Linda Schulz

Linda was beyond fabulous- knowledgeable, friendly, accommodating. Keep this woman happy, she is a wonderful asset to KimKim!

5 Stars: Ikala Hotel, Hotel Galapagos Suites, Highlands of Santa Cruz and our guide Daniela, Excursion to Seymour Norte and our guide, our guide Fabricio in Quito and his surprise add-ons to our Quito tour.

Special 10 stars to driver Alejandro and Casa Playa Mann for the biggest hearts and sincerest souls, as well as doing their job excellently. They are wonderful ambassadors for their country.

4 Stars: Kicker Rock. Best suited for true snorkel enthusiasts, which is not us- we are vacation snorkelers. Choppy and cloudy water, some strong currents that really took work to navigate, and while it was cool to see a few hammerheads, not much else to see. Honestly, perhaps the best part of the trip was the spectacular closeup views of the Galapagos birds. Great guide.

Our only neutral-to-negative outing was the Interpretation Center and Tijeretas Hill. These two sites definitely do not need a guide and would have been far more enjoyable exploring on our own. Karen, our guide, was not a good storyteller, and told us little that I hadn't already read in the guidebooks; perhaps if she had turned the walk up Tijeretas Hill into a nature walk, but she made few comments as we walked up this paved and well-signed path. But the truly negative experience was the snorkeling. There was a yellow flag out, and the entrance to the water is on sharp rocks, difficult for nonlocals to negotiate- during our time there, two tourists had to be saved from the big waves/currents and helped back onto the rocks. Karen gave no instruction, but after verifying that we could all swim, jumped in the water and began snorkeling. Only one of the four of us decided to try snorkeling, as the other three felt it too dangerous. My husband lost a flipper, and waited back on the rocks as Karen managed to retrieve the flipper (good for her), but then continued to snorkel as we all waited for her. While pleasant during her guiding, Karen seemed bored with this excursion and I think would be better suited to aquatic excursions only, as this seems to be her true love.

Hotel Review

Casa Playa Mann

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

Lovely place run by a lovely and sincere family.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Interpretation Center & Tijeretas Hill

Galapagos Islands

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

Tortoises everywhere, need I say more? Ask for guide Daniela!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Quito City Tour

Ecuador

Much better experience with a guide than exploring on one's own. Ask for Fabricio!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our transport dropped us off at one end of Old Town and picked us up at the other end, so no backtracking!

Snorkel at Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido)

Galapagos Islands

Everything about the day was great- transport, guide, the excursion to a remote beach- except the cloudy snorkeling itself is only worth it for the interesting experience of seeing hammerhead sharks.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Highlands of Santa Cruz Island

Galapagos Islands

Tortoises everywhere, need I say more???

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip was perfect, everything was designed so we just has to worry about enjoying our trip.

Hotel Reviews

Ikala Quito Hotel

Quito

Very nice hotel. Both times we stayed there was no electricity and that meant no internet, no hot water and no food. Besides from that, very friendly staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Pillows

Hotel Galapagos Suites

Puerto Ayora

Beautiful cozy hotel. Very friendly staff. Breakfast is continental but good.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Blackout curtains since there is a lot of light coming in from the street

Albemarle

Puerto Villamil

Great hotel and has a pool which made it so much better

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Transfer to Quito Airport, Arrival to Galapagos & Highlands of Santa Cruz

Ecuador

Our host Astrid was very nice and helpful. She was patient with us and answered all our questions. Lunch in the highlands was delicious.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

Learned lots of stuff, very interesting and Astrid our guide was very nice.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Excursion to an uninhabited island

Ecuador

We went to Barrolomé. We had a stop first with a little walk, it was at noon and there is no shade. The guide was making stops along the way to explain things but climbing steps at noon with no shade was terrible. Would be better if they explained on the boat so we could do the walk without stopping. The snorkeling part was amazing, wish we could have had more time.

