Kateryna Garkavenko

First time to London and Dublin and Kateryna put together a wonderful trip for my wife and me, and our son and daughter-in-law. Got to see all the usual tourist attractions as well as some more local flavor. We couldn't do the first trip there without Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Stonehenge. First day we had a great 3.5 hour driving tour in a London Black Cab. Our driver John was outstanding and gave us so much history and insight. And the next day, John was our driver again as we ventured out into the countryside to Stonehenge and Windsor. A 2.4 hour walking tour with our guide Delianne the next day gave us the best of the city center. And Delianne guided us to the Red Lion afterward for a pint like Churchill used to indulge when Parliament got too much for him. Next day was the Tower of London (with a special ceremony occurring while we were there) followed by the Borough Market for the local food scene, our guide Tom King was great for this foodie experience. The British Museum and a dinner at Gordon Ramsey's 1890 Restaurant rounded out our final day in London before heading to Dublin for a quick stop. Dublin gave us a walking tour of the city with our lovely guide Mydie, followed by a tour of St. Patrick's Cathedral. And a first visit to Dublin must include a tour of the Jameson Distillery and the Guinness Brewery.
A lot to fit into a one week trip, but Kateryna gave us a great experience with lots of hightlights and memories.

Thanks to Kateryna, we had excellent daytrips from York, England! She made sure we could do an All Creatures Great and Small tour, then a private driver taking us into the Dales to see bluebells and sheep, another day going up to Hadrian’s wall, and more. Both Best of Britain and the Mountain Goat Tours people were phenomenal guides . (Shout out to Mark and Chris!)
Kate chose a wonderful hotel/BnB in the Lake District for us: Cedar Manor in Windermere. We did a 10 Lakes day tour there (another great Mark!) and our hotel did the BEST afternoon tea…. Great hiking in the area, too.
Forgot to mention that Kate had arranged a private driver to meet us at Heathrow and get us to King’s Cross for our train after our trans-Atlantic flight. Lovely way to start our trip to England!
Kimkim was patient with all of our wishes and requests. Highly recommend!!!! 5 stars all round.

Hotel Review

Cedar Manor

Windermere

Such a fine hotel!! Best breakfasts (you choose from a menu the night before - get the Eggs Benedict), AND you can book their afternoon tea. Not to be missed. The hosts, Jonathan and Caroline, were so accommodating and helped us know where to hike, too.

Authenticity & Character

Used to be a vicarage, I believe? Comfortable rooms. Great food.

Location

Great walking area, but a taxi is only around 4 pounds if you need one.

Staff

You cannot get better staff in the Lake District! Our hosts, the chef, the maid - all top notch.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Absolutely clean and attractive. A pleasure to stay there.

Activity Reviews

Yorkshire: All the Creatures Great and Small Mini-Coach Tour

York

Barry knew his details on the old TV series AND the newer one! An excellent driver and guide through Mountain Goat Tours, and he knew a lot about James Herriott (Alf White).

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Barry was a cheerful and knowledgeable guide/driver. Very fun.

Hadrian's Wall

England

Chris figured out EXACTLY what we needed to make it an excellent day! He’s a Best of Britain guide/driver, and he asked what we were hoping for as we went along. My husband got to walk along part of the wall! And we saw archaeologists still digging for Roman artifacts. Vendolanda is a site with a great museum, too.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ultimate Full Day Scenic Tour visiting 10 Lakes

England

It’s a glorious area to explore by mini-coach. (Don’t try and drive it yourself!) You can see why the poets were so inspired.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Tea at Cedar Manor

England

We got so pleasantly full at this tea that we didn’t need supper that evening. Wow! Some soup, lovely sandwiches, excellent scones (with cream and jam), and desserts to die for. A large selection of teas to begin with, plus prosecco!! We had ours in the lounge. You will be waddling out. SO worth doing!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Phenomenal chef and staff.

Transport

This is the second time I use Kimkim to plan a 15 day vacation visiting multiple cities and taking various transportation means. Kimkim did its wonder again. I can’t say enough good things about Kate, my trip advisor/planner. She took the time to truly understand our travel style and delivered a trip that exceeded every expectation. She is also very accommodating since my family was joining us from different places. Alone the planning process, I made several changes to the initial itinerary and Kate was very patient with me. She made all the adjustments and gave me a lot of great suggestions. She also checked in during the trip to make sure we are ok. I also want to point out the private drivers and/or small tour company she engaged were very good and professional. Without Kate, our trip could have been stressful. We’re already looking forward to booking our next adventure with Kimkim

Hotel Reviews

The Dean Court

York

The location of the hotel is perfect, right next to the York Minister. Front desk staff is cordial and helpful. However, the room is tiny and the "free breakfast" is not full breakfast, which was a surprise to me. No protein included in the breakfast but you can pay to order full breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Front desk staff are nice.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Leonardo Royal Hotel Edinburgh

Edinburgh,

The hotel has the best location you can ask for. It's right cross the street from the train station if you come out the "Market Street" exit, no need to call a cab, just less than 10 min walk. The view from the hotel room is amazing as the Calton Hill and iconic Edinburgh clock tower are right in front of you. The hotel staff is so friendly and helpful. Let alone the great breakfast and restaurant staff. Scottish people are so nice!

Authenticity & Character

Roomy, clean and well equipped.

Location

It's right cross the street from the train station if you come out the "Market Street" exit, no need to call a cab, just less than 10 min walk. You can walk to the Royal Miles in the old town or go to Prince in the new town. We walked to the W Hotel rooftop to see the whole city!

Staff

Most friendly and nice staff I have encountered! My daughter, a college student, has to do some school work and make calls. The restaurant manager let her work in the restaurant in the afternoon!!

Cleanliness & Comfort

The LaLit London

Hidden gem in a busy street, very quite.

Authenticity & Character

Nice indian decoration, feel very upscaled

Location

near the Tower Bridge tube station. The Shard, the Tower Bridge and the River Thames are all within walking distance

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Best bed ever! Room is very spacious.

Activity Review

Hampton Court Palace & Windsor Castle Private Tour

London

Must go tour. The audio guide is very helpful and it's free!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our driver, Chris, is so accommodating. He's puncture, sent me text message a day before to confirm pick up time and another text message when he's on the way. The cab was very comfy.

Transport

My family and I had an amazing trip to England! It was our first time visiting and were not familiar with pretty much anything. Kateryna set us up with several private tours including a drive to Stonehenge and the Jurassic Coast. We took a day trip to Paris on the Eurostar, saw plenty of the tourist sites in London, and got to rides horses in Hyde Park. Everything was planned perfectly and Kateryna was there to answer any questions, even on the day of arrival.

Thoughtful itinerary that made the best use of our limited time and kept in mind our location and budget. Kate was easy to work with and responsive. All of our experiences were well paced throughout the week.

Activity Reviews

Discover London in a Private Black Cab

London

Perfect first stop for our first day in London after an overnight flight. It allowed us to get a lay of the land from the backseat of a comfortable cab with a very knowledgeable driver, John. He was prompt in our pickup (even early) and did the best he could, even though it was raining. We got out of the vehicle to look and touch the old Roman wall which was a neat moment.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

You could spend several days here, but we knew to go straight to the Crown Jewels as that tends to get the busiest the quickest. After that the Beefeater tour is a great way to get some history highlights and learn about the grounds and the people who protect them. The café has wonderfully fresh and delicious food and is a great place to break up the day of looking at all of the buildings and exhibits.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cotswolds Tour (From London)

London

We had a great time once we got on the bus. We had left our flat in Elephant & Castle at 7:30 that morning but missed our tube exit and had to backtrack via Black cab, which made us late. We contacted the number on our ticket, who expressed concern that the bus might not wait for us. Our tickets said to be there at 8:15 with an 8:30 departure, but, despite our best efforts, we arrived at 8:38. The man at the counter (also the person I talked with on the phone) was super rude and chastising about our tardiness. We felt horrible, but he made us feel 100 times worse. Liam, our driver, and the other passengers were very understanding. After that, Liam had a wonderful day planned for us where we had time to go about the towns and see historical sites as well as shop and eat. It was a great introduction to the area, and we can't wait to go back.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

customer service of ticket staff

Transport

Great driver and very knowledgeable.

Kateryna planned an amazing vacation in Scotland! She was super responsive at all times. She planned the trip according to all my must sees and helped me keep it within the budget I had planned. We had what could have been a disaster while on our flight to Scotland from the US our hotel canceled us for our first three nights. Kateryna had us rebooked into a new, and better, hotel and had our airport transfers adjusted before we even landed. I would recommend Kateryna to everyone I know and hope to plan a future trip with her some day.

Hotel Reviews

Cameron house

Cuillin Hills Hotel

Portree

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ness Walk

Inverness

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Outlander Castle Tour

Edinburgh

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Holyrood Distillery Tour

Edinburgh

The "London in a Private Black Cab" was amazing especially with John's stories and knowledge, and a bit of gossip. Delianne was such a delight as host of our private "Royal London Tour!" She is a charming hostess with wonderful inside scoops she has gained from a lively life with friends "in the know." She is the type of person you would want to have for weekly dinners to add effervescence to your life.

Kate planned a perfect week for us with smatterings of many of London's offerings tailored to what we wanted without even knowing ourselves. She was responsive when asked questions, and on top of everything. We had very little time (end of the year and Christmas holidays taking up so much of our time), so it was such a blessing to have Kate to plan the trip so beautifully. Thank you.

Activity Reviews

Discover London in a Private Black Cab

London

John made the tour. It was incredible how much he fit into the time slot. His knowledge is unsurpassed, and he is a delightful talker with many interesting and humorous stories to add color to the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Royal London Tour: Changing of the Guard and More

London

Delianne was a delight with so many anecdotes she has gleaned from her full life. She is bubbly and a joy to be around.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thames Cruise with Dinner

London

Could have missed this. I would have preferred an informative river cruise that told us what we were seeing with some anecdotes. This was a very nice dinner cruise with music. Something you would do for an anniversary or birthday.

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

The size of the Beefeater tour was very large and difficult to hear the stories. We ended up going off on our own, and missing out on some of the colorful tales of the Beefeater.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff