Kimkim Trip Reviews

Shaky. Definitely made it right - but I think we all would have preferred a smoother communication channel and not necessarily between us and Chris but rather getting the needed info to us to smooth the process i.e. direct contact info for accommodations (phone #'s!), the very important knowledge that an accommodation does not accept credit cards even though the reservation was secured with a credit card. Little things that need to be tightened up.
We could book through booking.com ourselves and accomplish the same thing, we were looking for the "smoothing" aspect using Kim Kim.
As for the suggestions of places to visit and time to allow, I think Chris did an exceptional job! All of the accommodations were perfect for our trip and the vehicle suited the terrain we were traversing.
Despite the various hiccups, we all loved Iceland and our experience overall.

Everything was perfect using Kim Kim. We had 3 guides in different parts of our trip plus a trip to Tiger Tops at Chitwan elephant camp. Rajeev was our first guide and we were impressed with how thorough his knowledge of the village and history was. Suman was our guide through our trekking stage and he went above and beyond. It was during this part of the trip that my husband wasn’t feeling very well to handle the full trekking days. Suman adjusted our plans and made sure my husband’s health was of primary concern. For this I am extremely grateful. Our last guide was Pratikshya and it was wonderful to see a woman guide in this male dominated field. There are some things that just need a woman’s touch and she provided that plus very detailed knowledge of the villages we went to.

Our time in Chitwan was priceless with Tiger Tops. Their values regarding the wildlife and how they particularly took care of the elephants was outstanding. Our personal guide/assistant was Bhim and he made sure we got to take part in all aspects of elephant maintenance and care. They took excellent care of us and the animals. Cannot say enough of how much this portion on the trip meant to me personally.

Keep up the good work!

Had a great trip in Nepal . I was greeted by the driver and Ngima at the airport.
Ngima was excellent to look after me from beginning to end of trip.

Also, Lhakpa (Guide) and the porter was knowledgeable and very helpful through the trek .
I would like to recommend Ngima team to everyone !!

Thanks for helping to make our trip to Nepal an amazing trip of a lifetime!

Very professional and high-quality service from Martina, accommodating all of our requests and needs during the trip.

The North part of Peru is not very well advertised and there are not too many tourists in this area (good for people like us, who really enjoyed the real Peru experience, not overtaken by tourism industry yet.) We were nicely surprised and definitely I would suggest using this as a key point in the advertisement of this region. So thank you, Martina, for pointing to us these incredible places to see and stay.

Kuelep, Mausoleum of Revish, Sarcophagi of Karajia - amazing sites. Getting to these places through the real Peruvian villages is an attraction on its own. Chachapoyas and Cajamarca - very authentic Peruvian towns with beautiful main squares and beautiful architecture (a little bit disappointing was the fact that there was a major renovation of the main square in Chachapoyas - which we did not expect).

Also, the drive from Cajamarca through the valleys, mountains, and an incredible one-line road was amazing: the views, the trill passing another vehicles and change of sceneries were unforgettable.

Two amazing places we have stayed I would like to mention. Perico and Lola house in Nogalcucho: quiet and isolated house with beautiful private accommodations. Great homemade dinner and breakfast. Lots of options for walks or areas to sit and enjoy the beauty of their place.
Another is in Cocachimba hostel Sacha Puyo (best view on Gocta falls). The views and quietness of this place are out of this world.

Even though we did not have a guide, our driver Beto was able to give us enough info so we did not feel lost without knowledge of Spanish. But the knowledge of a minimum of Spanish language is a must when traveling in this region so I would recommend to always let people know about this fact. In general people in Northern Peru do not know English.

Yangon: guide Pyae. Excellent. Engaged, knowledgable, friendly, mature. Provided very interesting rickshaw rides through markets, and even better in poorer village across river in Dala. Hotel Sule and location excellent
Bagan: guide Zie. Very good. We think selection of monuments possibly could have been better. Excellent hotel Aureum Palace.
Mandalay: guide "Ken". Excellent, enthusiastic, knowledgeable. Hotel Eastern Palace had some interesting design features but was clean and efficient. Least impressive hotel. Unable to compare with other offerings. But very acceptable.
Inle Lake: guide Thanh. Highlight. Guide was engaged, efficient, helpful, experienced. Hotel Pristine Lotus beautiful, well built & designed and located. Great having 3 days there. Photographer's paradise.
All cars and drivers well chosen - always felt safe and comfortable and were well supplied with water bottles and wipes.
All connections and pickups went smoothly and although I was anxious at first only having very basic information from Kimkim/ Myanmar Diaries about these, there was never a problem.

From the initial inquiry to Kimkim - which was answered in less than half an hour - to the final moments of our stay in Myanmar, our experience was over-the-top excellent. I have traveled extensively, doing most of the planning myself, so it was with a few qualms that I turned the planning over to Anne. I needn't have worried - every aspect of the experience was even better than I could have planned myself and far exceeded my expectations. Anne really listened to what we wanted and translated it into a brilliant experience - from the things we saw (temples, incredible temples, beautiful countryside, towers of firecrackers) and did (e bike through Bagan, soaring in a balloon over Inle Lake, feeding the retired elephants), we had a great time. The best part though was the people we met - our local guides were knowledgeable and fun and made sure that we got to see the real country and not just tick off a bunch of boxes. Special thanks to Anne for making the whole thing run like clockwork, Nay in Mandalay, Arkar in Bagan, Htun in Kalaw and Inle and Hla in Bagan for making our experience unforgettable. As the kids would say, 11/10 would do again.

