Mathias Onisseit

Ecuador

The trip was excellent as we got to see both the old town and the new town of Quito. The country side of both the mountains and jungle gave us interesting perspectives of the culture. We enjoyed eating at the local places that our guide recommended.

And a special shout out to Ramona, our simian assistant who enjoyed taking free rides on our families shoulders.

Mathias was super honest about the Galapagos and told us in all honesty that we would see more by boat than any land trip and he was right.
He set up a trip for us in the Amazon Rain Forest area. The place was absolutely lovely and we had an excellent time. We loved the walks to the waterfalls and also the night walk, the day trip to the Amazon to meet the animals and the indigenous people all were amazing. The guide from the hotel Leonardo was truly excellent and was extremely kind and helpful. The pet monkey at the resort "Ramona" was the star of the show. We had a great time with her and she came on the walk to the rain forest hanging on one of us the whole time. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The chocolate making class was fascinating and the chocolate was excellent that we made. The resort also had a lot of locals from Quito and we had an amazing time interacting with them. So all in all, a great choice of resort and just the right amount of activity for us. On the way back we stopped at a bird sanctuary and also the famous hot springs. We had an excellent time swimming between the very cold pool and the very hot pools. All in all the choices that Mathias made were totally on the money and the whole thing was effortless and was enjoyed by all of us.

We used KimKim's services to book a 7 night cruise on the Natural Paradise, cruising yacht in the eastern galapagos islands. Our rep, Mathias, had been helpful at first, suggesting a wide variety of ships that we narrowed our selection down from. Once we booked however, all proactive communication stopped.

As the trip drew nearer, we had to follow up with Mathias repeatedly to obtain any information about the cruise. We were not notified that there had been an itinerary change, and we had to ask repeatedly about inclusions on board. In spite of our proactive outreach on all these topics, it was clear from our time on the ship that we had been misinformed about a number of inclusions. On the one item that Mathias had been somewhat proactive about - wetsuit sizing - he reached out the night before we set sail to advise us that the sizes and suits we had requested weren't available and offer a preposterous solution that involved us being taken to a dive shop to rent our own suits in the hours before we sailed. This information would have been helpful weeks in advance when we could have packed differently or made other arrangements, but this constant lack of information - and misinformation - put a damper on an otherwise great trip.

Once we were on the ship, the crew and guide on the Natural Paradise were phenomenal and did their best to accomodate any need or request. If we were doing it over, we would book directly with them and take KimKim out of the mix.

Hotel Review

Natural Paradise

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This ship and the journey on it made for a fabulous week. The ship was a nicer category of vessel than we'd anticipated, and the crew on board were friendly and willing to please. The food was delicious, with great variety. For any special dietary requirements, they were quick to accomodate. Our Naturalist guide, Maria, was AMAZING. She totally made the trip and because of her knowledge and planning, we saw so many amazing and rare wildlife sites and experiences. She was also so willing to chat about the region, astronomy... and just about anything else we might have asked her about. She helped out with anything that came up, and connected a number of people on the ship (my party included) to other guides and experiences for the upcoming parts of our travels. The one caution I'd offer other travelers, is to potentially avoid the split itineraries on this ship. We were on the boat for 7 nights, which was a combination of the 4 night and 3 night eastern cruise. We did find that this many nights in a small geography began to feel a little repetitive, and the feeling was exacerbated by the change in passengers. With new people on board partway through our trip, the staff and guide had to repeat things the existing guests already knew, and spend more time spotting and watching animals that the guests who had been on since the beginning of the week had seen plenty of. It we had to do this over, we'd have done the 4 night cruise and then spent 2-3 nights on Isabella; or, considered a one week itinerary that carried the same passengers and guide throughout. Overall though, we were so happy with our time on the Natural Paradise and a huge thanks to the crew and guide.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Charles Darwin Station & Tortoise Breeding center

Galapagos Islands

The Charles Darwin research station was a fun and interesting stop. Our guide walked us through the various stages of breeding and species of tortoises on site. It was very cool! We also enjoyed watching the saddle-domed turtles and learning about Solitario Jorge. Definitely an interesting stop for travelers wanting to know more about evolution and the foundation of what makes the Galapagos so fascinating.

We had an excellent trip thanks to tour guide Robert and trip organizer Mathias. We visited most of the places within 7 days, thanks to great planning. We requested additional activities and they were also accommodated with in the time frame. Highlights were horseback riding in Cotopaxi , chocolate tour in Mindo, rafting and cooking class in Banos.
Would definitely use Kim Kim again for our future trips. Highly recommend Mathias and Robert, they are a great team.

Everyone involved in the planning and execution of this trip was topnotch! A special thanks to Mathias for pulling it all together though and having excellent communication and flexibility! This was our 3rd trip through KimKim and I highly recommend their platform/service. Fantastic trip in terms of meeting what we were looking to do/see. Would highly recommend!