Kimkim Trip Reviews

Hi Erin

We have recently returned from our travels, which included our W trek co-ordinated by your team from 31 December – 5th January 2019.

Overall – we thoroughly enjoyed our opportunity to experience Patagonia and the wonderful places we visited during our time in Puerta Natales and Torres Del Paine National Park.

We would particularly like to give mention our guide Sophia. She was simply outstanding. Her experience, and the knowledge she could share with us ensured that we had the best possible time on the trek. She is clearly very well-known and respected by her peers that we met along the way as well, and certainly we cannot recommend her highly enough for her skills, humour, practical sensibilities and care she took to ensure we had the best possible time. Sophia was also not advised that one of our group had a Cheese allergy.

We experienced many different weather scenarios along the way – snow on the walk to the towers and blazing sun on our way to Frances. Wind in the French Valley and gale force 80+kmh gusts heading to Glacier Grey. Throughout our entire time we felt confident that Sophia had our back and put our safety first.

On day 4 – we were meant to walk to Refugio Grey and catch the boat to go to the Glacier before return to the bus pick up point. This could not occur due to the fierce wind on that day, and indeed we watched the ferry turnaround as it was unable to continue on the lake in the extreme weather that was in play that day. As such, we returned to Paine Grande and caught the ferry across Lake Pehoe to pick up the bus transfer there. We assume as a result there is a refund due to us for the Grey Glacier boat tour that we unfortunately could not enjoy. Can you please advise details on the likely refund for this portion of our travels.

On a more serious note, we also need to provide feedback on the planning and execution of our trek. What we had discussed with us prior to departing NZ, and also during our briefing with Emily in Puerta Natales was not the trek experience we had and as such we planned poorly for some aspects of our trip which could have mitigated had the correct information been provided. As travellers, we are all very experienced and well rounded people who can manage what is required through careful research and planning. We are not a group of people who try to wing-it. We like to be sure we are careful and well informed on what we need to have with us to ensure our safety.

During our time corresponding with you, we started out with a plan to stay in the Refugios during our time on the trek. As there was limited space available – you suggested an alternative itinerary which saw us camping – the first night out of the park, an hours bus ride away at a camping site, then camping Frances on night 2, camping at Paine Grande night 3. We had expectations that this indeed was our itinerary until we received our paperwork and itinerary from Emily late Nov/Early December before we departed NZ. This shows that instead we were back on track with the original plan – that we would be in refugios, we would be staying at Los Torres on night one, Cuerno on night two, and Paine Grande night three. We queried this as we wanted to be sure we packed appropriately for camping versus refugios, and it was confirmed that we would have beds as per the itinerary. We met with Emily and had a detailed briefing with her upon arrival in Puerta Natales on Dec 30th – again querying our accommodation details, and having it confirmed that we were in Refugio accommodation as per the itinerary. So no need for camping style preparations, we would be in the refugios.

The morning of departure we met Sophia, and embarked on our journey in the bus. She mentioned our camping arrangements prior to departure, and we met Daniel our lovely driver as he would be driving us to the offsite location etc. You can imagine we were all quite shocked to hear that now we are back to the Camping plan as per our previous correspondence with you. Mentally and indeed from a gear perspective – we had all prepared for our time in refugios. During the first hour of our journey to the national park, we all took time to reflect on this new development, and indeed at our coffee stop – we sat Sophia down and explained that we are quite taken aback by the news that we are camping as only 36 hours prior – we had sat with Emily, in the Dittmar offices, and confirmed a completely different itinerary. Sophia could see we were all a little concerned about what we were doing, so took the time and went through step by step with us, the camping plan, the fact Rodriguez would be cooking for us on the first two nights and breakfast mornings, and ensured we had all the details about what were actually booked for.

Our first day was particularly long, in part due to the snow and cold, and the fact we were prepared for a day of around 18km, when in fact it was more like 23km. We arrived at our camping site on night one, and there were no tents for us. It was 10:30pm, we were freezing cold, the shower block had no power, and potentially we had no bed. With no power, we showered in the dark, in the hope we would warm up a little. Thankfully Sophia clearly managed to call in some favours for us and was able to get two domes for us to sleep in, and we squeezed our party of 7 into domes designed for 2 people each and through exhaustion all slept fitfully on night one. The team at this camping site found some sleeping bags, but due to their thin-ness, also rustled up some blankets and cushions as make shift pillows, and found some sleeping matts for the extra bodies that needed to camp on the floor. It wasn’t a great start to our trip, as we are sure you can appreicted. But at his point we realised how invaluable having our guide Sophia would be. Night 2 and 3 – tents were ready for us when we arrived so that was reassuring to us all.

As a group of travellers, we are resilient and we will roll with the punches. Indeed this is what we did during our time. We had to make the best of our situation. And we did, and so did Sophia.

However as far as the organisational skills that went in to preparing us for this guided tour experience, we would like to express our abject disappointment. We were not prepared for the trek as well as we should have been. We paid well for a guided all-inclusive experience, as we wanted to do our best to have no surprises (within all reasonableness). The team at Dittmar let us down by being ill prepared with the wrong itinerary. It was potentially dangerous as we did not necessarily pack the right level of clothing and accessories for the camping accommodation we ended up with.

As such we feel that it’s very important that we bring this to your attention, to try and eliminate this kind of error for your future travellers. We would be interested to hear about Dittmar’s willingness for some compensation for the group as well, as I am sure you can appreciate where we are coming from around what we felt we paid for versus what we ended up being delivered.

Finally, we would like to reiterate that Sophia made our time on the W trek, special and memorable for us all – and for that we are eternally grateful to her. She was the consummate professional always and it is a credit to her for her ability to assess and manage every day and we absolutely enjoyed the scenic splendour. Our thanks to Rodriguez too for looking after our cooking for us(very tasty and muchly needed!), and to Daniel for looking after our transportation.

We look forward to hearing back from you with you feedback.

Kind regards

Gabrielle Satherley and friends

Having decided to visit Sri Lanka on the way back to Australia after spending Christmas and New Year's Eve in the UK, we investigated options and decided on a slightly modified version of the 12 day Highlights of Sri Lanka tour featured on kimkim's website. Kimkim put me in touch with Sandun from Experiential Journeys, who modified the itinerary to include the Millennium Elephant Foundation and the Hundunugoda Tea Estate, both of which had been featured on an Australian television show we'd seen. Having had a great experience a year ago with a holiday in Iceland organised through kimkim , we had high expectations of our Sri Lanka trip, and were not disappointed. On arrival in Sri Lanka, we were met at the airport by our driver and guide, Lakitha, who looked after us very well for the next 12 days.

The itinerary we had chosen included both cultural sites and wildlife experiences, but the highlights were undoubtedly our elephant experiences, firstly at the Millennium Elephant Foundation, which is basically a rescue and retirement home for working elephants who would not survive if released into the wild. We walked around the grounds with Rani, who had a snack and a drink along the way, then some of us chose to help bath her in a stream using coconut husks. This was a much better experience than an old-fashioned elephant ride; better for us, and better for Rani. Almost as good was our early morning wildlife safari in Udawalawe National Park, where we lost count of the wild elephants we saw in their natural environment and an abundance of other beasts and birds.

All of the hotels we stayed at were good to excellent, but the Thambapanni Retreat at Unawatuna deserves special mention. We had mentioned in passing to our guide Lakitha and to the hotel manager that we would be dining at the hotel to celebrate our wedding anniversary. When we came back from a day exploring Galle with Lakitha, our bed had been decorated with flowers and leaves, spelling our a happy anniversary message, which we thought was a nice touch, and when we headed to the restaurant for dinner we discovered that we had a special , beautifully decorated, table setting in the garden adjacent to the restaurant, and we were looked after very well, enjoying a great meal of fresh jumbo prawns, cooked to order, followed by a surprise anniversary cake. We discovered later that Lakitha had mentioned our anniversary to Sandun, who has conspired with the Thambapanni Retreat hotel manager to make our anniversary a special and memorable event.

