Kimkim Trip Reviews

It would have been a lot better if ferry timings were taken into planning. We reached Bodø on Saturday from Oslo, not much to do. On Sunday ferry to Lofoten was not till 1 pm so lost morning. Reached Lofoten at 4.30 pm it was pitch dark so not much to see . So literally 2 wasted days Hurtigruten to Tromso cancelled no one’s fault . Rushed to Ice hotel that evening. That was fun
Next day after dog sledding we waited 2 hrs for nothing before getting dropped at hotel .
Christmas evening and day Tromso was shut so we stayed at hotel . Last evening was good we got to see northern lights so it was good
I think days could have been better planned depending on local closings . That was the purpose of getting a local planner. I received car refunds but not Hurtigruten refund

I arranged my trip with Bilal not Yasantha. Arrangements for my trip was good. Not perfect only because initially Yasantha never returned my calls. Bilal was good but also not great at returning calls. Bilal did a good job planning my trip. Once I got to Srilanka my driver was excellent. Excursions and hotels were great also.

We had a super time and felt very supported. Chio was there for every little question I had! All the drivers, hotels and tour people were on-time and extra nice. I'm so pleased.

My 23-year-old daughter and I chose to visit Myanmar to learn more about the fascinating culture, history, political transitions, and people there. Anne planned an 11-day adventure for us which far exceeded any expectations. We had an amazing time!

First, I will say that I barely needed to communicate with Anne. She “got” how I travel almost immediately and my trust in her decisions was gave me no worry. I could focus on the rest of my travels and the rest of my life. We spent the first two nights at the Mercure in Mandalay. Nay was the first of several guides Anne arranged. Each of them is OUTSTANDING! Nay has spent a lot of time guiding trekkers, which we were not on this trip, and so he led us on a beautiful bike ride through the countryside outside of the city. We opted to start and end inside the city and I’m happy we did. We could handle the busy streets and we got to see some interesting sites. In the outskirts we stopped several times to learn about different industries and had lunch at a nunnery, which prepared and educated us on this fascinating side to Myanmar culture that we revisited everywhere we went. Nay also showed us other Mandalay sites — the sunset from high up, the World’s Biggest Book and the last remaining building from the former Royal Palace. Nay is lovely!

Our next two nights were spent aboard the Strand Cruise, motoring down the Irrawaddy. We visited U-Bein Bridge, Mingun, and Ava. Site visits included a tuk-tuk ride and a horse and cart ride…so fun. And the boat accommodations were wonderful. We upgraded our room upon arrival because there was a larger one available and the staff could not have been nicer. The entire crew deserve incredible accolades! All the details, the food, the excursions (Aung was our guide from The Strand Cruise), the entertainment, the rooms, everything was lovely. On the second evening dinner was served shoreside BBQ style. The crew had string lights, a bonfire, music, and had raked the sand into intricate patterns. Magical!

Our next two nights were in Bagan, which I could go back to tomorrow! We loved it. Numbers vary but I’ll use 8,000 — temples, pagodas and other religious monuments litter the landscape and sparkle with their gold. Thin was our guide in Bagan and she is really engaging. She grew up literally among the temples and was moved by the government to New Bagan before the site became a UNESCO site. I was super excited when we arrived at the e-bike stand to get our bikes, but my daughter was not. No problem…Thin just put her on the back of her bike and off we went! That is the way to travel there, scooting among the temples on the small pathways. We saw a LOT of incredible temples, each unique and full of stories. We visited a lacquer workshop where Thin’s mom used to work. They give a wonderful and really impressive explanation of the process. It will wow anyone, the amount of labor involved. We stayed at the Aureum Palace, which, if in your budget, is worth it! It’s in the middle of the site and I’ll bet one could not build a hotel there anymore. Views are stunning. The next morning was an early one for our balloon ride. Again, if in the budget DO IT! Enough said. That afternoon, another DO NOT MISS: May’s cooking class. May could run a Fortune 500. She had the 12 of us from 3:30 to 7:30. We made 21 dishes in her back patio on eight open flame wood stoves. She introduced all the ingredients, let us make choices, gave assignments for prep and manning the stoves. Everyone participated, everyone learned and the spread on the table was so impressive. I’ve been doing these cooking classes in various places on my travels and this one tops them all. May was so well organized that we were just finishing up the meal when our guide came to collect us. Not easy to do! As we were walking out, we passed an open garage facing the street filled with books on shelves, because May runs a free library for her community. 🙂

