Kimkim Trip Reviews

I procrastinated my trip planning to Iceland until it was a week before my departure and I decided to try Kimkim. Chris was pleasant to work with and the process was seamless. It took less than 2 days to complete the planning as I wasn’t very picky on what I wanted to do and just let Chris do his work.

Andy was very accommodating and was very good with the follow up. Once The trip was booked, we did not hear back from Andy or Kimkim. I wrote to them about days before the trip was to begin and at that time I received a handout of what to expect when we arrived in Amman. I wish the materials were forwarded earlier and without having to ask for them.

Guide: Chhongba
Kathmandu lodging: Ngima's homestay
Trek dates: Sept 30 - Oct 11

I had the most amazing trek to EBC with Chhongba. The itinerary was set at a good pace and they took care of everything on the trip - from booking hotels and ordering meals to helping me change my flights when my schedule shifted around.

The once-in-a-lifetime views did not disappoint as we were lucky enough to have clear weather throughout my trek (not a cloud in the sky when I reached EBC and Kalapatar). People along the trail were also extremely friendly and it was interesting hearing stories from all walks of life. Highlight of the trip was definitely the view on top of Kalapatar - it's a difficult early morning hike that takes you above the elevation of EBC but the view was worth every step.

Highly recommend this trip to anyone who is even remotely considering it and definitely book through Ngima! Unforgettable experience all around and can't wait to go back!

The trip was very well-planned according to our requests. Lodging was good to very good. The people who picked up our luggage for transfers were always extremely punctual and reliable. Our only issue had both a good and bad side. Arriving the first week in October meant that there were no crowds, less traffic, and it was easy to get into restaurants. The bad news was that many things were already closed for the season and were unavailable. One glaring example was that when we went to use our voucher for a boat transfer in St. Florent the water taxi had closed for the season. With great persistence and very little French we were able to arrange for a private boat to take us. Although we made sure that everything went as planned, I think it's important for others planning a trip at that time to know that it is definitely post-season and they should know in advance that many places will be closed. Also - I felt that some of the hikes were much more rigorous than described. In English there is a difference between a path (very well-groomed and generally flat) and a trail (well-marked but rougher terrain). The "paths" in St. Florent (along the coast) and Corté (in the mountains) were very rugged trails that, for me (65-yr. old woman) required walking sticks and a knee brace that I didn't bring. All in all, Corsica is a beautiful place and we thank Kim Kim for making our wonderful trip possible!

Angeliki did a great job with the arrangements. The drivers were extremely reliable and helpful. It was too bad that the weather interfered with some of the excursions that we were most looking forward to. The hotel accommodations were very nice and well located. The local guides were well informed and entertaining. We really enjoyed the volcano tour at Santorini and of course the Acropolis and the other experiences we had. Angeliki was very diligent about keeping in touch and accommodating our needs.

We booked a 10 day trip to Morocco visiting many of the cities including Casablanca, Fez, Ouarzazate and Marrakesh. I was very pleased with the accommodations : Larbi booked us an awesome trip with really nice hotels and riads. Our hotel in Casablanca was brand new (1 month in operation) and our raids in Fez and Marrakesh were right in the heart of the medinas with great trip advisor reviews. Our driver Mubarak was very sweet and patient as well as knowledgeable about the areas we were driving through. We even got to visit his mom and sister at their home! And all of our local guides were great, funny and caring (when i got sick). We are extremely happy with the level of service we received on all ends and the best part is I didn't have to lift a finger to book any of it. Thank you Larbi and the Kim Kim team for an amazing experience.

We were in Delhi and Agra for 6 days. We appreciate having good hotels. We appreciate having all the transportation provided, such as transfers from the airport to the hotel. We most appreciate being about to custom design a tour that was exactly what we wanted rather than having to fit into someone else's agenda.
We love the transportation with the women cab drivers. They are excellent! They inspire confidence. I applaud their bravery.
I enjoyed meeting Anna. She was great!

Our guide Wangchu and the two porters did a very good job. They made sure everything was taken care off. They were professional and friendly. We’ve been very lucky to have met them!

We stayed 10 days in Ecuador and 8 days on Galapagos.
All was very good.
Linda planned us the exactly trip we asked her.
The guide who went with us, Marco, was very friendly, also for trip not planned.
We went to Quito, on Cotopaxi, Quilatoa Lagoon, Baños, Chimborazo, Guamote, Cuenca and Guayaquil. A great trip !
Than on Galapagos we stayed two days on San Cristobal, one day on Santa Cruz and the last 5 days on a very beautiful Cruise.
All the accomodation of our trip was fantastic.
We're enthusiastics of this beautiful experience.
Thanks Linda !

Natascia and Giampaolo (Italy)

Our three guides and three drivers in the areas of Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin, Bagan, Popa, Salay, Pindaya, Dalaw and Loikaw were all excellent. There was nothing we could fault them on. They gave us an insight into the lives and culture in each area we visited. They warmed to our Australian sense of humour and made our trip a lot of fun. All the various Hotels that we stayed in all staff couldn't do enough to please us. Our guides on the Pindaya Trek and Loikaw Village Trek interacted well and we had a wonderful time. Anne Cruickshanks who tailored our trip to suite our interests was nothing but professional in her communication skills and there was nothing we would have changed. We felt we could relax and enjoy ourselves and re charge on our annual holiday and felt safe wherever we went.
We were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the Myanmar people.
Happy Travellers
Ros & Geoff Wilson
South Australians

Kristy was absolutely incredible! From planning the trip, to the level of communication we received during the trip, I felt well taken care of throughout the whole thing. Kristy was able to create a custom experience for a trip to Peru for my friend and I. No matter what we threw her way (new locations, different sights to see), she was able to revise our itenerary quickly each time while giving us real-time feedback on what she would recommend.

During the trip, my friend and I truly felt like we were VIP. When we arrived at each destination, there would be someone waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It was completely stress-free! The majority of the tours were private, meaning my friend and I could ask all the questions we wanted. We felt like we got the most out of each experience. The tour guides were so friendly and passionate about the history behind each sight or destination.

I would highly recommend traveling through KimKim (as long as all the agents are as incredible as Kristy). It takes the stress out of planning, booking and traveling throughout a foreign country.

5 stars all around :)

Erin was great at organising the trip and was very quick with responding to questions and requests. The guide was very knowledgable, well mannered and paced the trek well. The porters were also excellent, very friendly and worked exceptionally hard without complaints. The trip itself was very good. The circuit was a quieter than some others and the scenery was excellent. Overall the kimkim experience was very good, the staff were amazing and the trek was outstanding.

Very good experience. Bhupendra followed up all my wishes regarding the trip. I'm impressed of the scheduie we ended up with in such a limited travel period. Perfect! He also added the spice course in an indian home - that was one of the highlights of the tour. To experience real life is something I would have wanted for all "exotic" trips, but never would have asked for as part of a tour..

Only one thing that was really bad about this correspondance. I would have preferred to send normal emails. With on site web messages, I had to go to kimkim.com every time and log in. I even had to type my complete email address every time. It does not remember me, and don't allow me to paste a copied email address. Seems as cookies are deleted. At least, make sure that the site remember me.

A large part of our trip was really great. We very much enjoyed the ancient sites and safaris. The Ecolodge and hiking in the rainforest were both incredible experiences. We did have a couple things we were quite frustrated with:

Our driver for the most part was good- he got us to where we needed to go safely. I left my wallet at a hotel in a previous city and he arranged to get it back for me which was incredibly helpful. However, he kept bringing us to these terrible tourist traps where he would get a commission if we bought something. Everything at these places was very overpriced. We wanted to get a carved elephant to bring home with us and he kept refusing to bring us to other places telling us he knew of a better place in Kandy. When we got to the shop we realized it was a scam (with terrible reviews online) and that everything was outrageously priced. He also brought us to places for lunch that would feed him for free for bringing us in. It would have be okay except a few of the places were dirty with bad food and 2-3 times more expensive than normal local places.

We also had an absolutely terrible night at one of the hotels. The hotel was outdated and very dirty. There were stains on our pillows and curtains, hairs in the bed that weren't ours and a dead lizard. We asked hotel to fix this and when we returned to our hotel room the same stained pillows were put back on our bed and the lizard was placed on our table. We have never been treated this way and thought our requests were not at all unreasonable but the staff seemed to be offended at our request? So they left a dead animal on our table. I have been in contact with Sandun about this for the last month and he kept saying he would follow up with the hotel (I was under the impression that we might get a refund or something) but I haven't heard anything which is further frustrating.

Overall, the trip was great. I would appreciate more details prior to the trip. Mike was great but he wasn’t needed the entire time. I didn’t know we would have a full time tour guide. We didn’t really need that. We would have preferred 2 hotel rooms and might have paid extra at a few sites to have that. Again, we didn’t know in advance what we had. In Hanoi and Hoi An, the room was way too small for 3 people, especially Hoi An since it was 3 nights. I might have settled for a lower rated hotel and had 2 rooms. So my primary feedback is to provide more detail of what we were getting so we could have more choices. The cooking class had a half day and full day choice. I would have preferred half day.

