Kimkim Trip Reviews

Greetings! Everyone I interacted with during this process was kind and as helpful as possible. There are a few things I think you might find helpful for the next time.

Generally speaking, the logistics of having to figure out our own transportation was not smooth. Having someone meeting us at both airport and train stations, and generally ensuring those things go well, was missing. Case in point is arriving at the Oslo train station with limited instructions about finding our hotel on site at the mall, and not seeing a sign anywhere, nor was the hotel name on the mall directory. Finally after spending considerable time, with suitcases in hand, looking for the hotel in the dark (roughly 10:30 pm), I found the phone number to the hotel and they led us to a door which was locked and which they had to buzz us in through. This door was poorly marked, and again, in the dark this was a problem.

Another issue was the cost of the cab to get us to the airport when leaving. It was not our desire to use the tram or bus with luggage. It cost us $150 US for a 35 minute cab ride. At minimum, the overall trip cost should have included airport transfers. At certain points during the trip I began to wonder what we had really paid for.

Another issue is that we were not instructed to arrive early (as was the case with several other items in the itinerary), and we arrived 2 minutes past the time indicated on the itinerary for the boat to Rosendal. The boat had already left when we arrived. While I do believe there is some culpability on both ends of this one, the least you could do was reimburse us for the alternative trip we took which cost $138. I was told this was not an option.

When I asked for "City Tours", I did not mean "Walking Tours", and while our walking tours were both fine and enjoyable (David and Stig), they did not properly take the place of a more comprehensive day tour via bus, motor coach, etc., where you see the whole city. We saw very small parts of the cities, especially in Oslo. Luckily we found the beautiful buildings and harbor on our own or we would have missed a lot! Also, the harbor boat tour in Bergen was rather miserable. It was held in an open sailboat (sans sail), and it was pouring rain. It was very difficult to see anything, and while we enjoyed the guide, the type of boat was a poor choice for the frequency of rain there.

We did have an error on the itinerary at Balestrand which indicated we were staying at the Kvikness vs. where we ended up which was at the Midtnes. I did appreciate the view from the room, and Jon taking us via van to and from the harbor with our suticases, as well as the included dinners at the hotel, the amenities were quite lacking comparatively speaking. We had planned to use the gym at the Kvikness, and also there was no TV in the room, and the pillows were poor at the Midtnes. We also ended up spending evenings at the Kvikness since there was no restaurant/bar at the Midtnes. It just felt to me like we stayed in the cheaper hotel to keep your costs down.

In the end we accomplished the goal of experiencing the Fjords and cities of Norway, and that was really great. I think if you could implement a bit more 'service orientation' into the program, it would make it even better.

Many thanks for the opportunity to provide this feedback!

Lena is very efficient, replies very fast and organised a very fulfilling itenary customised for what we wanted to see in Jordan. Our guide Shareef was very friendly, punctual and informative and we loved going to each historical place with him. Would definitely recommend him and Lena as tour organisers for any of my contacts wishing to explore Jordan. Our favourite spots were Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba..not to say the other sites were any less amazing..each site had a uniqueness which we loved experiencing. Jordan is a beautiful country and we are glad we decided to visit :) thank u team kimkim

Had a great time, Silviu was very helpful and kept in touch with our progress, he was very professional. We will recommend you and Silviu. Thanks again. Steve, and rest of group.

This was an amazing trip! We saw many beautiful places throughout Slovenia. Our hiking, biking and rafting were planned out well. We stayed at lovely mountain huts and hotels. Domen and Anja were informative and pleasant staff! This trip is highly recommended!

My friend and I did a self guided trip, with Domen planning our route and arranging transportation and accommodations and extras. It was a spectacular trip! Hiking through the mountains to different places (only having to take daypacks) was great. Domen may have slightly overestimated our fitness abilities, but we felt awfully pleased with ourselves after! He was very quick to respond to any questions and we felt safe and secure the entire time. The only thing that didn’t work for us was trying to use the phone gps he had given us, but we had detailed directions and maps. It was most likely a user error!😀. Our trip ranged from Bled, through the Julian Alps to Bovec, rafting down the Soca river, then to wine country and ended with the caves on our way to Rovinj. I will definitely come back to Slovenia, it’s a jewel!
Cindy

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.