We usually self-drive when travelling to places like the USA, Europe, UK and Iceland, but we accepted the consensus advice that we'd be better off travelling with a driver/guide, and that turned out to be an excellent decision. Lakitha not only kept us safe on the roads in the face of interesting overtaking manoeuvres by oncoming traffic, but he looked after the details of our site visits, including local guides, and ensured we got the most out of our time in Sri Lanka. He turned a good itinerary into an excellent experience.

Thanks kimkim, and thanks very much Lakitha and Sandun.

Overall I enjoyed a really cool holiday. My highlights were definitely the cycling days, and particularly doing the Twin Coast Trail. It was brilliant to have the shuttle services and flexibility around accommodation for that as well as for the Haureki Trail. While I also enjoyed cycling Waiheke Island, the cycle hire place was less helpful which limited the cycling I felt confident to do.

The walking aspects of my trip were good - certainly the Park Run events were great, but the other walks I was interested in were a bit hit and miss. I found it difficult to get information about suitable walks, and perhaps the biggest disappointment was being located quite a distance from Turangi, which meant I didn't get to do any of the walks in that area, although I had indicated I wanted to do that.

However, the places I went to were interesting and there was generally a lot to do. The accommodation was good and the car hire worked.

Best accommodations: Blue Water Motel in Tairua, Scenic Hotel in Paihia and Left Bank in Kaikohe.
Most challenging accommodations: i) Heritage Collection Waitakere Estate - while in a magnificent setting with great views of Auckland, they provided basically no information about what to do on site and near by. Even if they had, it would have been challenging due to the steep terrain and and lateness of arrival. There was also no offer to clean the loo despite indicating to the front desk that it was not up to par. Etc. And ii) Palm Motel Waihi, which was just a long way from the shops/cafes when you don't have a car.

The planned activities/tours were all good. And the freedom to take up other activities worked well for me, although the ultimate cost of these was far more than I expected. Highlights: seeing the massive Kauri trees in Waipoua Forest (and around), dinner up the tower in Auckland and fish and chips in Mangonui, and the Te Toto Gorge.

I definitely appreciated the follow-up by Valentin and knowing that I had someone to contact if I had any difficulties.

So all good - and in the end, I had a relaxing and very enjoyable holiday. Thanks!!:)

Our trip was great and well planned by Yassine. Our driver Nabil was wonderful and very responsive. He gave us a little phone that allowed us to easily contact him when we needed. We couldn't have asked for better help in a land that we were unfamiliar with.

Our trip was seven days and packed, we were in Tangier, Chefchaouen, Fez, Casablanca and Marrakesh. Admittedly, we should have narrowed down the places we went to, to allow for our type of travel which is a little more leisurely.

We stayed at 3 star locations and most were great! Riad RK in Marrakesh was great, the fact that they had a Hammam in the location made unwinding much easier. Our Riad in Chefchauouen was also very beautiful and the staff there were very helpful.

On the downside, our riad in Fez (Dar Malika) was nice enough and in a central location but we had a less than ideal situation while there. They are admittedly under transition and do not have a person who works there that stays overnight. This makes it very difficult to talk to someone when the water isn't working (which it didn't for us). The house was very cold outside of the room we stayed in and the second day the groceries went on strike so our breakfast was only a little bread and yogurt. Going to the tannery and not being able to shower was a huge miss. This is the one place I would not stay at again.

The tours that Yassine booked and the guide in Fez was also wonderful. The only downside is that we started to feel like we were only being taken places to spend money instead of simply to admire the culture and choose to buy things if we wanted. We started to feel like the tour was very planned to only go to places that would eagerly show us things only to get us to buy very expensive items. I could do without all the shopping that seemed to be most of the tour, it was very repetitive and didn't allow for much downtime or peace.

