7 days Oslo | Local Aurland | Bergen

Norway | Aug 3 - Aug 10, 2019

I consider that one of my luckiest "finds" to be when I ran across a personal travel posting that mentioned kimkim. I had already spent many unsuccessful & frustrating hours on my computer trying to plan a week long trip to Norway with our son, daughter-in-law, 6 yr old grandson and 2 year old granddaughter. It had become abundantly clear that I was out of my depth. Linda answered my initial inquiry at kimkim and we began planning an agenda that included the areas we wanted to see, bolstered by what sites and activities she recommended in each of those areas. Through efficient and prompt emailing, she helped build a travel schedule with the 6 yr and 2 yr children in mind. At no time, however, did I feel that she was pushing us in any particular direction. She was happy to adjust, consider, re-arrange, explain why something might not work, suggest alternatives --- all with the goal of reaching an agenda that met our varied personal needs. Once the final agenda was set, I was SO impressed when everything we needed was emailed to us about 2 weeks before departure: a very detailed trip agenda; hotel reservations; pre-paid train & ferry tickets; timed taxi reservations; individual maps to use once we arrived at each destination; pre-paid entrance tickets to Viking Valley; names of guides, their contact information, time & place to meet; even a dinner reservation at a popular restaurant -- plus her contact number if we needed anything during the trip. In addition, she double-checked each reservation right before we arrived. I realized how carefully we were being "shadowed" during the trip when I received an email from Linda, just "checking in" to see how we were doing, and a text another day advising me that a guide had become ill, and giving me the name & contact information of the new guide. That was when I clearly realized the most valuable difference in kimkim and the "brick & mortar" travel agencies I have used in past years: a travel agency here in the U.S. would have been finished with us once we paid, and certainly once we had departed on the trip. Linda and our guides (Matilda & Vilde --- both delightful, by the way) were there for us throughout the trip. We knew intuitively that we could count on Linda and her colleagues to help us in any situation that might arise, or even to just answer a question.

I consider myself a walking kimkim advertisement now. I am spreading the word to everyone I know, as this business model offers a level of excellence & stress-free travel that is completely unique in today's world of limited, impersonal customer service. Thank you, Linda! We LOVED your gorgeous Norway! We hope to use kimkim again!