Linda Schulz

We were two teenager families traveling in mainland Ecuador for the first time. Stayed 6 days in Quito area with visits to Mindo, Cotopaxi and Quilotoa. Our guide Marcelo was perfect match with his deep knowledge of biology and earth sciences, as well as being very flexible and service minded. Highly recommended!

All transport and drivers felt safe and was punctual. Our guide to mindo (Marcelo Chavez) was maybe one of the best guides we have experienced. He really payd attention to the groups needs and gave good and pedagogical information. He was truly professional, positive and service minded. Hotel in mindo (Dragonfly) and Cotopaxi was memorable. All activities was good.

We had nice vacation in Ecuador and Galapagos Islands - it was one of our best vacation. All transfers and accuracy were excellent. Majority of tours were superb - the best guide was Veronica, the first tour after arrival to Santa Cruz - Turtles Farm and Darvin Station. The last one on the Islands - Bay Tour was ok: tour guide had limited English (basically few major sentences), also it was a similar one we had already on the islands earlier.
Once again, thank you so much for organizing one... read more

We had nice vacation in Ecuador and Galapagos Islands - it was one of our best vacation. All transfers and accuracy were excellent. Majority of tours were superb - the best guide was Veronica, the first tour after arrival to Santa Cruz - Turtles Farm and Darvin Station. The last one on the Islands - Bay Tour was ok: tour guide had limited English (basically few major sentences), also it was a similar one we had already on the islands earlier.
Once again, thank you so much for organizing one of the best our vacation, we enjoyed it a lot. We are already thinking to visit more countries in Latin America.
All the best Yelena and Roman

Our 5-day adventure to Ecuador was terrific. Highlights: historic Quito, Cotapaxi, Banos, the avenue of waterfalls, the eco-lodge in Tena and rafting! Everything made easy on the booking end by Linda and on the ground by guide extraordinaire, Marco.

Linda was amazing. My travel plans were fluid early on and she gave me numerous options and updated along the way as I finalized the details, with regular communication. I couldn’t have asked for more.

All drivers and guides were very professional and friendly, they listened and steered us to aspects we told them we were interested in (in my case it was local foods and sighting as many wild birds as possible). The entire LaSelva experience was extremely well organized and fulfilling. Transportation was clean and comfortable. We appreciated having water available for us for every leg of the journey. The hotels in Quito and the Hacienda Cusin were all enjoyable. We loved the local fruits and Ecuadorian dishes for breakfast. All in all just a wonderful trip!

Everything was well taken care of. No significant glitches. Good guides provided, who were knowledgeable, helpful and attentive. Superb experience. Communication and responses from Linda were prompt and clear.

Our Ecuador adventure was amazing due to the excellent support from Linda and Kimkim. Linda helped us pull together a diverse itinerary for the relatively short amount of time we had in a country we knew nothing about. She was very responsive to emails and patient with our questions and worked within our parameters that kept changing. We loved all the accommodations recommended by Linda, in particular the Inti Sisa Art Guesthouse in Guamote and Hosteria Mandala at the coast in Puerto... read more

Our Ecuador adventure was amazing due to the excellent support from Linda and Kimkim. Linda helped us pull together a diverse itinerary for the relatively short amount of time we had in a country we knew nothing about. She was very responsive to emails and patient with our questions and worked within our parameters that kept changing. We loved all the accommodations recommended by Linda, in particular the Inti Sisa Art Guesthouse in Guamote and Hosteria Mandala at the coast in Puerto Lopez - both so amazing and gorgeous, and each supporting important social and environmental projects in their communities which was important to us. And in our price range! We appreciated Linda’s recommendation to have a driver/guide traveling from Quito to Banos, and enjoyed a full day with Annibal V learning about Ecuador, and seeing the sites. A more expensive transportation option, but but well worth it and balanced off with the super inexpensive (and more adventurous!) buses we took at other points in our travel. Another highlight was our day trip to Isla de la Plata with Machalilla Tours - again recommended by Linda and we felt confident in the quality and safety of their equipment, services and guides. Thanks Linda for helping to create such a memorable trip for three Canadian gals, we would not hesitate to highly recommend your services to others.

Overall this trip was fun. The planning processes was relatively straight-forward with Linda though there was a bunch of back and forth that I think may have been solved by being more forth coming with "this is the company we normally go with" or "these will be stops on XYZ."
For the actual trip, I don't think the airport transfer went smoothly. The person who was supposed to pick us up, sent someone else into the airport, spelled our name wrong, and were holding a sign not associated with... read more