There were so many good things and a lot of lessons learned. I will vocalize more about what I'd like in the future and also be sure to know that less is more when booking. Thank you Kimkim, Yassine, Nabil and all of the staff at Morocco off the Beaten Path, you were wonderful!

We contacted Kimkim last year to arrange a locally organised trip. From the beginnin* excellent communication and we were put into contact with Jorge Reyna bested at Totonal. Jorge was fantastic. He listened to our requests whilst bringing his own experience of travelling in Mexico. Arrival in Me I o city was perfect; met on time and transferred to the lovely central zocalo central hotel. Pablo Yuichi was our guide and was very knowledgeable, very friendly and worked very hard to maximise our experience in Mexico City. Highly recommend Pablo and his charming father who drove us. We had a 3+ hour delay for our flight to Tuxtla but our driver was waiting despite the early hours of the morning and saw us safely into our hotel room. Pepe our guide was fabulous. We had a great trip along the Canon del Sumidero and Chiapa de Corsa. Our visit to the indiguviilages was fascinating. Still with Pepe an early but worthwhile journey to Agua Azal Waterfalls onto Palenque. Our next great guide Hector toook us along with other travellers to Yaxchilian and Bonampak sites. Fabulous. Onto the lovely walled city of Campeche, Terese, our final guide and driver was amazing. She took incredible care of us. Very professional helped me find the mexican cooking ingredients in particular the elusive dried epazote. Finally onto Isla Holbox. A fantastic, very well organised trip with great local guides who made this a truly memorable experience. One again thanks to Jorge.

Communication was great. Every question answered promptly. Everything planned was delivered as promised.

We had an amazing adventure trip from start to finish.
Great communication from Rendell who took on board what we wanted to do. It was far better than we expected.
Fez our guide was absolutely fantastic along with our drivers and extra guides especially Martine who guided us on our long hike.
All food, all accommodation was brilliant.
Everyone was so friendly and made our trip truly wonderful. Thank you all at coast to coast.

Marco our bilingual guide was a very safe & entertaining driver with whom we were able to practice our conversational Spanish .The 5 day Avenue of volcanoes tour was an amazing series of national parks and hacienda stays which enabled us to reach Guayaquil for our Galapagos trip visiting markets,walking in beautiful places and experiencing the unique hospitality of haciendas.

Overall I can sum up our experience as Excellent!! Thanks to Linda who did a wonderful job of getting the tour planning and arrangements taken care of. Our entire trip was very well organized and worked like a clock right from the day we landed in Quito. Linda worked methodically answering every question that we had during the planning process, customizing the minute details, dietary requirements, transportation, guide information etc. I liked the personalization of the whole package. I would recommend Kimkim travels to anyone who considers planning a vacation to the Galapagos and Amazon. Great staff, very courteous and affordable.

We had an amazing trip to tromso and senja. All the activities were perfectly planned.
And luckily we have seen the northern lights twice! 😊
We would definitively book here again!

Elina and Gareth from Adventure by Design put together an amazing Finnish Lapland experience for our family. After sharing with them the general structure of our holiday they sourced terrific providers and developed an itinerary that would ensure we made the best of the limited daylight. The traditional sauna and ice swimming at Wild Blueberry was a magical experience. As it was a small family business the service was personal and of a very high standard. We had so much fun on a snowmobiling tour run by another smaller company, Kinos Safaris. Our nights in a glass igloo and the ice hotel were memorable. The jewel in the crown for our whole visit was our guide Tuija. She was so friendly, welcoming and accommodating from the minute we met her. It soon became apparent that she was a highly experienced and knowledgeable guide, who went above and beyond to ensure our Finnish experience was perfect. She played joyfully in the snow, teaching our children to toboggan, ice fish and snow shoe, and through her local knowledge of weather and location, guided us to see the northern lights. Spectacular! Thank you Elina & Gareth for doing all the background work to prepare for our holiday. And thank you Tuija for making our visit to Lapland even more wonderful than we hoped it would be.

