gold Museum, and the emerald row. Sharon was great at explaining everything we needed to know and in recommending great places to eat. We also visited the Botero museum (on our own, as it was closed the day we had a guide), and I think it is a must see while in Bogota.

Overall Colombia is great destination. The food is excellent everywhere. We felt safe everywhere. Our trip was unforgettable, and that is thanks to KimKim and Jess. There is no way I would have been able to plan such a trip and get so much out of it in short 7 days, even if it wasn't last minute. My only wish is to make the pricing of the activities more transparent, activity by activity, so we can decide weather some are worth it for us or not. Thanks everyone!

Jess was very helpful in planning the trip and made all the changes we wanted. Laura took over and was super helpful when we needed to make a couple of changes part way through the trip. She was quickly responsive over What's App which made it much easier for me to communicate with her than through email. At one point we needed to go to the hospital and Laura arranged private transport for us at the last minute from Taganga to Cartagena and found out hospital recommendations for us which was very helpful, especially when we were stressed out about the situation.

Rio Claro was terrific, we loved everything about it. The activities there were also crazy cheap (like 8 USD to go rafting!)

The Los Nevados Trek was beautiful and incredible. Highly recommend this trek. I would not recommend the guide that we got though. He was nice enough but didn't interact with us much and was not a great guide. He didn't bring very good food, had a water filter that was not appropriate for group use (small in-line water filter for himself), and told us the water was fine to drink "because it didn't look that dirty." (even though he was filtering his own water and the other guides for other groups were like "do NOT drink the tap water! It's definitely not safe to drink!" We were fairly cold at night. I would have liked to bring my own water filter and a sleeping bag in hind sight. (I was told we didn't need them.) Also, there was an error with the pick up for the trek in the morning. We were told 10 am by the travel agent and got picked up at 5 am by the guide. (Something to work out for the future.)

The transportation arrangements were invaluable with private transport.