We had a fabulous trip and were able to relax and enjoy every step of the way thanks to kimkim and Tasos. I was nervous at first using a travel service that I couldn't find many reviews for, but it couldn't have been better. The planning process was easy and fun, with an email exchange with Tasos to find the right mix of active/relaxing/cultural activities. He found great hotels for us and arranged all transfers. In the midst of planning, the ferry schedule changed and Tasos alerted us right away so we could make necessary changes to our plans. Without Tasos, we wouldn't have known about that change. Lampros, our driver from the Athens airport to hotel, was very professional and knowledgeable. We were greeted with a vodaphone card and phone battery charger in a welcome packet. We only had one day in Athens, so Tasos arranged a combined Mythology and Food Tour. Katerina, our Mythology guide was knowledgeable and entertaining. The suite with private and hot tub at Aphrodite & Venus Hotel on Santorini was beautiful with wonderful breakfast. The Wooden Boat tour with dinner/saxophone/sunset was a fun tour with guide Christina. We also enjoyed our stay in Naxos. The Nastasia Village Hotel was quaint, also with delicious breakfast and made to order eggs each morning. The host family was welcoming and helpful. The Naxos Trekking hike we took was a highlight with a guided tour just for the two of us. The day prior, the original tour guide was called away unexpectedly, but it was seemless to us as Taos made arrangements for a new guide, Matina. He offered a refund for that tour if we weren't satisfied, but that tour was a highlight of the trip. Tasos arranged for the taxi to pick us up from the hotel and meet Matina in Chalki where headed off for our hike. The taxi picked us up at the end of the hike to go back to the hotel. We had Tasos arrange all of our transfers to/from hotel/ferries and it made things so easy. We felt like VIPs when we showed up and just looked for a sign with our name on it. The transfer to the airport at the end was a little tight, but we made it (barely). The itinerary we received from Tasos about a week before departure was thorough and well-organized. It was a great reference during our trip, but just enough that we didn't have to think too much on the trip and could enjoy the sights and the company! We had a couple questions during our stay and Tasos was always quick to respond via email. I would definitely use this service again.

Ningma and Lhakpa gave me an unforgettable week heli-trekking to EBC in just a week! The highlight was the stop at Kalu Pattar in brilliant sun - I was lucky with the weather which on a short trek can make a difference but NMMT did absolutely everything possible to make it the best experience with seamless booking and organisation at every stage and Lhakpa and I had a lot of fun being first into every teahouse! A prospective client should also look into the huge array of social work and local support that these guys do. They operate a direct hands on approach and on top of ad-hoc/ regular donations, part of your trek. climbing money will find a very good home in improving the lives of the people of the lower Khumbu

The trip was fantastic driving from Rwanda through Uganda the experience seeing the people, small towns was wonderful. The Gorilla Trekking was much harder than we thought at 7,500 ft above sea level. We live at sea level. Our idea was doing the Habitational on the first day and a regular trek the following day...bad idea as we were very sore after a 10 hour up and down hills including 4 hours following the gorilla family. Following day we just bailed out of the trek as we needed the rest, yet “What an Experience” I even got false charged by the large Silver Back...a real African adventure!
The food at Nkuringo Bwindi lodge was not up to par and I’m not a picky eater so I suggest you make other arrangements at that location. The staff was very nice but even when we write everything we wanted to eat down on paper, it never was correct.... a communication problem. Even Moses our driver translated but it never worked.
The best lodge was Kyaninga. A beautifully log cabin lodge with great food and wonderful staff.
Now for Kim Kim...a great tour company which allows you to deal with the tour operator in the area your traveling in. My questions about our trip were answered within an hour which gave me a feeling of confidence about the upcoming African adventure. Our driver and guide “Moses”was with us at all times if we needed anything... he was great. Overall trip was a 9 out of 10.
Bill & Sue Gordon

Priya was very responsive to my questions and guidance. 2 days before we plan to book the trip the floods hit Kerala and we had to significantly change the whole schedule. Priya was very creative and responsive. My wife and I were very pleased with the tour. we were dependent on her recommendations to guide our experience

Petra was great and we all enjoyed that. I was disappointed with Wadi Rum and the organization/lack of information of what we were doing and its duration. For example, we were told we should leave Petra early to get to wadi rum, thinking there was a lot to do. After getting there around 11, we sat around for over an hour not knowing what was going on. We then went on our jeep/camel ride for a few hours and got back around 4 with nothing to do til dinner. Our driver told us he was picking us up the next morning around 6 to do a 1 1/2 hour jeep ride then a 2 hour hike. We woke up at 6 and then told there was a booking issue to see if we could pack up and move our stuff to a different tent. On our ride, the jeep broke down and were stuck for 1 1/2 hours before the replacement jeep came. At that point we were not in the mood to drive another 1 1/2 and hike in the heat of the day which was the whole point we left early. So when we got back we had nothing to do for the whole day and thats why we called our agent to go to Amman earlier. I just felt that if we had known how long that hike/jeep ride was and that we would be doing it in the morning, we wouldn't have stayed an extra night at the camp and went to Amman early and saved the expense of the extra car ride/hotel cost.