The next morning we took the first of our two in-country flights to Heho and drove to Kalaw. There, we met our next guide, Naing, who we LOVED! (Recommended reading: The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker). We stopped at Pindaya to visit the famous cave filled with thousands of Buddhas…pretty crazy! And we stopped at a local home to learn about their tea crops and the famous tea leaf salad, and at a local market for bulls, and the local every-five-day market which happened to fall on that day. We stayed overnight in Kalaw Heritage Hotel in order to drive the next morning to the Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp, a retirement home for logging elephants. We spent the day feeding and bathing the eight elephants in residence there, learning about their history and medical requirements, and eating a delicious lunch. I could go on an on about these beautiful animals, and certainly our phones are filled with special images of our time spent with them…it’s a special, special place and so beautiful. I would like to retire there. We drove to Inle Lake afterwards, which is where Naing grew up. We stayed at the beautiful Aureum Palace Resort on Inle. Naing picked us up the next morning by boat for a full day on the water. This was another highlight. We chose to visit a lotus fiber weaving factory and a silver factory. Then we had the most amazing experience: Naing took us to his home, where his sister-in-law cooked us a delicious meal and we got to sit around and chat (with Naing’s help) with his aunties and his mom, who put thanaka on us. His home is a traditional wooden one on pillars lining the lake. Wandering after lunch over bridges and alongside homes, and experiencing Naing chat with everyone he passed was really special. He is special.

We flew to Yangon the next morning to meet our final guide, Sandar. Each one of our guides, carefully chosen and nurtured by Anne, are young, eager, enthusiastic, transparent, delightful people. Our experience throughout our journey would not have been possible without them. And it’s clear that Anne knows how to not only find the right people, but communicate and manage them too. Sandi is adorable. The best way to learn about cultures is by sitting down to eat with local people. We did that throughout our trip. In Yangon, with Sandi, the experience was even more immersive. She is so chatty and funny and sweet. A simple stop at a street stand because my daughter was hungry, turned into an experience with crickets, the difference in taste between males and females, which ones her husband would like her to bring home, and more. Hilarious. Sandi guided us through the famous Shwedagon Pagoda the next day. I was really glad we organized the trip this direction, from Mandalay to Yangon, finishing with this impressive site. We went in the evening of the local new year, so it was a bustling scene, beautiful with the moon and the people and the spirituality of it all. A wonderful way to conclude our journey.

My daughter and I highly recommend Anne, Myanmar Pure and kimkim as travel planners. I’ve planned many trips in my life and just didn’t have the bandwidth. Anne connected with my request and created the exact experience I was hoping for. My daughter repeatedly said, “This is the best trip I’ve ever been on, Mommy.” Is there anything better? And we cannot wait to return someday to Myanmar — to connect with such a diversity of people, walk and ride through so many beautiful places, eat the delicious food, and feel the spirituality. Thank you!

Patagonia was a once in a lifetime trip for me & my wife for our honeymoon. It was everything we could have hoped for and more. Erin helped to meticulously plan the trip throughout with her fantastic knowledge of the local areas and activities.
There were so many highlights including: wine tasting in the Casablanca valley, trekking to the base of the towers in Torres del Paine, horseback riding in Puerto Natales, white water rafting in El Chalten and an amazing zodiac boat trip down the Magellan Strait.
However, of particular note was Patagonia Camp. This place was an absolute treat for us staying in a luxury yurt in the middle of the Patagonian wilderness. I would highly recommend it.
Overall the trip was very well organised. There were a couple of instances where some of the timings for pickups were slightly out (so worth double checking timings!) but this was quickly and easily resolved during our travels with no effect on our enjoyment of the trip.

Our 10 day trip to Colombia was a very memorable one. We weren't sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. Beautiful country and people. Natalia was extremely helpful and responsive to all our questions, queries and concerns. she was connected via whats app and available for any questions during our trip. Since our trip was in December, she was even working on the 25th addressing our needs. From putting the itinerary together and catering to our specific requirements; Natalia was awesome. we had 8 versions of the plan and she patiently helped us with tips and recommendations. The two of the tour guides she arranged were excellent; Claudio who was our guide in the Amazon and Carlos Valencia in Medellin.
This was our first trip via KimKim and very happy.

Overall this was a great trip, from the planning phase to the actual trip and destinations. Brahim the local travel agent was very responsive by email and did a great job in answering all our questions. We had some doubt about the size of the car as we had 3 adults, 2 kids and luggage, but Brahim ensured that the vehicle would be large enough for us. Sure enough it was a 3 row van and very comfortable for the long driving days (max one day was 6.5hrs), with stops of course.

Things to be aware of:
The riads in Fez and Marrakesh were amazing. These are big cities and accommodations are not an issue, stay in riads if you want an authentic experience.
The hotel in Chefchaouen was sub-par, but we contacted Brahim and he quickly addressed the issues and provided us with an acceptable solution.

All cities, towns and villages were an amazing experience. Special shout out to our driver Amine, who was more than we could ever had hoped for. Polite, great with the kids, knowledgeable and kept us on time every day. Note: the driver and car is a BIG part of this type of trip as you are spending a lot of time in the car, so you really want it to be setup right.

We would use KimKim again in the future for any customized travel plans, their website is very easy to navigate.

Thank you everyone!

Trip of a lifetime to Morrocco

We wanted to take a holiday with our three children to visit a new country to experience the culture, people, history and experience new things.

KimKim delivered a tour/trip that could not have been better. Abdel’s local experience in Morocco coupled with his honest, caring and hard-working attitude paved the way for this trip to become a reality. We did not have to worry about a thing once on the ground due to his colleague Samir. Samir took care of our family like they were his own.

When we venture out again and look to explore another part of the world, we will trust KimKim to handle every detail. They are experienced, professional and above all, honest and realistic about the details and expectations.

My children and I had our health put at risk by the disgusting state of the accommodation on the trek. We were not told to bring bedding. We booked a luxury accommodation package at $20,000 usa for three people ( two of which were sharing a room) and 11 days. We were booked into accommodation with no running water no power and no heating. We had to beg every 30 minutes to keep the central wood burning kettle stove alight. We had no room heating in any lodge. The last lodge was a filthy $30 a night tea house. My daughters were reduced to tears when they saw the mouldy bathrooms, stained beds with no sheets.
It was -15 degrees inside and out. We had not been told to bring sleeping bags. in fact we were told not to.
We were defrauded into a holiday of very low standard while paying a premium price. A number of the properties we visited would be closed by Australian standards for health issues.
Both Raj and Kripa were very keen to take out money while there was a great lack in their knowledge of the properties and service provided. They basically stole our money and our annual holiday together. You should be ashamed of yourselves for this calous and dangerous treatment of other human beings. You will never be forgiven for such a terrible and dangerous situation. I would like to talk personally to Max the owner of mountain trails to alert him to the dangerous undertakings of his Nepal team.

Ha planned an unbelievable trip for us! She’s great!

Our guides Arturo, Wilson and Ronald were very good. We enjoyed all parts of the trip. The food tour in Lima was great and a lot of fun. The hotel in Sacred valley was amazing, and we found the tours of the different Inca sites and Macchu Picchu to be interesting and informative. The only negative was the hotel in Cusco - Hotel Palacio Manco Capac. We felt the rooms were too small, the wifi was weak inside of the room and the service was very slow in that particular hotel.

The trip was great! Well planned in every respect. It made sense to stay in only 3 places and not move around every day. All 3 hotels were great - we especially loved Casa Balthazar, everything about it. We enjoyed all three cities. The excursions to the port distillery could have been done in an hour at most, they didn't have much to show or explain, it was mostly tasting the 3 different ports. The trip to the fishing village was nice but not much to see - lunch was good, but it didn't need 1/2 day. I loved the walk around the University at Coimbra, learning about the culture of the place, and we arranged to hear good Fado there and had probably our best meal of the whole trip at No Tacho.
W e loved visiting Alviera and to Costa Nova on the trip between Porto and Coimbra, those were great stops. Between Coimbra and Lisbon we stopped at Tamor on the advice of people we met along the way, but it was closed. We went to Nazare, which was fun - the surfers and the ladies in their 7 skirts, and to Fatima as well. All the guides were good, they have done their homework and are well informed - our favorite was Tiago in Lisbon, took us to see lots of things one wouldn't ordinarily notice and was very personable. We learned a lot of history, ate a lot of great food and drank great wine, did a lot of walking (it seemed to be all up, rarely down), had amazing weather. It also made a big difference that most of the people, the younger ones at least, spoke English. Altogether a wonderful trip! Thank you!
Allyson and Bruce

Our trip was beautifully planned by Pauline. We did a 10-Day Winter Drive in the southern half of Iceland. Her itinerary was very detailed with interesting stops, restaurant recommendations and all hotel accommodations, noting what each hotel included. Our trip didn't go without mishaps, but to no fault of kimkim. They actually went above and beyond to make sure things worked out for the best. Our original flight was canceled causing us to arrive at 2am an entire day later than planned, but they hustled and rearranged excursions and even had our van delivered to us 45 minutes from the airport at no charge. Pauline was on vacation the same time we were, but I called the number given and Michele and others jumped right in and took over. Thanks to each and every one who made our trip a success!

Amazing experience!

Our private trek (EBC, Chola Pass and Goyko lakes for two) was organised by Kripa last minute and was a fantastic experience. All went as planned and Kripa was accomodating to last minute changes. Our guide Rishi took expert care of us up the mountains and knew exactly how much we could do in one day adjusting the pace or the meal stops to our daily needs. I couldn’t recommend these two people highly enough. In addition to the trek when my partner fell ill in Kathmandu, Kripa was there ready to assist with anything we needed. We really felt looked after and cared for and had a great time despite the illness. The Chola pass was my highlight, just so peaceful and serene. Nepal 2020 - book it!

Peicy helped us organized a fantastic 4 weeks trip to China. This was not an easy task as there were 7 of us in the group, ages 11 to 91. We covered four provinces with one plane ride and many train journeys including an over night train. It was flawless. We loved the hotels that she arranged for us in many great places. They were all unique and allowed for very easy walk to food and sites. I speak fluent Chinese, so do my parents who came in the trip. Her recommendation for places where we should still have a guide was excellent. The whole plan was slow enough for the grandparents and interesting enough for us and the kids. All the guides were very knowledgable and patient with our big family, especially Alvin in Kunming and Baima in Shangrila. All the drivers were very punctual and helpful, especially the one in later part of Yunnan. We couldn't thank Peicy enough for her help! Thank you so much for helping us with such a wonderful once in a life time experience! Kim Kim is very good at finding local experts to make your trip fantastic.

I LOVED Jordan! What a beautiful country. Margherita was a delight to work with and made everything so easy. She did a wonderful job planning my trip and I actually think I could have stayed longer if I could! My driver Hasan was so friendly, helpful and accommodating. Was fun chatting with him throughout my stay.
Really, this was one of the best trips I've been on so thank you!

We had a 23 day stay in Sri Lanka including 17 day tour with Experiential Travel under Kim Kim as a group of 4 with my son and partner.
This was an expensive comprehensive tour including 3 national parks, Sigiriya, Kandy Ella with a train trip between the last 2 destinations booked as a highlight.
We were all very much looking forward to seeing Sri Lanka and it is a wonderful country.
Unfortunately I really cannot recommend the travel company. Organisation and communication was very poor. Right from the beginning the usual guide called off sick and another chauffeur/guide was appointed. Several days later we found out that he had never worked for the company and really took the view that he was only doing a favour for his friend. He spoke very halting English and gave very little commentary for the whole trip. He did not know the itinerary and really did seem to want to provide the bare minimum that the program allowed for. His van was rather old and unreliable and at one stage we wasted time in Kandy waiting for it to be fixed.
Worst of all the travel company had not bothered to buy tickets for the Kandy to Ella train which is a major highlight of any trip to Sri Lanka. This was known by the travel company and the driver and they tried to gloss over the problem and just take is in the van. Only after a lot of stressful negotiation, the driver managed to get 3rd class tickets for a portion of the journey only. The wrong hotel was listed in the itinerary for Kandy and we wasted hours trying to sort this out.
Accommodation and food in the jungle camp In Willpatu was poor, and out of step with the rest of the tour. Better accommodation and food is available but we were never given any options.
We did get a small compensation in the form of a free lunch and accommodation was improved in subsequent camps but only after a lot of pleading and negotiation and very reluctantly.
Right throughout there was a lack of honesty and transparency.
Sri Lanka is a wonderful country and we really enjoyed 6 days on our own at the end in Colombo I would highly recommend visiting but not with Experiential Travel, and I will not be using Kim Kim again.

Nicholas’s trip preparation for us was fantastic. We got to see what we wanted from the lake region to Patagonia to Iguazu Falls within our budget. The local drivers who picked us up at various airports in Chile were on time, so we did not have to worry. The local guides were knowledgeable and attentive. We will ask for him if we will visit Chile/South America again!

We had the most amazing experience in Laos and Cambodia thanks to Steve at KimKim travel. He planned everything exactly like we wanted. Luang Prabang was phenomenal. Such an incredible country and our guide Van made it perfect. His english was excellent and he personally made a point for us to have a great time and get a real feeling for the uniqueness of his country. We loved playing games with the locals and eating at "locals only" establishments!
Cambodia was a perfect balance of temples, history, food and people. We were thrilled with our guide, Mr. Arn. He was very knowledgable about Siem Reep and the history of the country. We asked endless questions and he always had an answer. We really wanted to get to know the people of Cambodia and we were introduced to many locals and tasted local foods and watched the local artisans make their crafts. What a magical country.
Also a shout out to all our drivers. Always on time and having cold water for us to drink and stopping if we saw something we wanted to see or get a photo of! Thank you Steve for an amazing trip!