AirAsia has a 6-7:15 AM flight to Udon Thani. I've read that Vientiane Thai Consulate gates close at 11:30am.

 

Is the risk low enough to make this worth attempting (there are cheaper flights later in the day)? If so, any specific advice on how to best make it in time? Thanks.

Edited August 25, 20187 yr by Paduppa

If you mean Udon Thani and not Ubon and you take a taxi from the airport to the border and then a taxi on the Laos side to go directly to the Consulate it is possible

? doh, yeah I meant Udon Thani. Thanks jackdd!

It seems the taxi cost is likely to outweigh the cost of an additional night stay. I've read that bus takes about 2 hours - if this is accurate it would seem possible. The early flight costs the same as the later flights so I might just give it a try anyway.

Edited August 25, 20187 yr by Paduppa

No need for taxi from the airport in Udon. There are vans that go to the bridge from the airport for about 200 baht.

As ubonjoe has said, just get a van from airport to the bridge - I did this exact trip 1-2 weeks ago and pretty sure I made it to embassy not far from 9am. Just make sure that when you go from Laos border to the embassy you pay 100b as the vans / tuktuks will ask for 300b

 

Be aware when visiting the side building for any photos / application forms - there's no organisation or anybody to help you. You have to now grab a queue number and then wait for one of the staff to type in your details electronically on the application form for which they will then print out. All I wanted was 2 photos as I had my own printed off application form but was only angrily told I could not use it when asking why I could not as the form was printed from their website. I did see people doing their forms in the queue so I guess it's still possible to manually do it yourself, just be aware ?

Edited August 25, 20187 yr by Bountyhuntr