Our trip to Thailand exceeded expectation

Thailand | Feb 21 - Mar 1, 2025

This was our first time using kimkim to plan travel, and the entire process, from defining the details of our trip to Thailand, to the actual visit, exceeded expectations. The intake process that kimkim uses was fun, aimed at quickly deciphering what a traveler is looking for. Better yet, it immediately connected us to a local travel planner, in this case a terrific woman in Vietnam named Hoa Tran, who really knew what the heck we wanted. Hoa easily offered up countless options for our consideration and quickly iterated until we landed on the kind of trip we aspired to take. Each iteration was clear and thorough and included lots of details and pricing as well...made it easy to get to an itinerary we liked.

Thailand was amazing! And we literally felt cared for by somebody that kimkim arranged to greet, tour and escort us around the country every step of the way (we are good independent travelers so don't need hand holding but kimkim got the balance right). Hoa picked amazing hotels in the three cities we visited (Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket); they were over the top lovely and not the usual picks a web search might spit out. And while hotel restaurants can be a risk, the food in all three of these hotels was excellent and the service was extraordinary (BTW, Thai people in general are the most caring and gracious we have ever met...we learned a thing or two about being more gentle human beings from them). Our hotel in Phuket, the Amanpuri, was over the top; it was one of the nicest places we have ever visited. Despite the care of our local guides, Hoa checked in with us at every stop of the journey...a nice and thoughtful touch.

Our days were full (maybe too much so, but that was our fault for insisting that we do something exciting every day). Our guide in Bangkok (Kirana) was the best...and so knowledgeable and funny. The elephant sanctuary visit and jungle hike in Chaing Mai were also great, but our four days in Phuket just relaxing in a stunning setting next to the Andaman Sea was the absolute highlight. Finally, our all-in package that included hotel, tours / guides and domestic air travel felt like a good value. We paid a pretty penny for the visit, but for an experience that was easy, seamless and fun, we felt we got more than our money's worth.

We will definitely uses kimkim again; we think their secret sauce might be connecting a traveler to a local planner who really knows the place you plan to visit. From the outset, we were dealing with a local (Hoa Tran), who knows Southeast Asia like the back of her hand, not some random clerk in a Chicago HQ. Based on our experience, our friends are using kimkim to plan a trip to Iceland. And if we head back to Thailand or Southeast Asia (we are definitely going back to the Amanpuri in Phuket), Hoa will again be our requested planner...she was just great.