Kimkim Trip Reviews

Thanks to our guide Kappille (not sure about the spelling), we had a wonderful vacation in Sri Lanka. The drive was very relaxing and he showed us all the interesting places on the way. We enjoyed the hospitality at the various places and the food was very tasty. Enjoyed the tea estate, the climb to Sigiriya, the rock temple at Dambulla, the temple in Kandy and the interesting points along the way. Reminded us a lot about Kerala. Thank you for your help in putting the itinerary together.

Susan was wonderful with helping us plan our trip. She really listened to what type of experience we were looking for and made it possible. I’ve traveled to over 20 countries, but Kenya was by far one of the best experiences I’ve had. If you are going to Kenya, follow Susan’s recommendation, and go to Maji Moto! That was an experience of a lifetime. I will gladly recommend Susan for anyone looking to travel to Kenya.

We had the best guide in Oslo, Erlend Oyan. He was knowledgeable, engaging and connected well with the kids. My teenagers loved white water rafting with Serious Fun near Geilo. The staff at the Geilo Hotel was also fantastic. They happily helped us plan our short stay to the fullest. Our other favorite activity was the hike to the goat farm with Sam from FjordSafari, great day!

Adam chose very quiet, scenic routes which we loved. The accommodation he chose was also very good. We never would have found these incredibly peaceful roads on our own.

James is such a wonderful specialist and I had the best experience with him. Before, during, and after the trip, he was thorough in keeping contact and made sure that we were on the same page about all of our treks and events we were planning on doing while in Peru. He gave lots of tips about what to pack for a trip such as this one, a trek through the Andes. He went above and beyond all of my expectations; his encouragement and enthusiasm for planning and following through with this trip made the Peru adventure a life-changing experience for the better! He set us up with a tour company named "Peru Expeditions Tours" where we met Edwin and Eric Lliuya. Edwin was our official tour guide in Huaraz and the Cordillera Huayhuash. Edwin is a great tour guide who has lots of expert experience. I felt very safe and had such a fun time. Both hiking throughout the mountains and experiencing Peruvian culture changed my perspective on traveling and living, all due to James and Edwin. Working with James and the group at KimKim was the best option for traveling. I will definitely use KimKim again when I travel.

We had a fantastic time thanks to Sean and his team. We always expected that it would be difficult travelling with Toddlers and not knowing the language but the guides we had made the holiday a lot easier and we had a great time.

A special thank you to our Moscow Guide, Helena. She's a very thorough historian, great with kids and incredibly proud of her country. Thank you so much Helena!

I only had a few days to plan my trip. Despite my time constraints and our travel plans being in high season, our trip went very smoothly. They ensured there was ample time to travel between places. There were a few pleasant surprises put in for us. We had our honeymoon planned with Wise Steps Travel and all of our accomodations are arranged with cute and small romantic touches.

We had honeymoon pictures taken in Bali, the photographers recommended to us were professional and very friendly people.

As Leni said before we left. We left our hearts here in Bali.

David and the Heimdal Tours provided a fabulous full-day private tour for us. He was very knowledgeable of the history and explained the various sites that we saw in a clear and comprehensive conversation. We were very relaxed, did not feel rushed, and very satisfied with the amount of territory we covered. It truly was very well worth the cost. We can highly recommend you take advantage of this tour when visiting Faroe Islands.
8/18

Mingma and the porters were lovely and very helpful, and I was grateful to them for flicking leeches off my shoes! It was a good route with lots of different and pretty immediate scenery, even if it was too cloudy to see the mountains. I was happy with the level of difficulty of the trek. I loved the first tea house in Ghandruk. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of views but had plenty of warning that this could well be the case in monsoon season.

We had a wonderful trip. Myanmar is beautiful country, the people are so friendly! The first contact with Anne was very promising and after a few e-mails we got a very good proposal in which Anne really proposed what we like to do. We love having close contact with the local people and we had! Lunches at family homes, a trekking around Pindaya, the Inle Lake, Kalaw and much more. The train rides between Kalaw and Inle lake was a great experience. In Bagan we explored the beautiful area with E bikes which was great.
Our guides made the difference! Nee, Aka, Wee and Chris told us a lot about their daily live and about the history of Myanmar. They made it possible to interact with the local people.
the hotels were good, not the big chain hotels but the real Myanmar experience. Especially Kalaw Heritage; a lovely hotel, great service, beautiful rooms.

If you want to experience Myanmar a bit more of the beaten track, not the standard tour operating thing which you see everywhere, go for Anne. What we also really appreciated was the idea that the money we spend ended up well, local family businesses.

Anne: thank you so much for the beautiful journey! We loved every minute.

Thomas, Gienke, Martijn and Friso

Overall, the trip was wonderful and we had a fantastic time! We can't wait to return to Norway to see more of that amazing country. Marrit (sp?) our guide was amazing and great at showing us the sites as well as reacting to changes on the fly. Even though some stormy weather kept us from doing the glacier hike we originally planned on, she identified several other options and shorter hikes we could do in the area to make the most of the day. The kayaking portion of the trip was magical and it was amazing that we were the only boats out there. The only critiques of the trip are as follows:
1) Through no fault of the guide or our local specialist, the hotel that we got the kayaks from seemed pretty disorganized (they said they had 4 boats, they only had 3, the paddles were in a different spot, some boats were locked up and they didn't have access when we wanted to go out, they weren't very well maintained making them harder to steer, etc.). It would have been nicer if this had been more of a professional operation so we could spend more time on the water.
2) I realized at our last stop before heading to the train station that Emily hadn't sent us copies of the train tickets we needed to get to Oslo. Marrit contacted her and got a link to the tickets, but there was some trouble downloading it to access the actual tickets so when we got on the train there was some confusion proving that we had tickets and sitting in available seats. This was quite irksome, especially since if I hadn't realized that we didn't have tickets before we left Skjolden, we wouldn't have been able to board the train at all.

Please let me know if you have additional questions. Overall we really enjoyed our time in Norway and can't wait to return. When we do, we would absolutely use KimKim and Emily for assistance in planning our next adventure.

We had a wonderful experience. Dimitris was very helpful and created a great itinerary for our vacation.

It was great to have a personalised tour and the fact they ensured I was able to access it by providing a Nepalese Sign Language Interpreter. I enjoyed my time in Bhaktpur the most.

Our experience in Iceland was amazing!
We loved all the activities that Halldor planed for us. The place that we liked the most was Landmannalaugar, and Halldor made us a great recommendation of hiking the blue mountain, great views!! Also it was a very beautifull and clear day.
The lodging were pretty good, we loved that they all included breakfast and were clean.
The car rental service gave us a car that wasn't exactly 4x4, it was a good car in general, just on the river crossing part on our way to Thorsmork it was a bit stressfull with that car, but we manage the situation and we did it!
We are very greatfull to Halldor and the people from Kimkim that we came across, they were all very helpfull and kind, and gave us very good advices. We´re looking forward to return back soon!

Trip to Costa Rica - 7/17/18 - 8/2/18 for 7 people, 4 adults and 3 children (ages 10, 12 & 14)

This was our first trip using the KimKim service, which I found through online research. Overall the tools were easy to use and the communication worked great and without problems. I would recommend it and will use it again.
Our trip in country was planned by Sylvia and she did an outstanding job. We stayed 1 night in San Jose, then due to some Caribbean storms, she did a quick switch for us from Tortugero to Rancho Humo on the Nicoya Peninsula. We stayed there 2 nights and then went to Arenal for 3 nights, Monteverde for 3 nights and then 6 nights at the Westin n Playa Conchal. We did not want to be part of a large tour group, so Sylvia arranged for us to have our own transportation, drivers and tour guides for every part of the trip including 8 or 9 excursions which she did a great job with the planning. Every part of it went flawlessly and she even arranged to have a birthday cake delivered in Monteverde for our nephew who was turning 12! Every hotel met our expectations (Rancho Humo, Arena Manoa, La FondaVela, and the Westin) and we all felt that all the excursions were worth it and helped us learn more about Costa Rica. I would highly recommend Sylvia.

Driver Azzam was very good and informative and punctual. However on a couple of occasions he suggested pick-up times different to those on our itinerary, most notably at Petra where he did not know about our back-door hike to the Monastery on the morning following our day at Petra, and he suggested a pick-up time from the Dead Sea of 1:00pm rather than the previous booked 5:00pm (this was important as we were meeting the family at the Dead sea). However everything worked out all right in the end and he did show as some amazing views both driving into Petra and on the old road from Petra to the Dead sea.
Our guide Ibrahim for the hike to the Monastery was excellent, as was the hike itself.
Petra is of course amazing and our day and a half there was just about right.
Jerash, Ajloun, Karak and Showback are all impressive and enlightening.
The Dead Sea experience was enjoyable but really only because we could play with our grandchildren in the swimming pool.
A well organised itinerary with sufficient time to see our family in Amman. A trip we will not forget.
Lena deserves thanks for putting together the programme combining touring and spending time with our family.

Linda and her team were terrific. They put together a custom itinerary that took into account the varied interests of a family with teenagers and made everything easy. The trip was very fun and educational and, coming from someone that hasn't used a travel agent in years, it wouldn't have been possible without their help. I highly recommend Linda and her team for a Norway adventure.

Excellent service provided by my KimKim representative Ingrid. She let me know everything down to bus times and numbers, and even went above and beyond finding me a ride home one night after I missed the last bus and the only taxi company in Aurland was fully booked. Really great help overall!

Guide - Mario - excellent - great guy, very knowledgeable about the area and culture, excellent language skills, friendly, considerate - perfect !
Operator - Chris - very professional in organizing the trip. But, I expected him to come by at the hotel after arrival to review the trip and get to know each other. Again very well organized but a bit missing that personal touch.
Trip was great:
Day 1 Antigua - excellent
Day 2 Pacaya volcano - excellent
Day 3 Lake Atitlan - lake and boat ride as well as the visit to the first Mayan city were super nice (visited local crafts such as herb thee growing and textile weaving). Second city on the lake was boring and from my point of view even annoying to be dragged around town to see the local beliefs and religion.
Day 4 Kayaking and Hiking on//along lake Atitlan was great.
Day 5 Mayan ruins at Ixemtche - super nice but we spend a lot of time that day in the car.
All in all it was a great trip especially taking into account the very short notice we had to get it organized. Many Thanks. We're definitely planning on going back to Guatemala when we have a bit more time to stay longer.

Robi did a wonderful job coordinating a half-day boating trip for us near Split, Croatia. When I inquired about the trip, he was able to find a trip at a price and schedule that fit our family's needs. His turnaround time was great and he had excellent communication with us from the trip planning to following up with us after the trip. Our skipper on the boat, Sime, made the day so fun and relaxing! He took care of everything we needed, was very flexible and kind. I would highly recommend this trip!