Overall this trip was fun. The planning processes was relatively straight-forward with Linda though there was a bunch of back and forth that I think may have been solved by being more forth coming with "this is the company we normally go with" or "these will be stops on XYZ."
For the actual trip, I don't think the airport transfer went smoothly. The person who was supposed to pick us up, sent someone else into the airport, spelled our name wrong, and were holding a sign not associated with KimKim or any service I'd heard from. It was only because I speak some Spanish I decided that sign was the only one remotely close to our name we ended up with the right person.
Our guide, Marco, while very nice and resourceful I would have put in the category of "driver," not a true "guide." I frequently found myself at the edge of other tour groups in order to learn more history/background/context of what we were seeing. Marco effectively got us from place to place, but he might spend 3-5 minutes telling us about a centuries old church and then leaving us to our own devices. This is fine, but had I known, I would have hired a private tour guide for Quito at least.
We LOVED our experience mountain biking with Biking Dutchman down Cotopaxi. Despite the fact is was raining and cold, it was so cool and our guide/transport were great. Heads up that transport isn't super comfy/questionable seatbelt safety, but probably fine.
Banos was fun, there were some small issues with the group who did our rock climbing/ Via Ferrata tour, but they were easy to work with and responsive in handling mistakes.
I honestly normally do all of our trip planning myself, but do to cost of renting an automatic vehicle and my middling at best Spanish, thought this might be a good opportunity to test out a tour guide company. As I said above, this was a fun trip and parts were really very cool, but the parts we most enjoyed was stuff I specifically researched and suggested, so I'm on the fence about whether I would do this again.
It's probably a great service if you don't have time/desire to do the research, but I think TripAdvisor and Google will continue to be my go-tos.

Thanks for helping have a fun time in Ecuador!

Linda was absolutely amazing and put together the ideal itinerary for us which turned out to be the trip of a lifetime! Not only was she there for all the preparation and planning but when we arrived she was a total star in sorting out lost luggage, making sure we were ok, and even tracking down a lost pair of glasses that caught up with us by high speed boat just before we were about to leave. 5 stars is just not enough, Linda really was a life saver! I highly recommend Linda and Kim Kim, absolutely brilliant!

This trip was amazing! Linda was so helpful from the very beginning. During the whole trip, I didn't have to worry about anything. There was always someone with a sign of my name waiting for me at the airport. There were different local guides to take care of our schedule. (Although I hope the local guide in Galapagos is more professional and helpful. She didn't give us any useful information about the tours, Galapagos in general, other than taking us from the hotel to the meeting points of... read more

This trip was amazing! Linda was so helpful from the very beginning. During the whole trip, I didn't have to worry about anything. There was always someone with a sign of my name waiting for me at the airport. There were different local guides to take care of our schedule. (Although I hope the local guide in Galapagos is more professional and helpful. She didn't give us any useful information about the tours, Galapagos in general, other than taking us from the hotel to the meeting points of our tours every day) The hotels were absolutely amazing. The hotel in Quito is in the best location, and the service was so great. Both the hotel in Quito and Galapagos upgraded the room for us for free. The tours were fun overall. We had limited time so we didn't get to go deep into the Amazon, so we didn't get to see lots of animals. Nonetheless, the guide was still amazing and the experience was still great.

Marco our bilingual guide was a very safe & entertaining driver with whom we were able to practice our conversational Spanish .The 5 day Avenue of volcanoes tour was an amazing series of national parks and hacienda stays which enabled us to reach Guayaquil for our Galapagos trip visiting markets,walking in beautiful places and experiencing the unique hospitality of haciendas.

Overall I can sum up our experience as Excellent!! Thanks to Linda who did a wonderful job of getting the tour planning and arrangements taken care of. Our entire trip was very well organized and worked like a clock right from the day we landed in Quito. Linda worked methodically answering every question that we had during the planning process, customizing the minute details, dietary requirements, transportation, guide information etc. I liked the personalization of the whole package. I would... read more

Overall I can sum up our experience as Excellent!! Thanks to Linda who did a wonderful job of getting the tour planning and arrangements taken care of. Our entire trip was very well organized and worked like a clock right from the day we landed in Quito. Linda worked methodically answering every question that we had during the planning process, customizing the minute details, dietary requirements, transportation, guide information etc. I liked the personalization of the whole package. I would recommend Kimkim travels to anyone who considers planning a vacation to the Galapagos and Amazon. Great staff, very courteous and affordable.

We highly recommend Linda if you're considering going to Ecuador. Linda was extremely responsive throughout, and on top of that, she was in constant communication with local guides to make sure we were taken care of when we got sick during the trip.

We had considered going there on our own, and we're so glad we didn't. The itinerary that Linda put together for us was perfect, as we were able to truly see how distinct and diverse different parts of the country are. The local guide that she... read more

We highly recommend Linda if you're considering going to Ecuador. Linda was extremely responsive throughout, and on top of that, she was in constant communication with local guides to make sure we were taken care of when we got sick during the trip.

We had considered going there on our own, and we're so glad we didn't. The itinerary that Linda put together for us was perfect, as we were able to truly see how distinct and diverse different parts of the country are. The local guide that she paired us with, Christian, was great as well. He was very knowledgeable about history of the country, and he also recommended some hole-in-the-wall restaurants, which made our experiences very unique and memorable!

Don't think twice about contacting Linda if you're considering going to Ecuador!

