Kimkim Trip Reviews

Enjoyed Sri Lanka immensely. Beautiful country with charming, friendly, courteous people. Very scenic country with diverse landscapes, interesting cultural experiences. Sandun was very responsive to our requests, very informative about trip planning and willing to adjust the itinerary numerous times as we decided on a final agenda.

Jan 19: Marrakech, Skoura, Merzouga, (with overnight stay in desert via Camel Ride), Ouarzazate.
Thank you so much Kim Kim for assessing my family group needs and linking me with such a wonderful travel consultant: Brahim (from Orion Trek Voyages) who worked closely with me via email/message frequently to ensure we had a plan for our holiday that met the needs for all of our group. He arranged wonderful accommodation in each place we stayed (especially Riad Villa el Arsa in Marrakech medina and Chez Talout in Skoura) and provided us with the best driver (Rashid from EMS - Essaouira Multiservice) who was so much more than a driver. He had completed a degree in tourism and made the 4 day trip out to Erg Chebbi and back such a memorable experience. He went out of his way to show us sites not on our itinerary, took many photos of our group and sent them to us and ensured we were all safe and well cared for whilst travelling and at each stop. Travelling with my grown up children and parents could have been a challenge but Rashid was continually happy, polite and accommodating. It felt as if he was part of the family and it was a sad farewell on return to Marrakech. A truly fantastic holiday, thanks so much to all involved. A very memorable experience. Would highly recommend all mentioned to ensure a wonderful holiday. Michele and John Gambrill (John & Robyn Gambrill, Jade Gambrill & Antony Dickenson)

We booked Amizmis valley 3 dazs tour and it was verg nice. Great walk through the day, perfect nature, nice people all around. The only thing that was not perfect was accommodation in first house. When they say "simple accommodation" nowdays people think about bed and shower without aditional fascilities. It was without bed, but that was probably our fault for not reading it carefully. At the other house was much better because of the family that has been so nice to us. Fatima and her family were very welcoming, trying to teach us how to make bread and cuscus. Although they do not speak english they were trying to explain us everything. Our guide Mohamed was perfect. On this trip we made one friend more

Alex at Kimkim was very helpful with the initial enquiry, putting me in touch with Kunchok Nima of Responsible Treks.

Kunchok dealt very patiently with my many questions and several changes of plan and dates. All the arrangements he made for me worked out very smoothly.

On the trek I was guided by Gyaljan Lama and Keshab Magar. They were patient, kind and helpful, and spoke excellent English. Hopefully they will remember 'undulating' and 'clearing', which I suggested they add to their already amazing vocabulary! Their help and encouragement got me up to Khayer Tal, an exhausting but spectacular 11 hour round trip from Kopra Danda lodge.

My favourite village? Swanta, where I spent a rest day!

Thank you Alex, Kuncholk, Gyaljan and Keshab. Maybe see you again one day, for Humla or Kanchengjunga...

Overall it was a fantastic trip.
I take at least 2 and sometimes 3 vacations a year and I am very particular. I had been using a particular agency for many adventures and decided to give Kim Kim a try.
I will give a concise but honest evaluation if you permit and at the end some suggestions that may help Kim Kim and future travelers.
Day 1, All day walking tour A , that night was the Argentine Experience A+.
Day 2, Navigation to Tigre C
Although interesting, I found it to be a long boat ride followed by a long and boring train ride. Guide for both days was the same. Although very knowledgeable he had no communication skills and was very boring.
Day 3, Mendoza , Wine tour and lunch. A+. This guide was A+ with good communication skills and a sense of humor.
Day 4 White water rafting A+ and I followed it up with a canopy adventure. A+. Guides overall with the expedition we're great.
Day 5 High Mountain Full day tour.
Although very scenic it was just way too long a drive. Guides stopped at MANDATORY spots for pictures, tiny walk, lunch and site for pictures. C
Day 6 Travel Day
Day 7 P Morena and National Park and boat ride. D
This was the most disappointing day of my trip. Bus was 1 hour late for pick up and I was on a bus with 37 other people. Took 45 minutes for everyone to get off and then back on bus for a picture . Boat ride was cancelled due to the weather (wind). We walked down steps to view glacier and then spend 3 1/2 hours at the refreshment house . This was absurd, watching bus load after busload of tourists coming and going. Unbelievable and touristy.
Fortunately, the guide was able to get a different boat trip to save some part of the day.
Day 8 Estancia Discovery Cristina B+
Great views and scenery. 4X4 trip was very exhilarating. B+
D
Do away with the boring museum tour and garden visit.
Ugh.
Day 8 Travel Day
Day 9 Beagle Channel boat ride and Penguin Island A+. Great overall experience.
Day 10 Trek and Rafting trip. Great guide (Pedro) A+.
Day 11 Travel Day , Flight, USA.
Here are my suggestions, take or leave them. I think they make your company a little more personal.
1. Warn your clients that they should be aware of counterfeit $ being used all over BA (taxi drivers are notorious).
2. Forworn your clients that some adventures (national park, lunches, etc.) must be paid in cash and pesos only.
3. Forworn your clients that they should make dinner reservations before they arrive in the next destination. Suggest restaurants to clients . They will appreciate it rather then go there blind.
4. Advise clients to bring their passport to trekking in Ushuaia so they can get them stampted at the end of the world.
This little item may mean something to a person.
5. Suggest places to shop and places not to shop. Do some research and it will pay dividends. Maybe even get a discount for clients at certain places.
6. Double check all info to clients as my reservations were incorrect the first night and my flight info was also incorrect. (Very confusing).

