Kimkim Trip Reviews

I had a wonderful experience working with kimkim to arrange for private vans and guides to villages in Provence for a group of university students. When we were in Barcelona we were affected by the train strike in France, and our train was cancelled...which left us (a group of 16) stranded and unable to get to our hotel in Avignon. Out of desperation, I contacted Simon, who was my kimkim contact based in Marseille and he took time on a Saturday (holiday weekend) to make calls for me and arrange for a private coach transfer for our group. He saved us!!! He even followed up afterwards to see if we made it to our destination. I can’t say enough great things about the service and extent Simon went to, on his own personal time, to help us out when we were in a bind. Thank you, Simon!!!

I cannot say enough about the awesome Nepal trek we recently competed that was booked through KimKim with Responsible Treks. From our first interactions, KimKim identified the type of trip we were interested in, the specific dates we were available and matched us with a trekking company and a trek that fit our skill level and expectations.

The trip itself exceeded our expectations on all fronts. The communications we received via KimKim's platform helped us plan our trip, get a great sense of what to expect each day, and to pack accordingly. The information and communications we received on the front end alleviated any trip anxiety we may have had. Chhewang, our trip organizer with Responsible Treks, met us at the airport in Kathmandu and rode with us to our hotel where we met with our trek guide, Sonam. We discussed the trek and generally what to expect. Our trek started the next morning where we met our porter, Chhiring T. Over the course of our trek, whether in airports, check points, tea houses or lodges Sonam and Chhiring T took care of us and ensured we had the best trek possible. Upon our return to Kathmandu we met for dinner with our trip organizer Chhewang from Responsible Treks and our trekking crew for a traditional Nepalese dinner - an awesome ending to our trip. We were picked up the next day and escorted to the airport for our flights home.

Again, we had a great trip and trek and no detail was left to chance - the KimKim platform and team matched us up with exactly what we were looking for in a trip and Responsible Treks and their team took care of us and ensured our trip was a success.

We give KimKim and Responsible Treks 5 stars - and two thumbs up!!

Tamara provided great service for the booking of our last minute trip.
Khalid was an amazing guide and took great care of us over the course of three days.

Sudarshan is an amazing host, pre-trip and during the trip! He gave very speedy replies and was very efficient even though I made multiple changes throughout the planning of the trip.
He also constantly stayed in contact with me throughout the trip via whatsapp to make sure that everything was going fine and gave us up to date information on what was going to happen next.
He even invited our group out for dinner on our final day! (Although we had to decline as we weren't feeling very well).
The long bus rides between cities however is something I would probably never do again (Sudarshan did warn me on this before the trip).
Sudarshan's hospitality and reliability is something that will make me return again.
Everything went very smoothly and pleasantly!

The tour was good however the guide and entrance fees were more than previously stated by email from the company. Considering the tour only pays for transportation and not the guide, entrance fees, or food it was quite expensive. Marco was fairly prompt in answering my questions by email. Debre Libanos Monastery was quite interesting and the highland views minus the pollution are quite pleasant. The red terror museum was a very and eye opening interesting experience and the driver was kind and helpful.

The trip was just spectacular !!!! Since day 1, everyone was just amazing. Incredible knowledge from the guides in the Amazon and in Peru. We had as our guides Juan Carlos with Rainforest Expeditions in the Amazon and Mayra from Quechua Treks on the Inca Trail. Both guides were really fantastic and were essential in making our trip so great. KimKim took really good care of us, always communicated promptly, and connected us with some amazing locals. They were able to help us plan our trip with everything we wanted and they made our trip extremely enjoyable. We were very impressed and will definitely use KimKim again in the future.

I worked with Ingrid who was based in Norway and she was great. She even met us for a hike in her hometown of Bergen. I would highly recommend KimKim to anyone who is planning a trip and wants the expertise of those living in the area.

