The White Rose Guild

Hi Luigi,

Thank you for planning a wonderful trip for us. Overall, working with you was great and we had a wonderful time with a couple of exceptions that I mention later. Your itinerary gave us a Scotland experience we would never have come up with on our own. Your daily updates during the trip helped set the context for the day, and our guides were knowledgeable, personable, and accommodating. We feel like we came away with wonderful memories and a more tangible feel for Scottish history, culture, and the landscape.

All the scheduled activities and sites were amazing, and I could write about each one. In the interest of brevity, I’ll keep it to a couple.

The Farm of Kinaldy Shetland and Valais sheep was a highlight. Julie was a wonderful host and was happy to answer any and all questions. She let us interact with the sheep, wander around her field to take as many photos as we like, and even try our hands at sheering. The sheep are very people-friendly. We also got to see two highland cows she acquired recently. I would recommend this experience to anyone interested in sheep if they don’t mind getting their shoes a bit muddy.

Cawdor Castle was another highlight. The gardens, in particular, were spectacular, bursting with spring colors. Given all the blooming flowers, we spent more time than I expected in gardens during this trip. I recommend people intentionally allocate time for gardens when touring in late May.

The main issues we had during the trip were with two hotels. The first was Inverlochy Castle. A pipe broke and flooded our room around midnight. We had to call the front desk multiple times before they sent anyone to help us because the night porter could not reach the manager. After much insistence from me, they moved us to two other rooms. This process took about an hour because we had to dress, pack, and move to rooms across the site in the main building (our original room was in the old guard house by the road). We did not sleep well that night. When we checked out the next morning, I thought they would compensate us somehow, but the manager did not even mention the incident. When I brought it up, they said they had moved us to new rooms, so they viewed that as sufficient. This was a shocking response from a supposedly 5-star hotel, given what had happened. I would not recommend this hotel.

The second hotel issue was more minor. Our breakfast was not included in the Waldorf stay, and we had to pay for it, even though the itinerary said it was included.

If there is a way for us to be compensated for either of the hotel issues, please let us know.

I hope this information is helpful. Again, thank you for helping us with a wonderful trip.

Sincerely,
Jack, Pei, and Nolan

Scotland - behind the scenes.

Using kimkim and @Luigi Pasiani is the only way to travel to any country and get to see things that you would NEVER pick out on your own. Our trip was spectacular. Luigi planned all of the hotels which were all awesome in their own right. The trip plan had more than we could do at our pace so we ended up cancelling some of the events he had scheduled for us and had to catch some at the end of our trip rather than the beginning as planned. Some of the most unique people and places were scheduled by Luigi, including a short meeting with a Tartan expert which turned out to be most interesting. Sheep dog trainers in the most remote locations. I will say again, you will not see the real Scotland without the help of people like @Luigi Pasiani and the kimkim team.

Hotel Reviews

The Balmoral Hotel

Edinburgh

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fonab Castle

Pitlochry

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Victoria Square

Stirling

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rusacks St Andrews

St Andrews

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel, an IHG Hotel

Edinburgh

Authenticity & Character

Location

If you are arriving by car, park on Rose Street and walk to the hotel entrance. They will get your luggage and park your car from there. There is no parking in front of the hotel.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Discover traditional herding

Scotland

Wonderful demonstration on how the sheep, the dogs, and humans interact with each other.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drove a rental car to the address, no problem finding the place.

Contemplate the Highland nature

Pitlochry

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Highland chocolate tasting experience.

Pitlochry

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

David seaplane experience

Scotland

If you can make this happen, it is a must for the Scotland experience. The plane uses Lock Lomond to take off and land, but the tour is about 140 miles of the Scotish coastal towns and inlets from the Atlantic ocean. The plane is a Cessna Caravan turbo prop, average altitude 1400'. Trust me, you can see a lot from 1400'.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uncover hidden gems of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Great last day to wind down and get ready for the trip home. Shop all the stores on Rose Street and restaraunts are too many to count.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had an incredible experience and Luigi was a dynamic, passionate and spectacular guide. He had the most remarkable ideas and highlights for us to experience. Some of his unique ideas that we experienced:
1. Meeting Dr. John Sadler (an historian) and walking through ruins learning about them as well as all of Scotland
2. Flyfishing in unspoiled waters with the local Fisherman
3. Oh the STORYTELLER!! Did I mention her? She was just absolutely amazing and we had an incredible visit to a castle with her.
4. High Tea...WE LOVED IT
5. Seeing Edinbugh through and through, with lots of Hidden Gems
6. Visit to an incredible castle and meeting an remarkable heraldry artist
6. We had actually hidden gems all throughout our trip (Including a highland festival!)

Every day Luigi would send us a comprehensive summary of our day that we read each morning to our family which boosted our excitement for what we were going to see and experience. Everyday was unique and special for us.

Luigi was also incredibly accommodating and we worked with us to adjust and modify our schedule when we needed. He was always available, attentive and responsive.
I cannot recommend Luigi enough!

Thank you Luigi of the White Rose Guild for the experience of a lifetime!

Hotel Reviews

Holyrood apartHotel

Edinburgh

Authenticity & Character

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cuil an Daraich Guest House

Pitlochry

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed & Breakfast Drum Farm

Denny

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Waterfront

Anstruther

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Get passionate to Scottish history with an Historian

Scotland

Incredible day with an incredible historian. If I had more time, we would have spent another day with him. We loved it

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

River Tweed Fly Fishing

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Get fascinated by a Storyteller's stories

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Contemplate the Highland nature

Pitlochry

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience the intricate nature of a Heraldry Artist

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Admire the majestic falcon

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Luigi was great!! His expertise guided us through all the decisions of what we wanted to do and he had incredible patience with our very busy work schedule. He just kept on reminding us to make decisions and stayed patient with us. We really enjoyed working with him. He listened to our needs add to be loved the hotels that he booked. We were guided through the whole process, and he was very responsive with the two small hiccups that we did encounter.

My family had a wonderful 2 week excursion in Scotland with the help of Luigi. We had a once in a life time visit through some of the most amazing locations in Scotland. Not only did we see some of the very well know tourist attraction, but we also visited many of the local "off the beaten path" villages in Scotland. My family always enjoyed more nature oriented excursions rather than big city tours. With Luigi's help, our itinerary included shepherding, falconry, fishing on the Tweed, and lots of hiking.

From the start to the end of the planning process, Luigi was always informative, attentive and prompt. He listened and understood what we wanted for our vacation. There were over 50+ messages exchanges between us before the itinerary was finalized. one week before departure date, Luigi had a Zoom meeting with us to go through the entire itinerary in detail so we were clear on our vacation. Every morning of our vacation, we received a detailed email synopsis of our upcoming activities. The emails included fascinating historical details relevant to the site we would visit. My husband and I really appreciated his attention to details. Luigi made us feel like we were his only client and he was always available for us 24/7.

This is our 3rd international excursion with KimKim. We are so pleased that Luigi is there to help us navigate through our planning. We can't thank Luigi enough for everything he did.

Activity Reviews

Discover traditional herding

Scotland

there is nothing like watching the close working relationship between a dog and the shepherd. We had the most amazing time with our host. After the demonstration, we got to play with all of the border collies for about an hour. Even my most apathetic teenager had a huge grin on his face.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Highland chocolate tasting experience.

Pitlochry

OMG...these were the most decadent chocolate I have ever had. Never knew chocolate could be that amazing!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Get passionate to Scottish history with an Historian

Scotland

John and his partner certainly did not disappoint. We were suppose to have a 2 hour guided tour with John through Stirling Castle. But he has so much information to offer that the 2 hours turned quickly into 4 hours. If you are a history buff, John is the person for you.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

River Tweed Fly Fishing

Scotland

Martin and Jamie were the most laid back guides. even though we did not catch anything, they were gracious hosts. we really enjoyed the beautiful and quiet location. We now can check off Tweed river on our list of top fishing locations.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I had a very positive experience booking through Kimkim and working with Luigi! He was very prompt in his responses, which was great given I was working in a time crunch and relatively last minute to book the trip. We were able to work together to put together and book a trip within a matter of days. Luigi was also very mindful of the needs of our party (couple in their 70s) in the activities he recommended and was regularly in touch once the trip started (e.g., to confirm transports, forward tickets to guides, etc.) He recommended a great tour guide as well! I definitely recommend working with Luigi! My only advice is to have a good sense of your priorities before booking, because while Luigi recommended some great hotels, a couple weren’t close to the activities our party wanted to do, so we opted for less fancy (though still great) hotels that were closer to our desired activities. To Luigi’s credit, he was happy to switch up the itinerary and include the hotels we ultimately wanted to go with. Enjoy your travels!

Planned an amazing trip where the days we played golf our wife’s had wonderful options. Hotels, tours, travel routes second to none. Communicated daily with us. If questions arose responded quickly, with knowledgeable answers. Hotels unbelievable. Suggested numerous local spots that gave you that local charm. Did an AMAZING job. We will use him again!!

Luigi was responsive, nice, organized, patient and well-informed. Thanks for hooking us up with such a great local expert.

We really enjoyed the sheep dog demonstration and Lindsey, the storyteller and historian at Blair Castle. The Highland Safari was very informative and enjoyable.
We appreciated Luigi’s trip details, but there was some confusion in our trip plans at the beginning. Considering his circumstances, he was very responsive, but it is unfortunate that Kimkim did not have a backup in Scotland when he was dealing with a most difficult family emergency. Nonetheless, he always responded immediately to our questions.

Hotel Reviews

Ben Nevis Hotel & Leisure Club

Fort William, Inverness-shire

Old, worn furnishings. Even the supposed refurbished room looked tired. We were right over the front door and parking lot and had a lot of noise. The front desk said the room had not been paid for until we showed our receipt. No hot water in the bathroom. We do not suggest that you book this hotel for other guests in the future. We knew this hotel would not be perfect, but we didn’t know how imperfect it would be. Zachary, in the restaurant, was the only highlight of the hotel. Excellent!

Palace Hotel & Spa - Best Western Inverness

Inverness

The room, location, and staff were all excellent. We had a beautiful view of the river and castle. The staff were so friendly and helpful. Good breakfast!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The furnishings were beautiful. The chairs in front of the windows were a very nice touch.

Activity Reviews

Get passionate to Scottish history with an Historian

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Discover traditional herding

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Get fascinated by a Storyteller's stories

Scotland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Contemplate the Highland nature

Pitlochry

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport