Kimkim Trip Reviews

We had an excellent time in Iceland and particulary liked the scheduled activities (Glacier walk and Iceberg lagoon boat ride). We also very much enjoyed our overnight on Westman Is. On the south coast we loved the major waterfalls-Seljalandsfoos, Skogarfoss and Gullfoss-, the black beaches-Dyrholaey & Reynisfjara . Also the wildness and vastness of the Snaefellsne was a highlights.

The amount of dramatic and beautiful scenery was unlimited and endless in Iceland.

Preeti made several suggestions that were excellent-Fjadargljufur Canyon, Route 558 through the lava filed and the Floi Bird Reserve, plus a wonderful ice cream stop Efstidalur. We prefer the less crowded stuff and these tips were good. We thought other than Gullfoss, the Golden Circles was overcrowded and not appealing.

People of Iceland were very nice and helpful. Over all it was great. As pescaterians , the food was fine and supermarkets were good shopping

We liked the accommodations particularly when isolated a bit and in beautiful place. However the apartment for 2 nights in Reykjavik while in a great location could have been a bit nicer. Also we spoke about the last nights accommodation at West Park and were offered a refund (shared bathroom and sitting area) and pretty basic all the way around.

We had a wonderful 18 day vacation thanks to John and his great organization of our trip. This was our first visit to Costa Rica and we experienced a bit of everything - diving, visiting rainforest parks, zipline, white water rafting, horse back riding. Communication with John was very fast and efficient--both when planning the trip as well as throughout our itinerary. He booked for us places that matched very well our travelling & vacation style. I would highly recommend using the services of his company when planning Costa Rica vacation.

Chris and his colleagues did a great job planning our vacation in Guatemala and we had an excellent time. The visit to Pacaya Vulcano followed by the spa experience was a treat for the entire family. The white water rafting day was fun and we were happy to hear about the noble mission of Rios Guatemala (the rafting company) which is a non-profit aiming to use the money raised from organizing adventure trips to cleanup the rivers in Guatemala and educate the local communities how important is to keep the nature clean of garbage. And lastly, our tour guide Alex was really nice and we enjoyed his company for the first 2 days---very knowledgeable and passionate about Antigua history and our kids loved hanging out with him.

The Westfjords were recommended first by Preeti and this was a highlight of the trip. Halldor took over after the initial contact.

Our main complaint is the vehicle. We were assigned a Renault delivery truck that had been converted to carry passengers. We experienced the following problems. The seats were to close together, the van was noisy, but worst of all, the leaf spring suspension made the vehicle very uncomfortable to ride in not only on some of the rough backcountry roads, but even on the well paved roads.

Kimkim is a very convenient service, and I am beyond thrilled with the local guide they connected us with in Croatia. Robi of Soul of Croatia (aka ACDC) helped us plan the perfect honeymoon! He worked closely with me prior to the trip to make sure we got everything we wanted out of our trip. He is attentive, responsive, considerate, detail oriented, friendly, professional, and makes amazing recommendations! While we were on the ground, we did tours with his colleague Goran who was also such a great guy - super knowledgeable and fun to travel with! I absolutely recommend these guys as the go to expert for any trip to Croatia.

Overall a great experience with very sociable and helpful guide, Aljandro really knows his birds.
I would have preferred to see more owls, nightjars and raptors but the forrest birds made for a superb trip.
Tx again KimKim

I enjoyed the private Jordan tour and all Tamara’s hard work putting it together at the last minute. Her flexibility and helpfulness along the way were most important, answering my numerous questions, and ensuring I had non-smoking hotel rooms and a driver I could speak to.
The disappointments were mostly due to a lack of research on my part and even so were far outweighed by the positives. I would and will recommend your agency, driver Ala’a (the very cool, smart Aloosh), the Ramada Dead Sea Resort, and most of the sites. The Citadel in Amman and Wadi Rum 4x4 tour (wear sneakers and socks for full enjoyment) and overnight were surprisingly interesting, Petra as awesome as imagined, and Wadi Mujid the clear winner - just a costly late addition. If you’re at all fit, tough, and can swim and climb a ladder, get Wadi Mujid included in your tour (Dead Sea area).
Tamara is to be commended for her patience, for taking such good care of me along the way and for being so responsive to my many questions and needs. Jordan is a beautiful, exciting country with much to do beyond the ruins. The people are lovely. I've rarely felt more safe traveling by myself. I will go back to the people at KimKim for future worldwide trips. Great support.

Yiannis was an excellent and knowledgeable guide. On our full day tour of Cretian villages. We enjoyed the history & culture museum, cheese factory, bakery, restaurant and distillery tours. In each location we met the proud and passionate business owners who showed us Cretian hospitality. Yiannis was the best guide! Lunch was delicious as well.

Wonderful trip, Ingrid was fantastic with all details, hotels, and guiding us to make a schedule that made sense for our various driving trips. Highlights were definitely the driving trips to Geiranger - Trollstigen and the Gamle - Strynefjellsevegen roads.

Our guide in Mandalay, Thwe Thwe, was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about her country's history and culture. We really appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Myanmar through a local guide. We liked visiting a Buddhist monastery and sharing a meal with a family. We also liked seeing a small village that produced palm oil and learning about their way of life. ToeHlaing was our guide in Bagan and he was very nice. Our most memorable part of Bagan will always be renting e-bikes and going on dirt paths to see many beautiful temples. It was definitely the best way to get around and experience Bagan, and so we are thankful that our guide gave us this suggestion. It was a great trip!

My driver was excellent, reliable punctual and knowledgable.

Petra was amazing and I wish I had scheduled more time there.

Dont be put off by going in July, it was no hotter than the UK was this summer and the place was empty of tourists.

Good choices for veggie food.

Ingrid did a phenomenal job helping to plan and book our trip. Even when we changed our plans multiple times, she was able to quickly adapt to our changes and come up with constructive solutions.
She knows her country very well, so was able to advise us on the best travel plans, since we were traveling with a child and elderly parents.

Our trip to Iceland was amazing! We were very pleased with the sites and recommendations made by Preeti and kimkim - so much so that we want to visit again - and soon.

Things that stood out:
While we enjoyed the entire trip, the following stood out as truly exceptional experiences: the south coast, Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon, the glacier hike, the fjords on the east coast (Hotel Bjarg was charming!), Arnarstapi hotel and the surrounding area, Skaftafell national park, Kirkjufell mountain, Reynisfjara beach, Djupalonssandur beach, Londrangar, and Thingvellir National Park. Plus, we loved all the waterfalls, and we would most definitely recommend to anyone going to Iceland to drive around the country - it is simply breathtaking.

Things we'd do differently:
Our itinerary was quite full, which at times felt like there wasn't enough time to enjoy many of the locations fully. Also, we visited Perlan on the last day of our trip, and looking back, we think Perlan would have been great at the start to help provide more background and context to the area we explored. While all of the hotels were clean and sufficient, our least favorite was Hotel Laugarbakki, perhaps because of its remoteness (and the hot tubs were rather cold). Given that we drove around the country, we might also recommend a different car (a crossover perhaps or SUV) other than the sedan we received. While most of the routes were paved, we did occasionally find ourselves in the middle of bumpy gravel roads and a more durable car would have eased our minds a bit - though our sedan worked out just fine, and we did not have any difficulties.

Or southern Peru trip was wonderful. The petroglyph field of Toro Muerto was amazing and the weather for the trip could not have been better. Our favorite places were the area surrounding Colca canyon (such as Sumbay Caves, Mollenpunko Caves, the viewpoint of the volcanoes, the reserve with the wild vicuñas and all the wildlife, including the wild flamingos) and the canyon itself with the Andean condors. Another favorite was Puerto Inca, staying at the hotel with the private beach surrounded by beautiful cliffs and lots of Inca and pre-Inca ruins. Our driver, Luis, did a wonderful job driving and taking care of the car and our guide, Alberto, picked fun places to break up the trip, such as olive stands and small churches. Our guide did seem more interested and engaged in the history around Arequipa and Colca Canyon. Towards the end of the trip he was more interested in his phone than the places or sites so we would explore the areas on our own mostly. Alberto did, through a friend, arrange a last minute change for us in our itinerary as we did decide to fly over the Nazca lines, which was very nice of him to offer to do so. Our guide for Lima, Narda, did an excellent job explaining the history, cultures, trends and politics of all of Peru and was very knowledgable on every subject. She did an amazing job and the driver, Juan Carlos, was excellent and very kind. Narda also pegged all of the food we would like to try and brought us to small food markets and food fairs that were amazing. Our itinerary was full of things to see and fairly fast paced so we did see a lot and most of what was on the itinerary. Clara did a good job arranging the trip at the last minute for us and there was only one miscommunication between us that was ironed out fine in the end. She fit in everything that I wanted to see and we ended up seeing almost all of it. There were some delays in communication over Kim-Kim but I realize that I would also go dark for periods when planning this trip because I was traveling during the time. Recommend the dinosaur footprints attraction more for children - but I am from an area with many dinosaur footprints so it is not such a novelty for me. It would have been nice to have more information about who the guides and drivers would be and how the transfers between places would happen but I also realize that I did not expressly ask for this information.

Raluca was fantastic! She met us at the hotel and made sure we understood the route and itinerary as well as arranged for car pick up at the hotel. She was also easily contactable the we wanted to make some minor adjustments to the program we had arranged. Would highly recommend her as a tour organiser.
We mainly stayed in a B&B in a small village in the Carpathian Alps (Maluga). The hosts were friendly, helpful and efficient with ample breakfast and dinner provided as well as opportunity to make sandwiches for treks into the mountains. Room was comfortable, clean with en suite.
Carpathian Alps have well marked, long walking tracks with views comparable to Austria or Switzerland. Guidebook provided was accurate with good directional assistance.
Also stayed in Brasov. Accomodation was in an Austrian styled villa hotel walking distance from old town with nice views of Black church and the hills behind the city from the balcony. Brasov also had a very pretty old town if maybe already a bit touristy. There are also skiing resorts in the mountains 30 min from Brasov with walking, cycling tracks etc.
Bram castle was a chaotic place with too many tourists and buses and probably worth avoiding in June / July. Krasnov citadel was easier to access and more interesting.
Dont expect to get anywhere quickly by road in summer. Lots of traffic jams, around towns and road works. Alpine roads are likely to be dirt or gravel a lot of the time - so drive carefully!
Prices were very reasonable everywhere in Lei. With the arrival of the Euro and more tourists Romania will more than likely become as unreasonably expensive as the rest of Europe. So, get there before more of the regular tourists discover it.

We had a great time in Jordan. Lena was very thorough and helpful both prior to the trip and during the trip. She was quick to respond and deal with queries and issues. She made the whole experience seamless. Yahya was a thoughtful and knowledgeable driver whose local knowledge helped us experience and appreciate the history of the area. Petra was unbelievable. Beyond what we were expecting. Bilal was a very knowledgeable Petra guide who has endless amounts of information about the area. We had an amazing time and enjoyed learning about Jordan’s place in the world and it’s part in history. The itinerary is fast paced, yet ideal to get the most out of the country in a limited amount of time.

Thank you KimKim, Lena and your local team for making this happen.

Happy Travellers all round,

Gillian and Michelle

An unbelievable trip of a lifetime. Through Kimkim, Sticky Rice we’re able to put together a truly unique experience. Although some details weren’t exactly clear before travelling (some confusion over one accommodation) when I arrived the whole trip ran like clockwork. I can’t recommend Sticky Rice and each of their staff more, and without KimKim I wouldn’t have found them.

It was incredibly helpful to have kimkim to arrange this trip. It was in between heavy work travel and I needed something to do on personal time, but I did not have the bandwidth to arrange such a complicated trip by myself. Having an English-speaking driver as well as guides at Petra and Wadi Rum was enormously helpful. They were all flexible and resourceful. I was also pleased about how easy it was to customize elements of my trip, particularly choosing and using miles to book accommodations for some nights. My favorite accommodation was the La Locanda in Amman the way it served as a local cultural spot, and I enjoyed the campsite in Wadi Rum--it was a bit awkward because it was empty due to a tour group having their flight cancelled, but I enjoyed the spirit the of the staff despite that and being alone. The itinerary was packed and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had more days and slowed down the pace, but what was put together was based on the parameters I had set.

I was glad to have visited Petra and walk around. My favorite part of the trip was Wadi Rum, as the landscape was so unusual and fascinating, and I enjoyed the feeling of being remote from the world. I was able to meet a friend in Amman and enjoyed just walking around a bit--I would have liked to see the citadel and possibly some of the museums. I think if one is going to Petra, there's not as much need to see Jerash, especially when it's hot, as well as some of the other minor stops--although I don't regret any of those. If I were to return to Jordan, I would probably opt for more of an adventure trip. The Dead Sea was a great place to recover, but I felt my time there was a bit too short to make myself feel comfortable in the large resort complex.

Mohammad was an excellent driver and we got along very well. There was slight confusion and I had been dropped off at the wrong hotel in Petra, although Mohammad was very quick in finding out what had happened and got me to the correct hotel. I would definitely have Mohammad be my driver again. We played a mix of Western and Arab music in the car, and occasionally stopped for tea or coffee. We had some good conversations and Mohammad was open about his life and thoughts. My guide in Wadi Rum was also named Mohammad and he was very accommodating when there were some French tourists who were a bit stranded in the desert with their vehicle and we assisted them.

Some things that could have been improved include having a better sense of the line item costs in the travel agency package, as that would have helped me figure out the right tips. I also personally prefer to avoid being around tourists when not at a popular tourist site. It would have been nice to stop by local restaurants in the various cities and towns, or get some street food. There was also a souvenir place around Mount Nebo that was fine to stop by, but I felt obligated to purchase something without really expecting it. I'm a bit of a minimalist traveler and don't like to add souvenirs unless I spot something at something like a boutique shop I spontaneously walk into. Also, it would have helped to get some guidance about the seasonal conditions in Jordan with the heat. It was hard even with looking up the weather in Jordan to understand how much hotter it was under the sun in midday. I'm quite happy that I was there during a low tourist season, but probably could have been more psychologically prepared for the heat.

Overall, I would use kimkim again and be more assertive about the details and my particular preferences as a traveler. I wasn't sure about how flexible I could be in these trips, but it seems like I could have customized the trip even more. I very much appreciated having someone around helping me and able to contact while I was there, so that I would not have to worry about being able to get from one place to another or smoothly returning to work travel at the end of my time in Jordan. I'm very grateful for all the work and service that went into this trip.

Ingrid did an amazing job helping us plan our trip. She was very responsive to all our questions and always made sure she was available.
Even during our trip she provided us suggestions for restaurants and axtivities to do

Thanks you Ingrid

Marco was great helping us plan this trip. He did not miss any detail and was able to answer all the questions we had. Our guide Felipe from Nattrip was wonderful. He was with us from beginning to end of the trip. Since we do not speak Portuguese, he translated everything to us. Seems to enjoy what he does. The few times he didn't have the answer to one of the many questions we had he did not hesitate to find the answer.
Lençóis Maranhenses is an amazing place, we are so glad we were able to experience this nature's phenomena.

We highly recommend using Nattrip for tourist seeking a reliable tour company.