Trip to Colombia

Colombia | May 17 - May 24, 2018

Dear KimKim,

Please update the rating scale. Only having five stars from poor to great does not allow me to rate how I genuinely want to. And my words do not provide justice to my overall experience in planning and booking my trip with the services I received from my local specialist.

In the past few years, I faced many tragedies. The first one was dealing with my oldest brother's suicide. Then I encountered looking after my grandfather for six years and witnessing him die with his battle with cancer. After that, I lost the relationship with my mother and two youngest brothers. And finally, I endured a breakup with my ex-partner.

Traveling has become therapy for me. Each time that I have gone outside of the United States, I flew with others who knew how to communicate fluently in Spanish. And going to Columbia by myself and barely knowing and able to speak Spanish, I knew was going to be a challenge.

On May 11, 2018, I contacted KimKim to plan a trip to Medellín, Columbia. My travel dates were May 17, 2018, to May 24, 2018. No one responded to me, and I urgently reached out to KimKim again, on May 14, 2018. Finally, later on, that same day, Juan Ortiz, my local specialist responded.

Juan organized this last minute trip and assisted me 24/7. He was honest, polite, and upfront with me. ATTENTION KimKim, Juan deserves a trip on the house for going over and beyond serving and making me a fulfilled and happy customer.

My four-day adventure started on Friday when I went on the Pablo Escobar tour. I was mind blown by Carlos, who is one of the two remaining officers that served during the years that Pablo was alive. Saturday, I met my main and magnificent tour guide, Marcelo. That day I went on an Innovation tour of Medellín. Medellín has so many environmental and collected community organizing that I want to create in my hometown, Bethlehem, also known as the Lehigh Valley, in Pennsylvania. Sunday, I went to the Rio Claro Reserve. The Rio Claro Reserve brought me up and also down. It brought me up because it is an environment where I can see myself losing myself and escape from the madness of the world. Rio Claro brought me down because there is a need for new zoning laws to be reinforced. It will be devasting for Rio Claro to be taken over by the industrial invasion. I did not finish my tour small. I completed my journey with a big bang, on Monday and going to Guatapé. Guatapé was breathtaking, and no one has lived until they visit this beautiful "peace on earth." The last two days I was left to explore and have some me time.

KimKim, if there is a way to update your rating scale with all of the stars in the universe it will be a tremendous help. Then the range would be more accurate. Visiting Medellín, Columbia, alone was nerve wrecking. Notably, having uninformed people plant negative seeds into my head about going alone and the dangers that I might encounter. Everyone that I met including the Conquest 33 Hotel representatives treated me like family. Thus far, this has been the most memorable trip I have experienced. On June 1, 2020, please be my travel agency to plan my trip to South Africa.

Greatly appreciative and humbled,

Dèjour