First, our driver Ravi Kumar was excellent. A very kind man, attentive to our needs and a very good driver in India traffic. Most memorable was the Jain temple and of course Agra Taj Mahal, but many of the other sites were also amazing. We had a lot of fun and made great memories. The tour was well organized and Ravi was always very punctual for our outings. The choice of hotels were adequate, of course a few were 5 star and extremely modern and comfortable. All of our city guides were knowledgeable and performed nicely.

This was one of the most memorable trips my family ever had. Guides were really great and we felt taken care of the whole trip. Food was amazing and schedule ran very smoothly.
Thank you to kimkim and its amazing team!!

loved it

This was an wonderful immersion into the UAE! Pradeep was better than I could have wished for!

We initially began with email correspondence outlining/brainstorming various areas of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and beyond that centered around my photographic exploring. I would bounce locations off of Pradeep and he would also suggest places and things to do. He was always quick to reply despite the time difference and picked up on my interests swiftly!

We ended up creating a very solid itinerary over the course of two days that covered a lot of ground from the top of Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain all the way north to the abandoned town of Al Jazirah Al Hamra just south of Ras Al Khaimah and numerous stops in between including the renowned Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. He was also very insistent that things were not set in stone and I could alter the routes or locations as I saw fit and that was cool and comforting.

I was also transferring from Abu Dhabi to Dubai after the second day and he worked that into the itinerary.

Upon my arrival in Abu Dhabi we were in contact almost right away and he picked me up from the hotel the next morning right on time

It was a real treat having Pradeep in the driver seat! He was personable, knowledgeable (being in a new place, I had a lot of questions) and had a wonderful sense of humor! He was attentive to my needs and always focused on the photography aspect of my exploration being aware of the light or angle for each location and always suggestive of other angles etc for everyplace we visited. During the ride between locations he would educate me on the system of government, other things to see and do and things to eat while visiting the UAE and other insider items a foreign visitor may not know about. Two somewhat unplanned stops I loved we’re the Fish Market in Abu Dhabi and the Blue Souk in Sharjah, these weren’t places I had even thought of but Pradeep suggested them and I was so happy he did!

By the time he dropped me off at my hotel in Dubai on the second day I felt much more confident in my knowledge of the United Arab Emirates and very fortunate to have seen so much with such a spectacular guide that now I would call Pradeep a friend.

Overall, this was such a fantastic experience! I would highly recommend Pradeep and his services for anything UAE related! I really don’t think it could have worked out any better!

Huge thanks to Pradeep, kimkim and the wonderful United Arab Emirates! I’ll be back!

Most sincerely,
Trevor Christian
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Anne was fantastic for start to finish. Easy to communicate with, understood our requirements ..... and delivered. All the guides without exception were great, as were the drivers and the sub guides in the various specialised areas.

Myanmar is a brilliant destination. People are suffering in the tourism industry due, seemingly unjustly to the misinterpretation of “ the troubles “ in the Rokine State by the international media. It is unfortunate that the fall out from this means less tourists, less jobs & less income.

Always available
Can make things happen for you
Tailored needs
books only with most reliable companies and guides
Overall I would suggest Carlos for my friends and families.

This was an incredible trip all thanks to Adriana! I was able to see so much of Costa Rica and enjoy the unique vistas and wildlife experiences that only this country can offer. I feel like I was able to get off the beaten path a little bit and really experience the country. From relaxing in hot springs in Arenal to gliding through the Monteverde canopy on a zipline, to watching dolphins play behind our catamaran on a sunset cruise in Manuel Antonio, Adriana took care of all of the back stage logistics so that I could focus completely on living Pura Vida.

