Kimkim Trip Reviews

This was a 5 plus star experience and completely exceded my expectations. Steve worked with me with my times and desires. For example, I had no desire to spend time in Lima and wanted to maximize my time in the Jungle. Steve worked it out. We customized our time to spend it in the Sacred Valley, Macchu Pichu, and the have a jungle experience. We arrived and were greeted by our guide Aldo and Paul, the driver. They were awesome and were always doing all they could to make our experience great. Aldo grew up in the region and was completely an expert on the region and history. I left feeling like I have new friends too! Then to Puerto Maldonado where we met Freddy and the Junglepro team. We boarded a river boat, headed up the river to a charming jungle cottage. The boat driver was exceptional! Freddy was too as he had worked on the land the cottage was on long before. Freddy is a tracker, not just a finder and we were able to see amazing wildlife. We even were able to find a jaguar, spider monkey, and Freddy even yanked a caimen right out of the water with is bare hands! Again, we had a guide that was interested in making our experience special an I left feeling like I had another friend. Aspiring Adventures did a great job and my experience with my son was great memories made! Thanks!
Jeff

Made it easy to do a bit more of an adventure than the normal vacation.

Where do I begin? Every aspect of this experience was just fantastic! This was a Dad/Daughter adventure and we couldn't have been more pleased with this adventure. Yassine was super responsive and helpful in our planning stages. The communications and advance prep were wonderful for these first time to Morocco/Africa travelers. Our personal driver, Samad, was punctual, attentive, professional ...and fun! We experienced so much more that the large tour group (follow the person with the flag) kind of trip. I recommend taking the riad accommodation route versus hotels. They were all just exquisite and provided such a wonderful element to this trip. If you are on the fence about taking a trip to Morocco or working through KimKim, I urge you to not hesitate and take that leap to work with them. Our experience wildly exceeded expectations. This trip created memories that will remain with me all of my days.

This was an absolutely incredible trip! The planning done by our local specialist Megan and the service provided by our guide Omar was phenomenal. They dealt with all the hassle and logistics so that we could focus on enjoying our vacation. Our guide Omar was very knowledgeable and personable. I would highly recommend Omar and Megan to anyone else visiting Morocco!

Thank you Edwin for organizing the perfect experience in the Galapagos for us. Our guide Karla was the best! She was knowledgeable about all aspects of the island and very sensitive to our needs. We had a great time and would highly recommend Karla as a guide!

Everything was perfect, from itinerary creation, to booking, to the actual visit!

Anne is a great communicator - she listened to everything I wanted and gave me just that. She was always reachable and very helpful with everything I needed (even random stuff like printing needs).

I also loved all of my tour guides. Each one was different with their own personalities, background, experiences, etc. and it was great to get to hear so many different perspectives.

The accommodations and transport options were all fantastic.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better first trip to Myanmar. I can't wait to go back!

The trip was very well planned and all the guides met or exceeded our expectations. We especially enjoyed the mountain biking and the walk in Cocora Valley. All the drivers were on time, pleasant and professional.

The guides were great. Getting to different locations was frantic.
We saw some great birds.

We really enjoyed the itinerary suggested by Carlos. Our favourite place to stay was Senda, Monteverde.

We had top notch service with kimkim and have already recommended them to several friends. I was a bit leery using this service without firsthand knowledge of what we were getting into. But I was worried for nothing. Kristy put together a great 12 day Costa Rican itinerary for our family of five, including three teenagers! And Monica booked all
of our lodging, excursions, and in-country transportation (we took three Sansa flights...an easy and quick way to get around...and had private drivers everywhere). Even when I had questions while on our trip, Monica was available and promptly responded to our needs. We started at Manatus in Tortuguero on the Caribbean and we loved our quaint bungalow there. In fact, we loved everything about the Manatus resort; the service, food and included wildlife tours. Next we went to the LaFortuna/Arenal area and stayed at the Arenal Lodge. We loved the area and all of our excursions (zip lining with Sky Adventures and volunteering at Proyecto Asis), but we were not fans of the Arenal Lodge. It’s pretty run down and in need of some major renovations and repairs. With only breakfast included there, we were interested in trying different restaurants for lunch and dinner. But the lodge is also extremely remote and was an expensive and long cab ride into town. Seems like there are plenty of nice places to stay that would have been a better choice. Next we went to Rafiki Lodge outside of Quepos, and this was a major highlight...camping in the rainforest. The owners and staff were wonderful, and the included excursions and food were outstanding. What a unique and neat experience at Rafiki! And finally we spent the last three nights of our vacation in Manual Antonio at Tulemar Resort. Wow. This was a perfect way to end our trip with some beach time, relaxation, and a last opportunity to see sloths and monkeys up close. Views here from our Villa were amazing. We did do one excursion in this area, the Damas mangrove tour. I’d probably skip that if I could do this trip over, mostly to give us more time at the amazing Tulemar beach. And it wasn’t all that well done.
All in all, we were extremely happy with our vacation, experiencing a new place we’ve never been, and will now most likely return, thanks to kimkim!

Our Pura Vida guide in Arsenal, Christian was awesome and we were the only two people in our group that included hikes of Arenal and the hanging bridges.

Every aspect of our itinerary either met or exceeded our expectations. The one exception would be the night tour in Monteverde. We were not the only ones to say it was over-hyped. There were over 100 tourists in groups of 6-8 walking the same paths that reminded me of a “snipe” hunt.

Lodging at Arsenal was superb! Great complimentary breakfast and on-site hot spring.

From when I was first connected with Tha until even during the trip when I contacted her for a couple of questions she was very good. Answered all my many questions and organized an amazing trip while in Thailand. Thank you Tha we have a wonderful time .

Two weeks in east Australia by Judie Yamamoto and Charley Mullally

Overall, our trip to Australia, arranged by Jasmine through KimKim, was excellent. The accommodations were comfortable and for the most part spacious, modern, and conveniently located, quite more luxurious than we’d expected on the “mid-level” plan we had requested. Transportation (airport and hotel ground pickups as well as our three flights in Australia) went very smoothly, spoiling us for the return home when we had to drive ourselves! And even though we were always based in the city centers, there were enough excursions into the countryside to provide both urban and rural experiences.

Our most memorable day was probably our trip to the Mornington Peninsula, made so by our driver/guide Juliet. She was absolutely delightful and clued us in on local specialties: where to eat in Sorrento, vanilla slices, a little known “secret” oceanside cliff walk in front of million dollar homes. The upbeat music she played enroute didn’t hurt the day, either.

Other highlights:
· Watching wild kangaroos and koalas at the Conservation Ecology Centre in Great Otway National Park (the B&B there looks worth coming back to spend a few days!);
· Views along the Great Ocean Road;
· Up close opportunities to see the remarkable beginnings of recovery from the extensive bush fires that had occurred only a short time before our visit.
· Sydney Harbor cruise and strolling through Sydney’s Chinatown (all those Asian restaurants!);
· Tour of Sydney Opera House followed by dinner and front row tickets for “Six!”
· Swimming in a mountain stream in the Daintree Rainforest

The major downside to our trip was that there wasn’t enough downtime – days with little or no planned activity. At age 78, both of us needed more time to kick back and relax, fewer early morning pickups, less bus travel. We didn’t know that when we OKed Jasmine’s arrangements, but we will be sure to be cognizant of it on our next journey.

If you seek a spectacular once in a lifetime adventure in the Heart and Soul of Japan, KimKim will create a unique trip experience, specifically built around your individual interests and passions! 
Soleil was the creator of our unique Japan adventure, and she did a highly commendable job.  She gave generously of herself during the extensive planning phase, and throughout our entire 9 day Japan adventure to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka!   
Gibwa, from our Japan support team, greeted us at the airport and we traveled together by train to our hotel where we checked in and went over our trip package, containing various train cards, show and tour vouchers.  Soleil had left several very thoughtful gifts in our room for my daughter, based upon her interests in a particular Japanese culture.  What a very  thoughtful surprise this was! 
Our Japan support team checked in with us daily to ensure we felt supported if we had any questions or concerns.  Our trip was so well detailed, but also gave us huge flexibility to change up along the way if we wanted, which we loved!  
The cooking classes, food tours and other very unique tours and adventures which Soleil planned for us were highly enjoyable!  Some of our favorites were the Ramen and Gyozo cooking class by Chef Yumi, (who was incredible) the absolutely fabulous food tours by Arigato Japan, and the beautiful Hozugawa River Cruise!!!  
Soleil additionally ensured that everyone along the way celebrated my daughter's college graduation while we were with them! Thank you so much Soleil!  
I am extremely happy we chose KimKim to help us create and execute our highly unique and fabulous trip to Japan!  It was truly AMAZING!  A very heartfelt thank you to Soleil and the entire Japan support team, who spoke perfect English, by the way!  
*Also, a very special thank you to Anne Kyle, CEO of Arigato Food Tours, Japan,  for her very generous heart and truly awesome food tours!  Her tour guides Haruka and Anna were fabulous!!!

My husband and I are avid travelers and we tend to do all the booking, organizing and trip planning on our own, however I had recently come across Kimkim's website so we decided to give them a shot.

From the start the KimKim website was user friendly and the staff were kind, informative and attentive to our needs, and trust me I am a VERY detail oriented person. We were paired with our amazing coordinator, Hsu Hlaing, who was patient with me and answered every single question I rose, which were A LOT. In addition to this, there were multiple times where I had requested itinerary amendments and Hsu fulfilled each request perfectly, and even took the time to provide her personally opinions on areas she thinks were must sees, and which were nice to see places if we had more time. At the end we came up with a perfect itinerary, one that combined a seamless blend of tours and guides and personal exploration time. Myself, my best friend and my husband are grateful for Hsu, as she was beyond helpful and ensured every aspect of our trip was taken into account and all the even littlest details and requests came to life on our trip.

Hsu even coordinated SIM cards for each of us on the trip which made communicating with loved ones at home easier. On top of that she provided me with an incredibly organized packet which included our detailed itinerary, all our flight tickets and our hotel vouchers, labeled and organized by date. She checked in on a daily basis either with me personally or with our tour guide to ensure everything was going as planned and that we were having a good time, which personally went above and beyond her role, as she has already sold us an amazing trip yet she still made the effort to check in, which showed me how invested she was in ensuring we enjoyed every aspect of our trip.

Regarding our trip itself, our trip went perfectly to plan and working with KimKim made everything SO SIMPLE, allowing us to fully enjoy each one of our experiences as opposed to having to worry or plan our next move. At every point in our trip we had someone waiting for us to take us to or from one amazing experience to the next. The guides and drivers selected for us made our experience even more unforgettable. They were informative, easy to understand, fun to be around and were also very attentive to our needs.

Our experience in Myanmar will definitely be one of our favorites, not only is the country beautiful, clean and so diverse, the people themselves are kind, welcoming and made a lot of effort to make us feel welcome and at home. We hope to one day go back to explore more of the beauties of Myanmar but for now we will cherish every moment spent there and every memory made.

We are so glad we chose to explore Myanmar, and even more delighted that we were able to put Myanmar on the map for many of our friends/family's must visit lists after sharing most of our trip on social media.

HUGE THANKS TO HSU AND THE KIMKIM TEAM FOR A SEAMLESS AND INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE! We are looking forward to using KimKim again in the near future for our next adventure.

Our drive for the entire trip was Samad. Though not a full guide he did have a lot of local information and in essence helped make the trip as great as it was. He has a great command of English, He was willing to stop to allow my wife to take roadside photos. His road skills were excellent and we never fear for our life while he was driving. We did have local guide in Fes - Hakim. He took us into the many winding streets and alleys that was a wonder that he didn't get lost. He was very good. In Marrakesh Youssef walked us around the City and again I was surprised that he did not get lost, but a life time resident he knew his way around and it showed. I would also like to say that each of our Ryads and Dars had hosts who really looked after us and made us feel very welcome. They were always eager to help with any thing we needed. The Bellamane Ryad & Spa the host heard my wife had a sore throat so he went to the local market for fresh lemons and ginger for a hot tea potion - it did the trick!

My team of 5 avid hikers hiked 7 volcanoes in 11 days with guides Carlos and Lucas, who went out of their way to make our trip fun, safe, exciting and full of wonderful surprises. Their passion for adventure, love for the outdoors of their country, dedication and commitment to meeting our needs and cheerful disposition made it an epic experience for us.

I am also extremely grateful to Chris Gwinner, of Old Town Outfitters (OTO), who tailored this adventure for my group. His professionalism, prompt and accurate communication and patience in answering questions left little to unknown which helped everything run smoothly.

Getting up close to volcanoes is unique and humbling. The breath-taking scenery from the summits were awe-inspiring. The hikes were challenging but the experience was worth the sweat and dust on our boots, hair and skin, and OTO played a vital and commendable role in making it all possible.

The trip to Peru was fantastic. Cesar Surco, our guide post Lima, was exceptional in every way. He was patient, kind, knowledgeable and an absolute genius with the camera. He was filled with excellent recommendations of what to do (and what not to do). We were never rushed and yet, got to see and do everything. He is a true local and took us to places we would never have seen on our own. I can't stress how great he is.
Although we spent very little time with Anne, she was amazing as a planner. She had so much patience helping me put this trip together. We changed our plans multiple times and Anne never seemed annoyed with changes.
Lastly, in the Lima portion of our trip, our guide Sheila on our day to Ica was exceptional. She was so friendly and warm and knew so much about the area. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with her.

Our local specialist Deborah was fantastic in helping us organise the trip from start to finish. We encountered a few teething problems along the way to do with booking of flights but all issues were resolved to our total satisfaction without any fuss. Deborah also arranged excellent choice of on the ground personal guides and car transfers which all went very smoothly, they were all very professional and knowledgeable. All in all we would highly recommend Deborah and her team and would like to thank her for making our honeymoon so memorable in South Africa.

Huyen and all the guides were fantastic. Nothing but good things to say and great memories. Your service made my trip effortless because you did all the planning. Thank you so much. I will be back again. Ron Brooks