So I have exhausted my time and you are probably tired of reading all of this but I wanted to make sure you really knew my thoughts.
Hope this info may help someone in the future.
Having said all this I would consider using KimKim in the future.
All the best Billy Gluck

We enjoyed the trip very much. Marie-Lou was very attentive to our needs, and was very helpful. One complaint was we basically lost a day in Santiago because all the museums were closed on Monday. We should have done Valspario on Monday instead of Tuesday.
Anyway, Easter Island and the Atacoma desert were a lot of fun and we enjoyed our stay in Chile.
Thanks.
Steve & Julie

Dan did an amazing job planning my trip. When I encountered an issue with my first hotel. Dan took care of it immediately. I loved all of the destinations he chose for me. The trip was very well organized. I would definitely book future travel with Dan. I would definitely HIGHLY reomeend him to my friends. I would rate my experience a full 10/10. Thanks so much.

Elina and Gareth did a great job of putting together a nice itinerary for us. We really loved the snowmobile excursion and the boys loved riding the mini snowmobiles. Rovaniemi is just a magical place and I'm so glad we got to see it. There is really so much more to do than I expected so if I ever get the chance to go back I'll know! (Like the amethyst mine!)

The Scandic hotel was just OK. Our friends ended up in the Arctic Light hotel and that is a really lovely place! I loved our night in the glass igloos.

Generally the trip went very smoothly. There was one minor miscommunication but I think that was in part due to our friends that joined us on the trip joined the planning late so getting both itineraries synced up was a little challenging.

Christchurch accommodation was awesome. All accommodation was clean and comfortable. Really helpful at the Geraldine place. Loved the Vintners retreat as well.

Great trip Kimkim a big thank you

Maria was wonderful from start to finish. She picked a terrific itinerary and gave great advice on where to go and how many days to spend. All the arrangements she made went off without a hitch. She helped with changes and a traveler who had to change plans last minute due to illness. We all had a wonderful time and I would use Maria again in a heartbeat!

We just returned from our family 8 day vacation to Colombia. Jules, our specialist, helped us plan, organize and get ready for our trip. He was also available during our trip to answer questions along the way. This was so helpful.
Once we got to Colombia we had a great driver, Evan and a wonderful guide, Fabian. Fabian was an energetic, personable guide and great with our kids. He took our 10 year old son all over the beach, climbing rocks and exploring the shore. We enjoyed his genuine positive attitude.
We also enjoyed our beach time, river float and the sunset cruise!

I must say I did not have a great experience with KimKim and will not be using again.

For starters, communication took too long. I would respond to a message within seconds of receiving it and I would get a response the next day.

Secondly, when booking a tour, I had asked for a more private tour. The booking I received stated semi-private. When I asked what semi-private actually meant, how many people would be in our group, I never received a response. When I was picked up and taken to our boat tour, there was nothing private or semi-private about it. It was a regular tour boat with what seemed like 70-100 people. We were also promised a guide. There was no guide.

The price we paid seems a bit high for a large group tour that I basically could have bought a ticket through the boat company themselves and saved money.

Finally, although we were reserved as VIP. The boat had some problem on the return trip and we had to wait to take a different boat back where there was no VIP section at all. This was a waste of money in my opinion.

We had a wonderful time with our guide Watermelon. She was fun and informative. Our coordinator Ha was very helpful in planning our day before we arrived. We would recommend both of them to anyone!

Natalia at kimkim helped us with our 8 day Columbia itinerary,
that consisted of 3 days at Tayrona National Park, 2 days at Cartegena, and 3 days at Salento.
All hotels, activities, and ground transportation was arranged by Natalia.
Everything went perfect. Drivers were always on time and helpful. The hotels, while not very expensive, were perfect. (Boutique hotels that were perfect value for money).
We were especially impressed with the guides for our Cocora valley hike (full loop at 7 hours) and Tayrona hike (9 hours). Overall, we were very happy with the value we received.

My husband and I will for sure be using KimKim for future travel trips. Everything was perfect and KimKim took the headache out of putting an itinerary together.
Hands down best vacation ever!

Overall a great experience, we really enjoyed Colombia. We were in Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena and they all were worth the visit. We had very good guides in Bogotá and I think we should have stayed longer. Our guide in Medellin (day trip to Guatapé) was really good too, he really was engaging. If I were to do it again I would arrange more guided trips with kimkim in Medellin. The last guide we had was in Cartagena and a tour of the city, our guide here was not the best guide, while she was personable, her English was hard to understand and she spoke very softly making it almost impossible in the city to hear what was being said.

Our transfers were always extremely professional, on time with only the best and most comfortable transportation for our family. I will travel again using kimkim to help me make the arrangements. I would highly recommend Colombia to other families. My kids are aged 8, 10 and 12 and together with my wife we had the family adventure that we wanted.

We had a great trip that was really well planned by Shalindra. Our itinerary was a mix of active days and optional rest days where an activity was suggested or you could relax and chill out (we generally opted for the latter on those days). Ossie was a first-time driver and he did a great job. He knew the roads (and shortcuts) around the place and he had a great sense of humour – we had some good, funny chats between the three of us. We travelled from Colombo to Tangalle to Yala National Park to Ella, then Kandy, then Sigiriya then to Colombo and out.

The highlights were the wildlife at Yala National Park and visiting a 2000 year old monastery there. Driving back from the park we were confronted by a 'tusker' – a somewhat angry bull elephant with tusks (wow). Our 'glamping' accommodation nearby was also fun – they also had great lunches. The wildlife around our Yala accommodation was simply extraordinary – so many birds and flowers. We enjoyed walking around Ella and seeing the amazing views there, and Sigiriya did not disappoint – a great climb up the rock and an amazing glimpse of some of Sri Lanka's ancient history at a very memorable location. I really enjoyed the gardens and grounds at the base of the rock. An old monastery at Dambulla (en-route to Sigiriya) was a memorable visit too, with five rooms of ancient Buddha statues and paintings. Cruising around a large lagoon the day before climbing Sigiriya was a also a wonderful experience, finished off with a fantastic traditional Sri Lankan meal where all the various ingredients for the curry were explained to you –then eaten (!)

We had a mix-up at one hotel, but Shalindra was able to step in and quickly resolve the matter –this was most appreciated. All up: a very memorable trip that will stay with us a long time.

The planning process was great but the itinerary was a little dull. We were looking for a little more adventure. Luckily our local guide was able to change our itinerary to better suit our needs.

Priya quickly understood what we wanted and arranged everything very well. She was also flexible with some changes we made, and was gracious.
All of our drivers showed up and were very courteous. The hotels were very good, no complaints there.
The best tour was to the Elephanta Caves. The guide was a local, very knowledgeable and sweet.
The weak part was that one day in Mumbai was overloaded. The guide for the day was late in the AM. We had to beg for lunch after the Elephanta Caves, which we ate in the car on the way to the "Bollywood tour." Looking back, we should have had a longer tour on day before and less on that day. Also the Bollywood tour, as it was called, was inadequate. It was a dusty old set and there was no demonstration of a shoot-out as described. The dancers were good (just three) but we had no interest in the karaoke. The tour guide there was nice enough, but the place was practically empty and it took over an hour to get there from our hotel. We didn't watch the whole Bollywood movie because it was so late by that time. I would not recommend that studio tour, and especially not during Christmas vacation when hardly anyone is working there.
We liked going to the Hanging Gardens. That day the guide was going to take us somewhere far away, I can't remember where, but we were tired of traveling in cars so we said no. I think overall in Mumbai attention must be paid to the travel factor. It's not something I had thought to ask about.

Thank you very much for arranging my trip to Kerala in India.
Over all the experience was very good and I had an enjoyable time.
My driver was very nice and keen to please, his English was sufficient.
I thought The Brunton Boat Yard was very good as were the staff.
The Flamingo Marari was also very nice, loud speakers broadcasting a religious festival made sleeping a little tricky! The hotel was also not exactly on the beach which was a little disappointing but not disastrous.
The boat house was fine for what it was.
Cardamom County was very good and the entertainment on NYE was also good, they tried hard to make it special.
Rivulet Resort I did not like, I the room was basic and a little run down, I found the restaurant staff awkward and not particularly friendly, there was no atmosphere, the hotel did not have a swimming pool which I expected.
The guide in Thekkady was good as was the guide in Fort Cochin. The guide in Munnar was not that good.
With kind regards
Jason