Kimkim Trip Reviews

This was overall a really well planned trip! It was a really amazing adventure that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

Day 1: arrived and went straight to Blue Lagoon. This was a great and relaxing way to start the trip. I wouldn't have wanted to start the trip any other way. After we drove into Rrykavic. Foss hotel was great and easy to navigate from... The front desk worker was slightly rude but they had our room ready early which was very helpful. The rest of the day spent adventuring in the city.

Day 2: we left early morning to catch the waterfalls. We made it to Vik before realizing that the Volcanoes exhibit mentioned in our itinerary was actually closer to waterfalls than to Vik. So we had to back track quite a bit to make it to that. We felt the itinerary was slightly misleading for that part. As a heads up the Eyjafjalljokull exhibition will be closing on January 1, 2018. Then we drove out to Foss Nupar. Great hotel and service.

Day 3: from Nupar we drove to Skaftafell for our glacier climb. We had Maximo as a guide and he was GREAT. So much fun. Then we drove back to Vik. Another great hotel at Katla.

Day 4: left early for the golden circle. No complaints on the day. But as a general comment for your itineraries, listing the address for everything would be greatly appreciated. We had some issues finding the actual address to drive to for some of these stops.

Day 5: it was great to stay in the same hotel when we returned to Rekjavik. It made navigating so much easier!

Great trip and we will use KimKim again.

What an amazing experience! My local specialist Anne was incredibly considerate, intuitive and very detail oriented. She helped me plan the trip to Mandalay and Bagan down to the last detail including guided and unguided portions per my request (for the latter she offered several suggestions on things I could do based on my interest level). She tailored my days to balance my interest in seeing a lot with my desire to do it all within a certain budget. She was very patient in back and forth emails, and even intuited from an email that I would not be as comfortable doing an all day motorcycle trip, and suggested a little more expense may be worth the mix of using a motorcycle and car - and she was absolutely right! She stayed on top of everything throughout the trip - I could always reach her, she always confirmed guides/itinerary beforehand, answered all my questions and even took the time to invite me out for drinks!

The guides she picked for both cities were also great! In Mandalay, Wine Wine was very attentive to my safety and comfort, while making sure I didn't miss any key attractions at each stop. We got an earlier than normal start and had some extra time, and he was great at improvising the agenda and coming up with new sights he thought I would enjoy. After I arrived in Bagan, I had the first day to explore on my own and that was lovely - I basically followed a suggested self-guided itinerary Anne had provided - including restaurant suggestions based on my dietary preferences and sunset cruise locations etc. The second day I had the pleasure of touring around with Arkar - he was AMAZING! Very knowledgeable and tailored the tour to my interests - he took me to is local breakfast place after I opted out of the hotel breakfast in lieu of spending more time e-biking around! We also skipped a couple markets as I had seen a few in Mandalay and was more interested and excited by the sight of pagodas! I took several side roads on a whim and he gladly followed me and provided history and insights - of course, he took me to some amazing hidden gems I could have never found on my own or with a big tour group.

Overall, I fell in love with Bagan. You think after two days I'd be tired of pagodas, but I was not. I was giddy at every side road that led into them - just to see myself in a sea of pagodas with different architecture and designs. The local people are incredibly nice and thoughtful - and the food is great! On the day I was self-touring in Bagan, e.g., there were several times I had stopped next to a pagoda and was looking at google maps on my phone, and each time a local stopped to ask me if I needed help!

Thank you for such a memorable trip!

Preeti was awesome and took the time to really listen to our often contradictory instructions. The only shortcoming was when we had to drive, it wasnt clear that some of the roads were closed in winter, and we had to improvise and lost an activity deposit. Thats the only reason the entire trip wasnt 5 stars.

The trip was simply amazing. We loved all our hotels as well as our guides. The only area we were disappointed with was communication with Andy. He never checked in with us once during our 17 days in Vietnam and Cambodia. When we emailed him from the states he was slow to respond and sometimes failed to address our questions. When we emailed him from Vietnam he was slow to respond, sometimes inaccurate in his responses and one time failed to respond at all, regarding a timely issue.

We enjoyed our Golden Circle Tour, we had excellent climate conditions so we got to be very efficient with our time. We got our ice cave tour cancelled and instead did a small cave while hiking the glacier... I was expecting something more amazing but can't complain. The hotels were really great, food was okay.

Our snorkel guide Richard was the best! He also was an expert in Game of Thrones

I was very happy with KimKim helping to arrange a city tour and then specialized weaving tour for me in Quito , Ecuador.