First of all, a big thank you to Yassine and the other members of his team: Hassan, Mohammed & Nabil as well as Chris and Kellie from Kimkim who all worked together to arrange this trip for us. A special thank you to Mohammed, our driver, who drove us all over Morocco, covering great distances. He was an extremely safe and responsible driver who knows the roads and traffic conditions of his country very well.

Ever since I saw the BBC documentary " Sahara" presented by British Actor Michael Palin, many years ago, I wanted to visit Morocco and the Sahara desert. And in January 2019, the day finally came. Before our Morocco tour started, my husband and I have been travelling in Southern Spain for a week. On 11 January, we took the FRS ferry from Tarifa in Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier. We spent one night in Tangier and our driver, Mohammed, met us the next morning on 12 January to start our Morocco of the Beaten Track tour.

Our first stop on the tour was Chefchaouen. The winding road from Tangier to Chefchaouen through the Rif Mountains was very picturesque and a great way to see the greener countryside of Morocco. People often think of Morocco as mostly a dry desert landscape, but the route from Tangier to Chefchaouen is very green and beautiful. Chefchaouen was one of the highlights of our trip. The accomodation at La petite Chefchaouen in the heart of the old town on the hill was great. This small boutique hotel is run by two young brothers who were always extremely kind and professional. The decorations were modern and stylish and practical, similar to small boutique hotels in Australia and Europe. The breakfast was great and the wifi always reliable. The town itself was lovely and the locals very friendly. We always felt really safe walking around on our own. A shop keeper invited us up to his roof terrace to show us the spectacular view and meet his ginger kitten. It was great that he genuinly just wanted to show us the view and was not trying to sell us something. In Chefchaouen in general, we felt more relaxed and not so hassled by every second person as in Fes or Marrakech. When you walk around the Medinas of Fes and Marrakech, everybody wants to sell you something or be your guide. The Moroccans are great sales people, but not all toursits want to constantly buy things, so it can be quite exhausting to keep saying no. If you do not want to buy something, the 2 most useful phrases to learn and to say firmly but always with a smile are: La Shukran or Non Merci!

From Chefchaouen we drove to Fes, again with spectacular views over the Rif and Middle Atlas Mountains and rows and rows of olive plantations. En route we stopped near Moulay Idriss to see the Roman Ruins of Volubilis. For people with an interest in history and museums and archaeology, these ruins are a must see. The views over the surrounding countryside and Moulay Idriss from the ruins are great. Since the trip involves a lot of time on the road, it can sometimes be hard to find a clean restroom, so even if you are not that much into ancient ruins, I would highly recommend a stop at Volubilis, to stretch your legs and walk among the ruins and it also has very clean toilets. Just make sure you have enough coins to tip the cleaning ladies.

We then stayed in Fes for 2 nights at a beautifully old renovated 300 year old house in the Medina, called Dar Mallika, owned by an Australian writer, Susanna Clarke. In winter it is quite cold in Fes and the house was very cold, but the room had heating and airconditioning and the electric blankets on the beds were great. It was also good to have a choice of different high quality English Breakfast and other Teas as well as several international News Channels in any language of your choice, to stay up to date with what's going on in the world while on holiday. There was also a selection of music to listen to while having breakfast, from classical, jazz to Arabian pop! Si Mohammed, the Riad manager was also a great host, very well organised, helpful and professional. Fes was a fascinating city and a journey back in time. It was great to see the intricate hard work and centuries of tradition at the pottery workshop and handmade carpets. The guided tour of Fes was great, however a bit too long for me. I would have preferred a half day tour, but that depends on the type of traveller you are. I think some people will enjoy having a guide all day and don't feel comfortable exploring on their own and prefer the guide to make restaurants recommendations or shopping recommendations for them. I personally am very independent and like to explore on my own and make my own restaurant choices, so for people like me, a half day tour would be better. Nevertheless, the guide was excellent and we learnt a lot from him about the history of Fes.

The drive to Merzouga from Fes takes about 8 hours, so if you want to do the camel ride around 5pm in order to reach the desert tented camp by sunset, you really need to leave Fes no later than 8 am and it is not practical to have too many stops. We left at 8 am and since it was only my husband and I and our driver, we told Mohammed we don't want to make many stops, we prefer to get to the desert early. But for older travellers who may need more stops and rests, I think it may be a good idea to rather stay 2 days in the desert, first night in the desert hotel, and then do the camel ride the next day without having to rush. We had limited time in Morocco and only 1 night in the desert, so for us, leaving Fes early and driving without many stops worked well. That said, it is important to make a few short stops to give the driver a break. It's such a great distance to travel and the roads are not easy, I think all people doing a tour should be considerate towards the driver, as he has a massive task to drive everyone from point A to B safely and deserves to have lunch and tea breaks too. We had a late lunch in Erfoud at a cafe I would like to recommend. It's not that easy to know which restaurant or cafe to pick on the road in this remote part of Morocco, but we were lucky to find the Cafe Restaurant Dakar Erfoud. The cafe had seating outside on a terrace and inside. It was very clean and the young men who ran the cafe spoke very good French and made us feel at home. We didn't want to have a big sit down meal. Just a quick sandwich or pizza, and since they are a pizza place, they made us a Moroccan flavoured pizza from scratch and within 35 min, we were on our way to the desert. The pizza was delicious and the cafe also had wifi and even features in a French Spy novel (we found out later when we did some research about the cafe). Here is their website, have a look.
https://www.restaurantdakarerfoud.com

We arrived at the Hotel on the edge of the desert around 4:30pm, and reached our tented camp after a 1 and a half hour camel ride on two camels called Aslan & Anlal, lead by their master Yussuf who only spoke Arabic, Berber and a few words in Spanish! Yussuf was great, he knows the camels and the desert very well and he was very friendly and an enthusiastic photographer. He took many photos of us on our camels. We watched the sun set over the dunes and reached the camp just after sunset. The dinner at the camp was nice, although a bit cold. One thing I would say about doing a desert safari in winter, is be aware that it gets very cold in the desert at night. It was -1 degrees celcius. So if you travel in winter, or if you are an older traveller with health issues or not the outdoor camping type, make sure to pack enough warm clothes, the kind of clothes you would pack if you go camping on an alpine mountain hike in cold weather!

We left the desert the next morning on the same camels with Yussuf leading the way. This time we saw the sunrise. We met our driver back at the main desert hotel and started our drive to Ait Ben Haddou through many dusty little mud brick . We stopped to see some fossils as well as stops in the Todra & Dades Gorges. We had a great walk through the Todra Gorge, took some great photo and had lunch in a town on the edge of the Gorge, called Tinghir. This town was really pretty and a great tourist stop with many hotels and good restaurants. Since it is such a long drive, I would suggest especially for older travellers to stop in this town for lunch or even one night, before continuing the journey to Ouarzazate or Ait Ben Haddou as it is a very tourist friendly town, you can take beautiful pictures of the gorge and do some shopping. I saw some great inexpensive rugs and clothes and other souvenirs in this town, much better value that what I saw in Marrakech. We ate at a restaurant called Inass, popular with tourists. The food was good and they also have an indoor and outdoor seating area and very clean toilets. Again, run by a group of young Moroccans. I really enjoyed seeing the young moroccans running B&B's and restaurants. They seem to know what tourists want and these guys could also speak very good English and French.

After a quick stop in Ouarzazate, the film studio town of Morocco, we arrived in Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a famous movie setting: Gladiator, The Mummy, Laurence of Arabia and many more were filmed here. We stayed at the beautiful Riad Caravane, owned by a French artist who bought a ruined Kasbah and after 5 years of renovations and art collected from all over Africa & Asia, turned it into a 1st class small boutique hotel with very professional staff and fine dining. The Riad also has a rooftop and small splash pool with panoramic views over Ait Ben Haddou. Although we only stayed 1 night in Ait Ben Haddou, I think it is a town where one could spend more time, especially after travelling such long distances.