Our first trip to Ecuador was breath-taking to say the least. Galapagos has been on my bucket list for a long time and it was an exhilarating experience. Every island we visited was different and unique. It was impossible to get bored on the islands. Places like Los Tunales, the beach on Isabela island, and the ride on "Windrose" yacht are permanently etched in my memory.

Our trip was for 12 days, including 2 days for traveling. We spent 4 days in mainland Ecuador and 6 on Galapagos. In... read more

Our first trip to Ecuador was breath-taking to say the least. Galapagos has been on my bucket list for a long time and it was an exhilarating experience. Every island we visited was different and unique. It was impossible to get bored on the islands. Places like Los Tunales, the beach on Isabela island, and the ride on "Windrose" yacht are permanently etched in my memory.

Our trip was for 12 days, including 2 days for traveling. We spent 4 days in mainland Ecuador and 6 on Galapagos. In retrospect, we would have spent at least 1 day less in mainland and more time on Galapagos. Historical Quito, Mitad Del Mundo, Otavalo and Cotopaxi were good places to visit on mainland. Ideally, I would have loved more time in Otavalo instead of visiting some local waterfalls. Even Cuicocha lagoon was hyped up as a lake with active volcanic bubbles, but it was a major let down. All the places we visited on Galapagos were wonderful and given more time, we would have loved to visit more islands. The speed boat ride from Puerto Ayora to Isabela island was the bumpiest ride ever and there was not a single person on the boat who didn't come out without a queasy stomach. FYI, a one-way ferry ride costs $30 and lasts 2.5 hours. A plane trip costs $135 and lasts 30 mins. In the large scheme of things, we might have just selected the plane trip instead of enduring the bumpiest boat ride of our lives.

Linda was extremely informative and knowledgeable about Ecuador. She was great at setting our expectations and answering our questions promptly. Our local guides were a collective mix. Jorge (George), our guide on land, was great, but provided info that was less engaging for the kids. On Galapagos, our guide to Los Tunales, Sebastian, stole the show. He was patient, funny and knew a lot about the local area and habitats. While snorkeling, he ensured we all saw the key pieces without rushing . He walked with my mom, who is 72 years old, at her pace guiding her on the rocks etc. Overall, a great experience with him. All the other guides were decent.

As a group of 9, finding hotel rooms together was a big challenge. In most places, we didn't have rooms near each other. They were almost always on different floors, which was a logistical headache. In Quito, our hotel, Cruz Loma, didn't have elevators and it was painful to trudge up 4 flights of stairs with suitcases. Unfortunately, they didn't offer help with our luggage nor did they heed our request for rooms on lower floors. The hotels on Galapagos islands were normal 3-star places. Nothing too fancy to write about. Again, no elevators, but the staff helped our with our stuff. Breakfast was included for all our days, but 10 days of eating nothing but eggs, bread, yogurt and juice got too tiring. I wish they would provide a bit more variety, even if we had to pay for it.

Overall, this was a once in a lifetime trip and one that we will recall for many years to come. Thanks to Linda and Kimkim for helping us with this vacation !

Linda was absolutely wonderful. She booked my last minute Galapagos trip . She was eager to help very responsive and knew the area really well. I am grateful for her help and I strongly recommend her to other travelers. Thank you Linda

Tour at Nicky Amazon Lodge exceeded my expectation. My favorite part was exploring the night life of the Amazon rainforest. It is something I would never think because it was not mentioned in the textbook. Birding watching and hiking options at Bellavista was very good. This would not be possible without kimkim. Kimkim's online platform was helpful because I had a busy schedule and their advice and support made a difference in my decision-making process. To the point, the trip was well-tailored thanks to kimkim's service.

Advanced planning
Good pick up times
Easily available for any questions
Custom itenary based on personal preference.
I would recommend to anyone.

We stayed 10 days in Ecuador and 8 days on Galapagos.
All was very good.
Linda planned us the exactly trip we asked her.
The guide who went with us, Marco, was very friendly, also for trip not planned.
We went to Quito, on Cotopaxi, Quilatoa Lagoon, Baños, Chimborazo, Guamote, Cuenca and Guayaquil. A great trip !
Than on Galapagos we stayed two days on San Cristobal, one day on Santa Cruz and the last 5 days on a very beautiful Cruise.
All the accomodation of our trip was fantastic.
We're enthusiastics of this beautiful experience.
Thanks Linda !

Natascia and Giampaolo (Italy)

Linda was outstanding, she was quick at answering all my questions and made sure I was in the loop when itineraries changed.

All the guides did a wonderful job explaining Ecuador and the different locations that are popular to visit or that make Ecuador unique.

The city tour was nice, I really enjoyed the mitad del mundo museum - very informative.
Otavalo, Cotopaxi, Quilotoa, and Baños were all wonderful experiences!

I was very thankful that Linda was able to connect with my hotel and ensure that I had a to go breakfast on the days I left early. I love breakfast!!