We had an extraordinary trip, including amazing cultural and architectural experiences as well as a day of rafting and a multi-day trek.
Mads worked with us for months to set up itineraries for the various members of our four person group , since we had different arrival dates and did not always travel together. He arranged a wonderful visit to Bhutan for one of our group while the others did the Poon Hill trek. We loved the traffic-free stay in Bandipur, also the medieval cities Bhaktapur and Patan (although they suffered a lot of damage from the 2015 earthquake ). Some of our greatest memories are visiting the Kumari in Patan, the ghats near Kathmandu, and Baba Guru as he welcomed and blessed us.
And of course there was the gondola ride up to Manakamana where chickens and goats rode along on their way to be sacrificed at the temple.
Amanda and Suman provided exceptional support in Nepal. Suman ( also known to us as Super-man and Suman the Magnificent) was knowledgeable, informative, and always helpful, along with being a fun travel partner/guide. Our porters on the trek, Suman (the Second) and Manos,
worked very hard and always seemed to be smiling as they helped make our trek memorable and fun.

Our transfers were always smooth and on time; we never had to worry about whether we would make a connection or get to our hotel. We found the entire Himalayan Trails and kimkim group to be responsive and creative in making our visit to Nepal absolutely wonderful!

We had an excellent trip!! Great local guides, amazing eco-lodges everything flowed well. We especially like Jorge, the guide who took us to Tayrona (and hope he passed his exam on tourism). the whole journey in the Tayrona was spectacular, as was tubing down the river in Palomino and the expertise on birds from our guide David in Minca. The only caveat was that the arrangement was to have our baggage brought to Palomino while we were trekking in Tayrona, and there was no info on that - no guidance given to myself and the driver was also unaware. So instead we made our own arrangements to leave the bags at Finca Barlovento. It would have been better if this piece of info on the trip had been communicated to me so we knew what the arrangement was instead of improvising along the way. All in all the trip was exactly the adventure we were looking for - thanks!!

Wow! Where do I begin?

My wife and I were a little short of time, having only around 8 days in Nepal but not wanting to miss out on the full Nepal experience; namely trekking, Himalayan views and the fascinating culture that the country has to offer.

Mads was immediately able to assist and his expertise and quick response time made it very easy to quickly establish how we could maximise our short time in Nepal. His obvious knowledge and experience was a reassurance in itself that we would be making the most of our limited time.

Under Mad's recommendation, we opted for the 5 day Solu Trek and this did not disappoint. It combined our request for Sherpa culture, Buddhist monasteries and of course, the humbling views of Mount Everest itself.

Amanda provided us with a very warm and friendly welcome when we arrived and took the time to answer all of our queries and concerns as well as making sure we were well equipped and happy with every detail of the trip.

Our guide Tendu was absolutely amazing. His insight into his homeland, his courtesy and his professionalism were first class. His attentiveness to our absolute well being (along with his patience) made the whole experience very special, not to mention him being a thoroughly nice guy.

Our porter Mingmar was also a gent in every way and his service was also of the highest order.

Overall we had an unforgettable experience of Nepal with Himalayan Trails, Mads and his team are obviously doing something right. We got to see a very special and relatively less touristy area of Nepal that offered us everything we could have hoped for and more. Thank you so much to the team for a lifetime of special memories.

Miguel is friendly and helpful. 1 of the best i have met. Carlos is nice too altho' due to language barrier, we didn't interact much.

i guess the best part of Miguel is he can take great pictures! now I have headaches with so many potential IG post-able photos!

As for Lima, Arturo definitely knows where the good local food is. we had a great time of food sampling.

thanks again.

The contact with Ngima was very professional. He responded very expeditiously, answered questions, made proposals and showed flexibility.
However, the tour as such left much to be desired.
On the positive side, the team arrived at the hotel before the agreed time.
But then the announced guide was replaced by someone whose name I do not know until today.
This person was sporty, young and knew his way. But there was a communication gap.
I would have expected that at the start the guide provide information likes this:
We drive now xyz hours/ Kilometres to the place abc from where we will hike def kilometres/ hours. Lunch will be at hotel klm.
There could have also been information on the villages we passed, on the cultivation of the plots, on nature, on the local way of life, local food etc., etc.,
None of this information was provided. It was somehow half-mentioned that we would walk 4 to 5 km, in the end it were 11 km, which is quite a difference.
When I asked in Nagakort where we would have lunch, the answer was “somewhere here”. I then suggested the Club Himalaya, which is a kind of reference point for Western tourists. On the way there, the guide all of sudden said that it was still 30 min to walk and suggested some other place. But my GPS showed a distance of 231 m straight line, so I insisted on going to this place which we reached after 5 min.
However, the weakest, almost unbelievable, aspect was the following: The tour price was USD 200. But for this price (hotels in Kathmandu offer the same tour for 50… 70 USD….), there was not even a bottle of water in the car or with the guide. So, I had to get out of my way and buy one (20 Rupees or 20 US cents) in one of the village kiosks on the way.
I have been working for many years in areas related to tourism development in developing countries (in fact, prior to Nepal. I had been in Ethiopia to check out two tourism destinations –Tigray and the Danakil Depression). So I can compare a bit many different experiences. The Nagakort experience was not among the better ones.
Finally, travel agencies make money by selling impressions and emotions. It should therefore be in their interest that the tourist places are in conditions that generate positive impressions and emotions. Nagarkot, particularly the Nagarkot Tower area, urgently needs a clean-up. Littering is so spoiling the place that I left prematurely. Travel agencies, in their own interest, should engage themselves in keeping this place clean and worthwhile a visit.