I also want to make one comment about the Rohingya situation - it is terrible, for sure, but not reflective of the people and attitudes we encountered in the rest of the country. Myanmar is poor and just starting to figure out how to be a more democratic and progressive country, and they néed your support. Visit, while the place is still unspoiled and you can make a real impact on everyone you encounter.

My experience was highly positive. I enjoyed the unique high country of Nepal immensely as well as the people I met both with Himalayan Trails and those along the trek. I was impressed with the wide range of ages represented by the trekkers and at times dismayed with the sheer numbers. The highlights for me were the climb of Chukhung Che and the trek over Kongma La pass and the Khumba glacier. Enjoying the trek with my son and brother was particularly gratifying and motivating. A highlight was meeting up again with Peter in Dzongla after he had to go back down to Pheriche from Chukhung. My son and I had little trouble with the treks or the altitude, which I ascribe to the great pacing set by our guide Ngawong. The porters Lhakpa and Dorjee were helpful, cheerful and worked hard to carry our "too much stuff".

The only slightly negative commentary on the trek was the time duration after going over Renjo pass. Its length was constrained by our return flight to the states (which had already been delayed by one day by China Southern). In my estimation the trek could be shortened by 2-3 days still leaving time for shopping/sightseeing in Kathmandu, if desired. We ended up staying three nights in Namche on the way back and 3 days in Kathmandu. Admittedly it gave us time to relax and hang out but we had already been gone >3 weeks and were ready to go home.

We had a wonderful experience with Kim Kim and Amanda Delecca from Himalayan Trails from the very beginning. Great communication was one thing we never had to worry about. Our guide was Mindu (sp?) and our porter was Chhong Nuri Sherpa. Amanda was very helpful answering all our questions before and during our trek. Our guide and porter were fantastic, knowledgeable and fun to be with.

Highlights were amazing views of the Himalayas, visiting the tea houses for lunch and spending the night and visiting the monasteries. We loved the scenery on this trek and it's not as populated . The tea houses were humble and we really enjoyed the hospitality. Being able to visit the monasteries was beyond imaginable. That is something we will never forget. We had a great trip and would love to do it again one day. Thanks so much!

All of our guides were amazing! Our Delhi guide was excellent! He spent a great deal of time waiting with us for late trains and delayed flights! The person who overlooked our stay in Ranthambore was very continentious and checked on us daily! Our safari guide was great too!
The hotel was not the greatest! The staff, except in reception were awesome and so friendly! Hotel needs some updating! Wi go only in lobby, no hairdryers or irons! Did see a tiger 🐅 due to great guide. They all spoke good English!
Thank you! We would use Kim Kim again!!

Kamchha was a very good guide, very knowledgeable. Unfortunately he had to leave the trek a few days early because of a medical issue, which is understandable, but then he was replaced by someone who didn't speak English. I had a difficult time at the airport trying to fly out of Lukla back to Kathmandu. The Nepal Himalayas are absolutely amazing, incredible scenery all around. I don't know how they choose what places to stay at though and I wish there was a better price breakdown for each day. Had to sleep in a tent in freezing temperatures because it was not booked in advance.

Really liked Aditya, who helped pick me up from the airport twice, and speaks good English and is super nice and diligent.

Needed more info on what to expect with the weather and what clothing to bring
Would have liked a breakdown on prices as compared to other companies/guides, I paid quite a deal more than other people did
Otherwise he was very helpful and the trip was awesome

Had an incredible incredible time on our self-driving trip around Iceland and everything was planned so perfectly with just the right amount of time. The trip was perfectly tailored to our needs and the couldn't have been more seamless.

Emanuela was so nice/knowledgeable and happy to answer any and all questions I had.

Very well organized! Had a great time without having to worry about details! Thank you!

Evelyn was very quick to answer questions and make the perfect itinerary for us!

First time we've booked on the internet. It couldn't have been easier. Great communication.

Howard was very helpful and knowledgeable. Didn't tire of answering even the daftest of my questions. Also very helpful during the holiday, not just before it.

The trip was very well organized and we were in good hands. The trek did seem longer than it needed to be... we had a lot of free time on our hands.

Bjorn was amazing and the trip was fantastic. There was only one small issue on the first day. We went to Blue Lagoon from the airport, which worked out great. The issue was that the bus dropped us at Bus Stop #6 and we had no idea where we were or where our apartment rental was from that stop. After talking with a few people, we did eventually reach the apartment. The communication was just poor from the bus driver. After our pickup on September 24, we realized that we probably should have gone to the bus depot and had a smaller bus take us to our rental. Other than this, our trip was fantastic and we are so thankful that Bjorn did such a great job. Our evening "Hunting for the Northern Lights" was wonderful and the fact that the owner/driver brought a photographer with him, so the pictures are amazing.

We had a tight budget and were exploring different options to see what best fit our interests and budget for our Cape Town & Kruger Park Safari. Howard was extremely patient and helpful with suitable recommendations. Overall, it was a generally fuss free and enjoyable process.

"Nearly" perfect. Excellent response time with questions and generally a wonderful experience. A few tiny quibbles include a steep, gravel road not being adequately acknowledged in the itinerary, and a couple of aspects that seemed cut and pasted from other itineraries (to other parts of the country) rather than specific to my itinerary. But really, my complaints, a couple of months later, pale in comparison to how great the trips was for my son and me.

Preeti was so responsive to every question and concern. It was a pleasure working with her!

Our guide was amazing and everything was very simple to set up

We had a really great time in Colombia last October. The trip was adjusted to meet our various requests prior to departure, and everything was perfectly organized once there (visits, drivers, hotels...). We would recommend KimKim and Marine without hesitation. Thanks again!