Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our trip to Jordan was just as expected. We were met at every stop exactly on time. The guides and drivers spoke english well enough to explain our needs and to hold an enjoyable conversation on some long drives. The cars used were new and comfortable. The hotels, camp, and spa were excellent with the exception of occasionally poor hot water for showers. We had a great time and felt safe and well cared for throughout our tip. I would suggest that the company issue a list of contact numbers when they send out the written itinerary before the trip.

Andy took care of our 6 weeks tour of Asia and everything went well. We had a good time and most of it, drivers, guides, Hotel etc were perfect. I will used Andy again for a another trip for sure.

Polona and Luka organised the day well and I enjoyed my time rock climbing. Siggi was very good at getting back about the plans promptly.

The 8 days we spent with Tendu were very memorable. He was very knowledgeable with the areas that we were trekking. He was very personable, professional and his sense of humour kept us motivated when we needed motivation. He was very attentive to our needs at the various tea houses. Lapka and Kazi were a delight to have along on the trek. I would highly recommend Tendu as a guide to anyone coming to Nepal.

Our trip was truly amazing! We saw so much of Nepal and its people. Amanda was truly wonderful in crafting an experience that perfectly incorporated our adventurous spirits, need for a little rest and relaxation, our want to be immersed in the local culture and excitement about visiting a new country. She was quick to respond to all my concerns and questions during our planning process, prior to our travel dates and during our trip. She was able to make adjustments to our itinerary of the fly without hesitation.
All of the guides were incredibly knowledgeable, patient, polite and eager to share their culture with us. Amanda arranged drivers, pick-ups, guides, hotel stays, a trekking itinerary, tea house stays, meals, sight seeing suggestions, in-country flight tickets and more. We had no worries at all and felt safe every step of the way.
We arrived in Kathmandu, were picked up and brought to the Hotel Manaslu - very nice, clean with modern bathroom and breakfast was provided. After a brief rest our guide picked us up and took us on a walking tour of Thamel and other sites in the area. We even got a very rare view of the Kathmandu Kumari coming out of her house to attend a celebration. We stayed in the Thamel area and had dinner before walking back to our hotel. The following day our same guide picked us up with a driver and we toured UNESCO sites and more in the city and Patan.
We trekked for the next three and a half days, staying in tea houses along the way to Pikey Peak. It was a little disappointing that it never really cleared up, therefore we didn't get a clear view of the Himalaya mountain range. The trekking was very hard and technical (we bit off a bit more than we could chew but our guide Reeche (I'm sure I didn't spell that right) was amazing. The mountains were so lovely Its hard to describe. My suggestion regarding the trekking would be to get more detailed information as to the difficulty and technical aspects of the trek. We were not prepared for the very long days and technical aspects of the trails.
We spent a full day rest at the Panorama Charikot resort after trekking. Wonderful, wonderful place with great views and amazing staff. Food was very good.
The only hiccup of the trip was the horrible jeep ride from Charikot to Namobudda monastery. It was extremely terrible roads and took 7 hours to get to the monastery. The trip was only suppose to take half that time. Our driver didn't speak English so it was hard to know what was happening along the way. We loved the monastery but probably would have passed had we know how long of a jeep ride it was to get to it.
Off to Bhaktapur were we stayed at the Milla Guesthouse. I can't say enough about this beautiful boutique hotel in the heart of the city. Its an oasis and the breakfast on the roof terrace was the best we had on our trip. Our guide and driver took us to all the heritage and culture sites in the area and well has some shopping at various artisan places.
Next to the Chitwan Jungle were we stayed at the Jungle View Resort. We had a private bungalow with lovely views of the Rapti River were Rhinos freely roam. The field guides were knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions. We took an elephant safari ride, canoe ride and visit to the crocodile breeding reserve and jeep safari. The animals were a site to see; rhinos, sloth bear, bison, wild peacock, various deer, crocodiles and many birds
Lastly on to Patan where we stayed at The Inn- Patan. Amazing old Newari home redone into a lovely boutique hotel with a courtyard that reminded me of Italy. The original wood carving throughout was stunning. Great service and food in the heart of the city but yet quiet. We were lucky to get a large room with a small balcony overlooking the courtyard.
We ended our trip with a flight around Mt. Everest. Again, it wasn't super clear but we were able to the see the peaks and Everest. It was a pleasant end to our trip.
Overall, it was an amazing trip and I would highly recommend Amanda, KimKim and Himalayan Adventure travels and tours.

Gelu, the cheif guide and Nurbu were both amazing. Incredibly helpful, and caring.

I'd like to add that Gelu's insight when tweaking the itinerary really helped make the trip even better- affording us better rest, to save time and to make it to the pass on a much better (sunny) day. Gelu was also very good at crisis management- I had issues with my knee, did not manage to get a raincoat for the trek and a friend really struggled. Gelu was incredibly patient and helpful with all of us.

Nurbu as well, with better experience would be a good guide.

The porters were all amazing and incredibly helpful, even with/ without the luggage being carried.

The trip was very well organized. The whole process of communication with Raisa and payment process before the trip was very easy. Raisa picked the best itinerary for our short four days stay in Jordan. Our guides were very professional and knowledgeable. Drivers were very polite and courteous. Hotels and bedouin camp which Raisa picked for us were very good, provided great service.

Booking our trip on kimkim was extremely simple and convenient. We were connected to Ngima right away, and he was professional and attentive all the way through. Everything that we experienced prior to the trip was easy, smooth, and enjoyable.

The trip itself was rather disappointing because our guide failed time and time again to do his job properly. He seemed entirely unfamiliar with the region of Nepal that we trekked through and depended on our porter to do a number of things that he should have been able to do: lead us on our walks, correctly identify and name the mountains we saw, get us to the right tea houses at the end of each day, etc. Certainly we felt like we had been ripped off given the amount of money that we'd paid for our guide's expertise, but the bigger problem was that his incompetence led to some uncomfortable and frustrating problems -- one of them being a rather serious problem when he'd failed to inform us that there were no bottles of water for sale in the whole Ghorepani region (an endeavor to cut down on plastic waste). Had our guide briefed us on this, we could have purchased bottles of water on our way to Ghorepani, or at the very least, we would have known to save our empty bottles to fill up with filtered water. However, we were never advised on this matter, so we simply threw away our bottles assuming we'd be able to buy more. Needless to say, we felt outraged and panicked when we realized that we hadn't been sufficiently briefed, and that we didn't have any bottles for collecting water to get through the evening and the next day's walk. This made it crystal clear that our guide hadn't done his "homework" to prepare for a trek in a part of Nepal that he was unfamiliar with. (We also felt that Ngima should have advised us about the water situation in Ghorepani. The packing list that he shared did not indicate reusable water bottles as a must. It noted that we'd be able to buy bottles of water along the way, which led us to believe that there was no need to bring our own bottles at all. Given the situation at Ghorepani, Ngima really should have equipped us with better advice.)

There was one other incident concerning our guide that really frustrated and disappointed us. He had arranged to pick us up at our hotel in Pokhara at 2:00PM to take us to the airport for our 3:15PM flight to Kathmandu. We waited 30 minutes for his arrival, and then arranged our own ride to the airport when he still hadn't shown up by 2:30PM. We were terribly anxious for that whole half hour as we didn't want to miss the flight back to Kathmandu since we had an international flight to jump on from there. It was bad enough that we had to arrange and pay for transportation that the trip provider should have covered (we found this truly outrageous), but we really couldn't believe how irresponsible our guide had been. A guide should never make his clients feel so worried.

All in all, we are shocked and disappointed that this was the experience we paid for. In truth, we would like to be refunded the money that we paid to have a guide.

Needless to say, we cannot recommend Ngima's company, Nepal Myths and Mountain Trails.

Our trip in Columbia was wonderful. great country, very safe. We had exceptional experience with Aventura Columbia. The organization of the trip was impeccable.
The only bad part was flying with Avianca. All flight we took in Columbia were delayed.

The entire trip with kimkim and Grasshopper adventures was truly a seamless and spectacular experience. The details were perfectly coordinated and the service was outstanding. My boyfriend and I enjoyed all sorts of nice surprises and experiences along the way from refreshments and cool towels to awesome stops at longan orchards and temples and roadside stands. Our two guides, Tik and Vicheka and their drivers were true professionals and did a great job of making us feel comfortable and safe and going above and beyond to make sure we had a wonderful time. The trip was amazing and we are so glad we went with KimKim and Grasshopper!

Working with Vishal and Sonam in planning, booking and enjoying this trip was great from start to finish. They provided good advice on what to do and see during the given time of year and the duration of our trip. We had to chop and change the trip as we had some members of our party drop out and some new people enter during the planning portion. They were very patient and flexible during the whole process and were consistent in their expert professionalism. Our guide, Tek, was very knowledgeable, punctual, and had the bonus of being fun to be around. Vishal and Sonam actually took to the time to check in with us personally multiple times during the extent of our trip, to ensure that everything was to standard and to see if there were any reasonable ways to improve the trip. Bhutan is an extraordinary place and Vishal/Sonam's exceptional customer service made it easy and comfortable the whole way through. I was dubious of the guided nature of this trip as I usually travel freestyle, however Tek and the team made this one of the best trips I have ever embarked on!

Sebastian our guide on the hike up the volcano was great. Roasting marshmallows on the fresh lava rocks was fun!

Very professional experience that meet expectations. I would recommend both kimkim and Anne.

Hello there,
My son and I were planning a trip back to his birthplace in Guatemala as well as visiting some orphanages along the way to bring them some donations he had collected. Chris was amazing in helping me out figuring out what was doable and what was not. I truly appreciate all his help which is why I am not giving this a worse review. I also loved our tour guide Ricardo to Rio Dulce Las Canchas and the place he sent us too. However, it really was not a replacement for what I told him my original plan was for that day which was a relaxing day at Semuc Champey. The first tour to Tikal was very good in that Edwardo was able to show me the rules of the road since he drove my car to Tikal. He was also able to speak to the Hertz rental car person when they lost my reservation. That was great!!
As for the other tours not so great. After great discussion with Chris that I thought the tours he was offering were far more expensive than others I found on different tour sites he assured me that they were better in quality. We initiated the early departure to Pacaya Volcano so that we could get back on the road to our next destination. We were not to be picked up at the hotel rather meet at his place in Antigua. We also encouraged him to find more people to go on the trip as it would be cheaper and more entertaining for us. They did find one more for the pacaya trip and apparently they left without us. We were told that his place was next to Central Parque and a map we had said it was on the corner of it. So we went to all 4 corners before we decided to head down a remote street and found it at 7:15. I tried to call Chris and no one attempted to call me as Edwardo did when our plane was delayed for Flores. So I feel that us being the original people for this tour and the fact that we had already paid deserved a call to see if we were having difficulty. If that had happened they would have found us one block away. I am not sure if Chris did not give him the number or he chose not to try it but either way it was unprofessional. At this time I chose to cancel our last trip in Pana as I did not see anyone else joined and I did not want to pay the huge price for a potentially unsatisfactory trip as well. Chris has graciously attempted to return some of the money however, I am not sure if I agree with taking the 25% off of the last trip as we cancelled in plenty of time.
I am not saying I would not recommend this site again but I certainly would have some reservations. I appreciate the return of monies but it would be better if it was a full return especially since the 2nd one was not exactly what we expected either but we were not asking for a return. Sorry this was long, but I guess I wanted to make sure you got all the information.

Anne and the rest of the guides/drivers were great. I could not say more about Anne and the response time, care of client etc... This was a once in a lifetime trip and I was happy that Anne was the one that could plan it for me.

After coming off a great trip with you guys in Myanmar I had the same expectations for the trip to Thailand but it couldn't be further from the truth. The biggest issue that I had was not having the items included in the list available upon arrival. The hotel was changed lat minute and when I arrived they had a sign out front that said cheap rooms with the price. Fair enough I went into the room and there was a sewage issue that made the room smell constantly. There was a gap under the door that let mosquitoes in at a constant rate but no mosquito net. These in themselves are not deal breakers but I paid $1,900 for 3 nights in a hotel and a guide for 3 1/2 days. The total for the hotel for the two nights that I was supposed to stay there would be $65 USD and the hotel on the last night would be $150 USD. That means that there was roughly $1,700 out there for a driver and a guide for 3 1/2 days. Since the room was unacceptable I went and paid for 2 more nights on my own and in my discussion with Holly I was never once offered a refund for the other night in the hotel. I then questioned the pricing and Holly gave me a breakdown which didn't actually add up tot he entire cost. When I responded back with questions there was never a response. I hate to say this but at the end of the day I feel that I was taken advantage of since its such a high tourist destination area. Feeling that I was taken advantage of did not help to the satisfaction of the trip even though the guide and driver were great. At the end of the day it is not hard to look at a menu or understand the cost of a hotel since they are right in front of you and then listen to the cost from the trip planner. I have no issue paying for value but there was no value added for this trip. I hope that the communications are reviewed and steps taken to make sure that others do not fall into the same situation. Again my trip t Myanmar though KimKim was awesome but the trip to Thailand has since changed my mind.

Alta was my favorite part of the trip, especially dog sledding!! The hotel we stayed at in Alta was great and had an amazing breakfast buffet. The tours we took were a lot of fun and allowed us to view as much of Norway as possible in the small amount of time we had. We did two dog sledding trips, went ice fishing/snow shoeing, RIB boat on the Fjords in Flam, and more. Ingrid did a great job listening to what we wanted to do and helped plan a trip that was really memorable. I can't wait to visit Norway again!!

With our input, Giorgia came up with a great itinerary for our trip to Sicily, and the experience was smooth and stress free. We were paired up with very knowledgeable guides and really enjoyed the street food and culture tour in Palermo and the tour of the temple ruins in Agrigento. The hotels where we we we stayed were clean and centrally located so that we had only short walks to the center of town, The agriturismo was my favorite stay -- located in the countryside with gracious hosts and a veranda with spectacular views of the countryside which we enjoyed while we sipped some wine and relaxed at the end of our day,

The drivers were courteous and arrived promptly, and having a driver really made a difference in our enjoyment of the trip. We would have had some issues finding some of the places where we stayed, especially in the agriturismo which is tucked away and off the beaten path, Having this trip planned for us by an expert allowed us to really enjoy the experience without the worry and work that normally goes into planning vacation of this sort. I don't think I would travel any other way from now on!

Pluses:
+ we loved the people, country and culture of Morocco
+ our driver Moad was good - friendly and drove very safely over the 1,500 kms we
+ 2 places we stayed in Quarzazette and Marrakesh were good

Negatives:
- Larbi, does not review the trip advisor ratings of places he books people into. He claims 3 stars, but the ratings are much worse and the experience is just as spotty.
- the bathrooms in the desert saffari were terrible and the “standard luxury” tent was mattresses laid on carpets. There was no “luxury”. Clearly a bait and switch operation.
- when we pointed out the poor quality about some of the places we were staying in, his reaction was pretty much take it or leave it, you are on your own. This was true especially on our last day in Casablanca.

Conclusion:
- we would NOT recommed using Larbi.

This was my second trip to Nepal. Booked with Nepal Myths and Trails Trekking/climbing Company. So Glad I did. Nigma Dorje is an absolutely amazing owner and operator of his guiding company.
By far the best communication out of the guding companies I’ve used in Nepal. He asnwers all questions and concers promptly and to your full satisfaction! All his staff from his fully certified and experienced guides and porters to his person taxi/driving staff for airport pick ups and drops offs are very hard working and are very dedicated to catering to any and all needs you may have and do it with full smiles. Everything about this company is above and beyond expectations.

Our trekking and mountain climb trip to Mera Peak was a complete pleasure in every aspect. Not to mention our Guide Ang-Gelu Sherpa, was the only guide able to get his clients to the summit and back of Mera Peak saftely in the face of a week of bad weather on the mountain. He along with our high alttitude porters (Dawa Sherpa and Kunga) were able to successfully and in a very short weather window of 4 hours get us to the top with out any set backs.

I would highly reccomend anyone wanting to trek or climb in Nepal to book with this company. Heard soo many horry stories from other clients during this trip about their guiding companies and staff. I will definately be back to Nepal again for more climbing and will be booking again with Nigma Dorje Sherpa. Thanks soo much to everyone at Nepal Myths and Trails for a 100% successful expedition!!!