We loved our Myanmar trip and are grateful to have a resource like Kimkim to help direct us to the type of tour company we want to deal with.

Anne at Myanmar Pure Travel worked with us to create an itinerary that worked really well for us, and she gave some great input and suggestions along the way.

The whole trip ran very smoothly, everything was well organised, the guides were awesome. We had different guides for different parts of the trip and all of them were really experienced and professional. They all went out of their way to give us an authentic experience and were extremely flexible.

Inle Lake and Bagan were definite highlights and Anne lifted it to another level by with the accommodation she arranged. We were keen to do a hot air balloon ride and Anne suggested we do this at Inle Lake rather than Bagan - we went with her suggestion and were so pleased. Seeing the floating gardens and life on the canals/lake/gardens from above was amazing and I would recommend other people consider this option too.

Cannot fault any of the trip.

Jo Broadhead & Jens Richter Dec 2017

We had a fantastic time trekking the Manaslu Circuit with Lhakpa (guide) and Pasang (porter/assistant guide). It was our first time trekking in Nepal and Lhakpa and Pasang did everything they could to ensure that we were safe, and enjoyed our time trekking. They are amazing guides and people and we would highly recommend them for anyone planning a trip to Nepal (from beginner to advanced), as they are very experienced, highly skilled, and knowledgable. Ngima was also excellent to communicate with to book and arrange the trek. Ngima was always very responsive to our questions and the whole trek was well organised. Bronwen and Wayne.

We had a fantastic time on our trek to Gokyo Ri and over Renjo La. From the time we landed in Kathmandu we felt safe and very well cared for. Naresh was a wonderfully thoughtful guide and we couldn't have asked for a better experience trekking through the mountains with him. The views of Mt. Everest and the other 8,000m peaks from Renjo La were even better than advertised. The lodges in Lungden and Thame were especially comfortable and welcoming, with the best Sherpa stew and momos in the region.

We have just returned from a quite superb trip to South Africa and will most definitely be going again! We made our way from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape ending with a Safari at Amakhala, where our amazingly knowledgeable and funny guide made every minute fascinating...it was surprisingly cold in the early mornings and evenings though (mid November), so make sure you take long sleeves and plenty of layers...they do have fleece blankets (which we used every day) but I wish I had more clothes!

The trip down the Garden Route was wonderful - empty roads, happy people, low prices and great wines! We particularly loved The Sands in St Francis Bay...pricy, but very special indeed.

Thanks for organising a great trip!

James, Mayra and the entire Quechua Trek team were incredibly helpful, responsive, and professional in setting up a trip customized to our needs. Everything went off without a hitch, in spite of very short notice and some real time adjustments. Our guide, Yilbert, and driver, Paul, were both the ultimate in professionalism and tailored the entire experience to our desires. In addition, Yilbert's historical knowledge, and deep cultural engagement made all the difference in our experience!

Thank you Halldor for a perfect Iceland trip itinerary. The accommodations, car rental and the lay out of places to visit were easy to follow. We feel that we have seen the South Coast and Reykjavík to its fullest. Thank you for being so flexible and patience during the planning stage.

The driver was good and gave us lotts of good informtion about Jordan. However, even though he never smoked when we were in the car, the vehicle stank f stale cigarette smoke.

The restaurant in Petra did not have any record of us, of Kimkim or of Experience Jordan. Forunately I had the contact telephone numbers which the restaurant used and found our booking under a company name hat had never been mentioned in the correspondence. This should be rectified in your system.

Everything went so well. Driver there at appointed time everytime, hotels were very good.

I do congratulate the company, Wai Lin, the guides and the drivers on a super experience. I was initially apprehensive booking a random company on-line, but no worries. It was a fantastic adventure from start to finish. KimKim appear to be be a world wide travel booking agency based in the US, and Myanmar diaries are one of the local Myanmar travel agencies. No sooner had I made my first inquiry Wai Lin was there. He understood my requirements and came back promptly with a personalized i ternary, photographic highlights of Myanmar was my brief. When I arrived at Yangon airport my transfer was waiting and from that point on everything went 100% as planned. I was presented with a welcome pack that contained details, airfares and other items. I have no complaints about hotel choice of course some better than others but I am an easy man to please. Each day was pre-planned with a guide and driver or mostly just a driver. I was blown away, everybody was so nice and friendly, morning starts always on time, and daily explorations that took me to all sorts of intensely interesting places. Not lost, Myanmar is a photographers dream. So the short answer is I will be coming back!