Damber was quite possibly the best guide I could have asked for. He was considerate, extremely knowledgeable, caring and very entertaining. The journey was significantly easier under his care. Many fellow trekkers didn’t make it, or struggled intensely. I am convinced much of my journey was made easier based on following his very experienced advice. I strongly recommend both the site and Damber specifically. In spending the time and money to attempt to get to EBC, make the effort to get the best guide possible. Damber is it.

Ingrid would get more stars if you offered that option.
Having just returned from 2 weeks in Norway arranged by Ingrid at Ethical Travel I can write an informed review. Ingrid, you are fantastic! The KimKim web portal works very smoothly and makes planning efficient and easy. You are attentive, detail oriented, personable, optimistic, very knowledgeable about Norway, flexible, accommodating, responsive, creative. And, you have a high power to weight ratio as we learned on our walking tour of Bergen. You are extraordinarily customer service focussed. The most telling example of this is when we texted you late on a Saturday afternoon that the hotel we were checking into did not have operable air conditioning and was uncomfortably hot. You not only helped make arrangements for a different hotel, you interrupted your personal activities to meet us in the lobby of the hotel to attend to the details. I can give Ingrid, KimKim and EthicalTravel my highest recommendation. FANTASTIC!!!!

James Flax, MD, MPH, DLFAPA

Trip was excellent. Amanda was more than awesome. I give her 10 stars, not just five. She handled all our needs, last minute changes and beyond.

Mingma and Dorje were top-notch and literally saved our trek by being agile in the face of Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Muktinath. They stayed informed of his changing schedule and altered our trek route and time-table to enable our visit. They both were knowledgeable, fun, and a pleasure to trek with. During trek days they stayed close to us in sketchy areas and gave us space in easier areas.

All transfers and accommodation were great.

The entire crew made it possible for Donna and I to drop into Adventure travel for two weeks and not lose any of that time to waiting for permits, negotiating for taxis, etc, etc, etc.

Thank you Amanda, Mingma and Dorje. Thank you kimkim!

Christy did a super good job accommodating all my special requests and last minute changes. We were supposed to fly into Lima but a delayed United flight caused us to miss our connection in Houston. I found a flight into Quito that put us there two days earlier than we planned to visit this city. Christy quickly fixed things, had a pick-up waiting for us at that new airport and had a hotel room waiting for us. Another memorable person was David who took us on an all-day food tour in Lima. He has a great fun loving personality for a tour guide. He will teach you how to make a Pisco Sour and Ceviche, tour a market and have lunch with a great view of the ocean. Other tour guides in Equador and Peru seemed to want to tell us lots of details about each city, suburbs, and counties. Things like population and square meters. I'm not sure maybe they need to know such information to pass their Tour Guide Exam. We finally mentioned to one that we were more interested in learning about the culture, history, flora, and fauna. The tour got a little more interesting at that point.

I want to say BIG Thank you to my wonderful agent Tamara, who I was happy to meet in Jordan, she did a excellent job to organize my trip. She was very welcoming and kind to me when we spoke in the office. I also want to say my special thank you to my guide in Petra, and my very big thank you to my guide and driver Bassam Helalat. Bassam is the best driver and wonderful knowledgeable person. With his help I was able to see and feel Jordan, meet amazing people and see unforgettable land-scarps. I miss you all, I miss Jordan very much. It was an honor to know you all. If I ever will have an opportunity to go to Jordan, I would be the happiest person in the world. My best regards to all team. Love you all.

Very well organised trip with kimkim. During our hike we didnt see any other tourists so it felt really special walking there only with the guide and porter. Our guide Padam Paudel was very kind and told us a lot about Nepal and the local villages and the life there.

The lodges were perfect aswell. Nice beds and bathrooms with warm water. Also the food was good and the happy hour was included ;)

The views of the mountains were the best in the morning when the sky was clear. Incredible experience!

I had a wonderful experience with KimKim and the trekking company the set me up with, Responsible Treks. Let me fill you in!
After checking out trekking options on kimkims website, they connected me with trekking specialist Kunchok Nima, who was able to provide me with wise advice and suggestions as to which trek we should do, based off the amount of time we had and experience. After booking the Poonhill trek he continued to keep contact with me, confirming details and answering questions, which was very helpful indeed!
Upon arrival in the country, Kunchok met us at our hotel, he gave us an overview for the upcoming adventure and we were off to Pokhara the following day.
And let me tell you, everything for the next 5 days was very well taken care of, including us...we immensely enjoyed getting to know guide Rickjin and porter Kunchok! Even though the weather was a little overcast, these guys made up for the lack of sunshine! Poonhill trek has a good variety of geography, you see local villages, lush jungle and majestic mountains. And the trek itself is well spread out and gives plenty time to rest.
So if you despise planning and details, KimKim is the number one option for you to partner with to experience the beauty of Nepal! Thank you to kimkim and the guys at Responsible Treks for making our Nepal experience a memorable one!

Hi Preeti,

The trip was terrific. We appreciated your help a great deal and everything was fine. My feedback is only about the things that I thought could have been improved. Please know that overall we were very happy.
First of all, the email situation during the planning phase, the long threads and the occasional difficulty wading through. I always appreciated your immediate response but wished the format could have been a bit different.
Second: I know we were on The Ring Road that that's pretty easy but we could have made use of a few directions! We use waze and so we were ok but without that we would have had some trouble. There was no notation for distances between sites or turns, even when we went to Reykavik. A few directions would have been helpful.
Third: The Hotel Ranga was the only place we weren't 100 percent pleased with. Our shower didn't work, the bed was uncomfortable and my dinner was pretty awful The manager agreed that my dinner was a disaster though and he took it off the bill.
We would use your organization again and we thank you for your excellent help throughout! When I misplaced the voucher for the Blue Lagoon Rico came through very quickly and all went well! I would suggest that you add the tomato farm to the list of things to do
Nancy

We were 7 members of one family , all over 55, who wished to go on a birding adventure in Peru. Katy Shorthouse of Aspiring Adventures listened carefully to our requests . She did an amazing job of meeting our needs and desires so in the end we had an exceptional trip. Our guides Nestor and Luis were wonderful, the food provided by chef Alex was fantastic, the accomodations were comfortable and the tour ran like clockwork. Katy provided personalised service at every stage of our trip. Both Manu National Park and Machu Picchu blew our minds.The Inca heritage in Cuzco was fascinating. If you are considering a guided tour to Peru, Aspiring Adventures will surpass your expectations.

Ante did a fantastic job tailoring the trip to our needs. Allen and his wife Natalia the owners of Avocado were amazing as well. The islands we visited ( Mljet, Havar, Korchula, Saipan) and meals cooked on board were so much better than anticipated.
Allen has so many toys (seabob, electric bikes and paddle boards) you do not need to book any tours.

We had already booked our flights to Peru, so we had very specific dates to plan our trip to Machu Picchu around. Nicole asked us what we wanted to do and worked around our dates to create a great itinerary. Each day of our trip was planned out for us, including accommodations and most meals. We were able to see Machu Picchu and even got to hike to the top of Huayna Picchu!

Nicole made sure that all of our last minute needs were met and even gave us recommendations for our time in Lima after our tour with KimKim.

Marco and his assistant were really quite perfect for what we were looking for---10 hour lay-over, we were met outside and taken care of by Marco, who showed off his Ethiopian pride by showing us a capsulated version of the vibrant city. We feel that he sensed what we were looking for and was generous with his knowledge and money---we had little cash, so Marco paid for some souvenir with his cash and we settled up at the end. We loved the enculturation of hanging with local people, coffee ceremonies, lunch, breakfast and the markets.

I highly recommend this kind of trip to anyone who has a brief time in Addis ESPECIALLY for the food and culture. Thank You to all.

They were extremely helpful when any traveling issues arose such as forgetting my passport or extending my stay in ollantaytambo and our guide was very knowledgeable about the Incan civilization and was able to tell us all about the places we were hiking through. The only thing I would have wished was different was that we could have spent more time touring macho picchu with the guide before getting to hike up the mountains.