On Day 6 of our trip we left Ait Ben Haddou for Marrakech. Although Marrakech is not really that far from Ouarzazate or Ait Ben Haddou, the journey takes a long time due to unfinished road works on the Atlas Mountains. We saw some spectacular scenery driving through the Atlas mountains, but the road is quite scary and unfortunately the only way to get to Marrakech by road from the desert. However Mohammed did an excellent job always driving slowly and very carefully.

We arrived late in the afternoon in Marrakech and that is where we spent out last 2 nights in Morocco. I liked Marrakech, the red (dark pink) city . The Riad in Marrakech was nice, again very friendly helpful staff. This one was very traditionally decorated and also had a spa & hamman. Marrakech highlights for me were the Marjorelle Gardens, Bahia Palace and Koutoubia Mosque. The Jemma al Fna square was interesting to see and a must see especially on a first visit, but too many people. The Marrakech Medina is good for restaurants and shopping but I found it hard to walk there with vespas and motorcycles coming from all directions and also too many people for me. By this time we also did not want to buy anything else as we’ve already done all our shopping. I think staying in the Medina is interesting and gives you a true feel for the place, but it is also quite exhausting to keep saying no to everyone who wants to sell you something and if you don't like crowds, like me staying outside the medina might be more peaceful.

Our guide in Marrakech, Nabil was great. He has a lot of knowledge about the city and showed us some interesting places. He was also easy going and flexible, so when we were tired, we could take a break. I would definitely visit Marrakech again, 2 nights and 1 and a half day was not enough to properly explore the city and I can see there is a lot more to Marrakech than the historic medina. Now that I know the medina, next time I would prefer to stay in the area near the Marjorelle Gardens outside the medina, where it is a bit calmer, less motorcycles and people and more open spaces. But that is just my personal taste. If you like staying in the buzz of everything, a road in the medina is definitely for you!

Now that I know the country a bit better, I think 7/8 days is not enough to see all the things we wanted to see and next time I would make it at least 10 days and spend more time in the smaller towns like Thingir, Ait Ben Haddou and Chefchaouen and also try to see more of the coast.

All in all it was a great first visit to Morocco and we are very grateful to Yassine and his team for this excellent introduction to Morocco. The tour was very well organised and they always took such good care of us. It was always easy to communicate with Yassine and his team and they were there to help 24/7! I would recommend them to anyone who would like to to visit Morocco! Just be clear about what you want and what you like and they can arrange it for you!

Our guide Tony and driver Daniel were fabulous. They took care of everything we needed and wanted. For example we had never had the opportunity to taste durian. Daniel knew a particular fruit stand that sold the best. He drove us through heavy traffic to find it. Tony made sure the fruit vendor sold us a tree ripened fruit. It was a very interesting taste. They recommended restaurants for us to try and took us there to compare menus. One evening we went to see the classical dance. It was pouring rain. Daniel sat in our hotel lobby while we changed and drove us there so we would not have to order a taxi.

The activities were well suited to our interests. We enjoyed the archeological sites, markets, palaces and batik. The birdwatching and cycling through the small village were highlights. Whenever we wanted to stop and take photographs Daniel accommodated us.

We just got back from an amazing trip in Guatemala. Chris from Old Towne was so amazing in arranging an unforgettable experience for me and my mom despite the time constraints (we only had an extended weekend to spend in Guatemala). Chris has a thorough and very professional team to support a large variety of trips tailored to your needs. He is connected with local guides on the ground that can make your dream come true depending on what you want to concentrate on. I would definitely come back to Guatemala and hands down would go there again by utilizing Chris's services and team. Special thanks to Marco, who was so wonderful in guiding us through Guatemala ensuring we are having a good time and taking wonderful pictures of us all. Wili was just wonderful in following up with my mom while climbing the Volcano and preparing us a one of a kind picnic meal.