Kim Kim has created the dream customized Galapagos

Galapagos Islands | Nov 17 - Nov 25, 2023

My husband worked with Kimkim to create a special birthday trip for me to Galapagos islands for 9 days. Having never travelled to South America and not speaking the language, we were a little nervous at first. But with Kimkim's Ecuador specialists Nick and Tamer in charge, the trip went absolutely smooth. Truly amazing!

Before deciding on the trip, kimkim had us fill out a form that gave them the information they needed to coordinate outings, hotels, and dinners according to our likes and personalities. My husband and I wanted a trip filled with activities and they delivered. Our first day on the island took us to the Darwin research center in Santa Cruz with our guide Stephan, who was also our guide to a coffee farm in the highlands, hiking thru a lava tunnel, hanging out with lots of tortoises, and most importantly, planting 2 trees as a gesture toward off-setting our carbon footprint traveling there. Just a gesture, but says a lot about this company's philosophy toward travel. Our 2nd day on the island we took a boat ride to Bartolome, an uninhabited island and hiked to a look out. Our guide was wonderful on this trip and the crew cooked an amazing lunch of fresh fish, potatoes, vegetables, and dessert. The seafood throughout the trip was a highlight, especially the fresh-caught grilled lobster and octopus fixed so many different ways. All was so delicious!

We spent 2 days in Santa Cruz, then off to Isabella island for 4 more days of snorkeling, hiking to the sierra negra volcano, and more. Our hotel here was incredible and truly perfect. One of the things we were looking for was a low-key environment for 2 introverts (us), and Kim Kim couldn't have found a better spot! Our room was in a lovely boutique hotel right on the beach. The staff and our bartender, Daniel, were so friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed having dinner on the pier, looking out at the sea lions body-surfing while we dined in the open air. So amazing!

Like I said, we are active people and not ones to sit around. Probably a favorite outing was the Los Tunelos trip. We took a boat ride out to the "tunnels" where we hiked on the island, learned about the birds, sea-life, plants, and everything else amazing about this place. We finished with snorkeling where we swam with lots and lots of sea turtles, I started to think I was going to bump into one by accident. Also swam with sharks, sea-lions, and lots of fish! Snorkeling was the way to do this, no need to dive since all of the marine life was in the shallows. We also really enjoyed our bike ride with Julio on isabella. It was just us two and Julio and some rented (kinda rusty) mountain bikes. We hike through more lava tunnels and bike through the country side, ending with a hike up to an overlook where we were treated to a Galapagos hawk just a few feet away. It was a once in a life-time experience!

Overall, the guides were so kind and knowledgeable. Almost all of the Galapagos are national park and all guides are required complete government training in order to work as a guide. Visitors are also required to be with a guide for a majority of the outings. We were always learning about the ecosystem and never stopped being amazed at the immense knowledge our guides had. I wish the U.S. would implement a system like this in our National Parks!

Every minute of this trip was perfect. Thank you Kimkim, you have outdone yourself with attention to detail, prompt replies to questions, and making sure every last detail was taken care of. We plan to use Kimkim again for our next trip to South America (or elsewhere) .