Quality of Experience

Food

Bigger portions

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkel at Los Túneles

Ecuador

Best tour we had on our trip. The views are amazing, nice guide he even took photos and gave them to us. Captain even let me drive the boat for a while.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kayaking & Snorkeling at Las Tintoreras

Ecuador

Nice activity. The guide was not very helpful though, wouldnt explain much and seemed king of mad. Beatifil views though and the penguins were amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Linda and team were amazing in planning our custom trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos! My husband and I had a fantastic time and (almost) everything was taken care of for our 5 day trip that included Santa Cruz and Isabela islands. It was really nice to not have to worry about any transfers, have our itinerary planned out for us, and to stay at great hotels. Finch Bay on Santa Cruz island, Galapagos was AMAZING, as were all the tour guides, drivers, and escorts that interacted with us through the company.

We loved the activities we did, and Linda did a great job taking our preferences into account. She is super communicative, friendly, helpful, and responsive, including when we had some last minute requests / change of plans. Highly recommend!

I e-mailed and spoke with Linda to have a fabulous trip of 12 days. After 2 days on our own Milton Chiqui Lopez took us to sites around Quito-highlighted by the weird effects at the equator-we visited the charming mountain of Baños in the high Andes. The 4 hour drive each way was scenic.
The trip ended with a trip into the deep Amazon rainforest to the extraordinary La Selva lodge Biden by a lake. Ore guide Dan Hicks was a 16 year veteran from England. Four days of walks and canoe rides to explore both flora and fauna. F
Innovative Euro-American cuisine that was 5 star. Luxurious accommodations high in the jungle.All rides to airports were smooth, courtesy of Alejandro & son
It was perfect.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Las Plazas

Quito

No heat in 49F weather. Breakfast just ok. Some spoke no English.

Authenticity & Character

Small and quaint

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Isla de Baños

Baños

A small very charming hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

In pleasant neighborhood

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Selva Eco-Lodge & Retreat

Yasuní National Park

An extraordinary luxurious lodge with 5 star 3 meals daily. Great hiking and boat rides A beautiful setting on a going size lake

Authenticity & Character

A true resort deep in the wilderness.

Location

In the rainforest.

Staff

All 28 employees spoke excellent English and went out of their way to be helpful. Wait staff had the polish of a 5 star restaurant All 28 staff spoke excellent English. They went out of their way to be helpful. The wait staff worked as a team and had the professionalism of a 5 star place.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Immaculate

Activity Reviews

Visit the "Middle of the World"

Ecuador

Interesting although 200 meters off equator

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Great guides and perfect transfer services

Transport

Quito - Cotopaxi National Park - Baños

Ecuador

Grest visit to the stunning Andes.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Activities in Baños & Return to Quito

Ecuador

Just tour of the Andes

Quality of Experience

Food

Very giid

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Observation Tower, Garza Cocha Lake & Night Walk

Yasuni National Park

All fascinating exploration of Amazon and its flora & fauna

Quality of Experience

As abkve

Food

Arrival to Coca, transfer to rainforest lodge, rainforest hike

Ecuador

Scenic 2hour ride on rivet

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Everything from beginning to end of our trip to the Galapagos was a wonderful experience! This was our first trip planned by KimKim, and we could not be more pleased. Linda Schultz was so easy to work with, and patient with questions and prompt with her answers. The welcome gift of Ecuadorian products that was waiting for us at our hotel before departure was a pleasant surprise. Indira Torres met us at the airport on Baltra and endeared herself to us immediately. What a treasure of a local guide! Liz Arboleda also took good care of us on Santa Cruz Island, helping us get to and from our transfers to Isabella Island. Our guide on Isabella (Nelly) was also attentive and flexible to our needs. Our two hotels (Plaza Luna and Isamar) were fantastic! Plaza Luna stored some of our luggage so we didn’t have to take it all to Isabella, and sent some laundry out for us (all thanks to Liz’s suggestion.). And what a fantastic breakfast! Both hotels had great locations and amenities. Every meal arranged by KimKim was a winner. The snorkeling excursion on Isabella was most enjoyable. We did everything we wanted to do in our 5 day itinerary, and had the perfect amount of free time for doing our own exploring. Thank you, KimKim and Linda, for a perfect vacation to Galapagos!

Hotel Reviews

Plaza Luna Suites

Puerto Ayora

We loved Villa Luna! Loved the ambience, the service, and the location. The breakfast is amazing and beautifully displayed. Scrambled or fried eggs available. Lots of fruits and vegetables. Wonderful servers. Jessica (owner) welcomed us both days with cool aromatic wash cloths and refreshing water. She graciously offered to hold some bags while we went to another island for a couple of nights. And she offered to send our laundry out so it would be ready when we returned. This hotel is near a restaurant that has live music, but it did not bother us at night time. My 6’4” husband would have preferred to have a bed that was a little longer, but he survived. We loved this hotel and would definitely stay there again!

Authenticity & Character

Beautifully appointed island hotel.

Location

Close to shopping, restaurants, walking distance to everything important.

Staff

Jessica, and the girl who was in charge of the breakfast buffet were SO friendly and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nice to have a couch in the room! Everything was spiffy clean!

Isamar Hotel

Puerto Villamil, Isla Isabela

We loved this little cabana style hotel. It is right on the beach, and we could always hear the surf. The staff was intent on making us feel at home while we were there. The breakfast was good. They always had coffee in the “lobby” while the reception was open. HUGE beach blankets in each room for use on the white sandy beaches. Other good food prepared to order as desired.

Authenticity & Character

Cute cabana style hotel. Very beachy!

Location

Right on the beach, but not too far to walk into “town” multiple times!

Staff

Extremely nice and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Great air conditioning in the rooms, good maid service as well. Loved the homey lobby where we were welcome at all hours.

Activity Reviews

Transfer Baltra Airport - Puerto Ayora with visit to the highlands of Santa Cruz

Galapagos Islands

Indira Torres met us at the airport and she endeared herself to us immediately. Could not have been happier with our escort. She knew exactly what she was doing, and handled everything. We loved the trip to the highlands to see the turtles! And the lunch was fantastic!

Quality of Experience

Indira Torres made everything so interesting!

Food

Every meal that KimKim arranged was great! Loved the sandwiches even, on our wetlands/beach day.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Their sincere interest in us, and appreciation of our tips.

Transport

Comfortable minivan and/taxi trucks.

Visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

It was so hot and humid, but we enjoyed seeing all of the tortoises and learning about Lonely George. We were flagging from the heat and having gotten up so early, but we got there before the crowds and enjoyed seeing and learning about everything.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit the Flamingo Lagoon

Galapagos Islands

Only six flamingos when we were there, but I guess we were lucky to see any at all. I didn’t realize that they were so transient.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkeling at Las Tintoreras

Galapagos Islands

This was a highlight of the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tito was great!

Transport

Great boat staff.

Guided Hike to Tortuga Bay & Free Afternoon

Galapagos Islands

Again, it was hot. But this is a great hiking path, and not too difficult. The hardest part is hiking up to the entrance of the path. There are a couple of shady places to stop and rest. Not much wildlife to see…a few birds. The flora is more interesting here. The last kilometer is on a beautiful sandy beach, where there are plenty of marine iguanas. It is sandy, but not difficult to walk on barefooted. There are a couple of places for snorkeling and swimming, which are a wonderful way to end the activity.

Quality of Experience

Indira Torres was, as usual a charming and witty guide.

Food

Great sack lunch (sandwich) from a local deli.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The boat ride back was fun and a relief!

Linda organised a great trip to the Galápagos and Quito.. We went back and forth in what would suit us best. Linda was very patient throughout the process and didn’t hesitate to call to discuss queries. It was great that she came to the hotel in Quito to meet us so that we could put a face to the name.
Our guide Sebastian and his father Alexander who picked us up from the airport were fabulous.
They were knowledgeable and went out of their way to make sure everyone in our group was catered for. Our thanks to the whole team for a truly great experience and holiday.
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Our guide Linda was AWESOME and so easy to work with. We threw a lot at her -- lot of requests and preferences -- but she did a great job creating a great itinerary for us. And if we had any feedback or wanted to make any changes, she was so easy to work. We got to do everything on our travel wish list and would absolutely work with Linda again on our next Ecuador trip.

Activity Review

Visit Quilotoa Crater Lake, Transfer to Baños

Ecuador

This was one of the highlights of our entire trip! Such a stunning location (and a good hike/workout!)

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport