Thailand 🇹🇭 & Laos 🇱🇦

2 Weeks: Bangkok, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Koh Chang

Toy, Lexi, Sienna and I drove 6 hours from Minneapolis to Chicago (ORD) to fly United Airlines to Bangkok (operated by ANA) for only $807 round trip per person, staying at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago for $233 a night (ParkSleepFly rate includes 10 days parking +$10 each additional day and free airport shuttle service).

BANGKOK, THAILAND

Day 1 & 2: Departed Chicago (ORD) to Bangkok at 10:40 am, arriving the following day in Japan (NRT). Boarded our flight to Bangkok at 6:45 pm, arriving at midnight, and took a Grab (like Uber) to our hotel.

Bangkok Hotel (3 nights): Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit 8,000 points/night and one of my favorite all-time accommodations. Conveniently connected to the BTS (as shown from our hotel window above) at Nana Station for easy access everywhere. The breakfast is incredible and there is a beautiful pool to cool off.

Day 3: Mahanakhon Skywalk (the tallest building in Bangkok) and the Hop On Hop Off tourist boat to Wat Arun and Wat Pho. From there, we hopped in a tuk-tuk to Khao San Road for a meal, drinks, shopping and a spa visit.

Day 4: Walked to Terminal 21, a large shopping mall with an excellent food court, and headed to BK Tattoo for our Yak Sant tattoos.

VIENTIANE, LAOS

Day 5: Took a Grab to the airport and departed on Lao Airlines ($178 round trip per person) to the capital city of Vientiane for Toy's first return to his native country since he fled when he was only 6 years old. We arrived at 3 pm and headed to our apartment, provided by Toy’s cousin who owns the building. Most of our time in Laos was generously paid for by family who reside here. They arranged incredible itineraries with drivers, dinners, accommodation - hospitality unmatched!

Vientiane Apartment (6 nights): Niraxay Apartment and The Longroom Cafe & Lounge Bar (located on Sihom road in Chanthabouly Village)

Day 6: The wedding baci was in the morning at the former President’s house: the bride’s dad is Toy’s cousin and is Governor of Vientiane and her mom, the President’s daughter, is Minister of the Environment. At the baci, a few very nice golf carts were provided and we headed to the National Cultural Monument of Laos and Pha That Luang, where it is said that Buddha’s breast bone resides.

Later on foot, we checked out Wat Sisiket, the Presidential Palace, Patouxay (designed after the Arc de Triomphe in France) and the That Dam (Black Stupa). Toy and I went to The Tipsy Elephant for a sunset drink in view of the Mekong. On the other side is Nong Khai, Thailand where his refugee camp was located. We wondered where he and his family crossed after walking all night through the jungle and thought wow, who would have thought he’d be sipping a cocktail here 45 years later.

LUANG PRABANG, LAOS

Day 7: The father of the bride arranged and completely paid for an overnight trip to Luang Prabang - shuttles, trains, dinners and a packed 2 day itinerary. Unbelievable! We were picked up in a shuttle at 6 am took to the train station to board a just under 2 hour train to Luang Prabang. From the train station, the shuttle drove us 25 km to the Pak Ou Caves ຖ້ຳຕິ່ງ, reachable by boat, and we enjoyed a lunch feast afterward near the beach.

Luang Prabang Hotel (1 night): Villa Senesouk located directly across the street from the temple where alms giving takes place.

Day 8: We woke up early to participate in alms giving directly in front of our hotel at 5:30 am. Afterwards, we headed to the Kwan Si Waterfalls, stopping at the Luang Prabang Elephant Camp where Sienna, Lexi and Avery splashed around in the Mekong on elephants. We had lunch at the falls and headed back to the train station to take the 6 pm train back to Vientiane, arriving at 8 pm.

Day 9: We attended an incredible wedding with 2000 attendees including the current President of Laos, the Prime Minister and many other top government officials. The MC was a television news anchor and, toward the end, many of the aforementioned sang karaoke on stage.

Day 10: Our last full day in Laos we had morning coffee down the street from our apartment and visited Wat Si Muang. Lunch was at Toy’s cousin’s house and dinner was with the family at a restaurant near the Night Market on the Mekong.

Day 11: We had coffee with Toy's dad our last morning in Laos at The Longroom Cafe & Lounge Bar in our apartment building, then headed to the airport where a lot of Toy's family arrived to say goodbye. His cousin, the governor of Vientiane and father of the bride who graciously paid for our entire time in Laos, met us at customs. We departed Vientiane at 12pm on Lao Airlines, landed at 1pm and transferred to Bankok Airways ($117 round trip per person) for a 3pm flight to Trat, followed by a shuttle that drove on the ferry to Koh Chang.

KOH CHANG, THAILAND

Koh Chang Hotel (3 nights): KC Grande Resort & Spa $91 per room/night including an incredible breakfast and several pools with stunning views

Day 12 & 13: We spent our time in Koh Chang at our beautiful resort relaxing after a busy, but incredible, trip! We had dinner at a cook-your-own-seafood place for $10 per person, enjoyed a fire display on the beach, spent a day at the infinity pool at the resort and rented a scooter to explore the island, stopping at Rasta View, getting a massage and taking pictures of gorgeous vistas, elephants and wild monkeys.

Day 14: Took the ferry back to Trat and departed at 4:30 pm back to Bangkok, arriving at 5:30 pm and taking a Grab back to the Hyatt for our last night. We went to the Patpong Night Market and checked out the rooftop bar at our hotel.

BANKGOK, THAILAND

Bangkok Hotel (1 night): Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit 8,000 points/night

Day 15: Before departing at 7am to Tokyo, we were told at the Bangkok ANA check-in counter, after waiting in line for an hour, that we couldn’t have our boarding passes until Lexi took a Covid test with a negative result because she only had 2 of 3 Covid shots. It wasn't an issue on the way to Bangkok because we transferred through Narita, but this time we will be hopping in a shuttle from Narita to Haneda Airport. The race was on to find the airport clinic, pay cash for the test, and wait for the results - in the meantime, an agent recommended that I cancel our flight and rebook. I said no, we’ve come this far, we’ll see if we can make it. And we did, arriving at the gate during boarding.

Upon arrival in Narita, we knew the race would be on because United Airlines booked our return ticket from Bangkok into Narita, Tokyo. BUT, our outbound flight departs from a different airport (Haneda), a 70 minute shuttle bus ride or 90 minute train ride that you arrange on your own — giving us 3 hours and 40 minutes to do the following:

1. Get off plane

2. Go to quarantine area to fill out QR code questionnaire

3. Have vaccination card checked

4. Go through passport/immigration

5. Get luggage

6. Exit airport through customs

7. Buy bus or train ticket (oh and the train ticket requires cash…got any yen?! 1750 yen per person, if you go this route. Cash machine is up the escalator two levels)

8. Take 70 minute bus ride to Haneda

9. Check in to flight and drop off luggage

10. Go through Security

11. Board plane

Our bus was due to arrive at the airport at 5:30 pm and boarding began at 5:55 pm for our 6:45 pm flight. And we actually MADE IT!

PACKING SUGGESTIONS

• Travel light: use a Samsonite Underseat Carry-On or backpack and packing cubes - we had wedding attire and each checked a medium Samsonite Omni on this trip

• Bring a crossbody bag, travel wallet, portable charger, toiletry bag and European travel adapter (and this small travel adapter)

GETTING THERE

We booked on United (flight operated by ANA) for $807 per person Minneapolis to Bangkok with a layover in Narita. On the return, we had to transfer from the Narita Airport in Tokyo to the Haneda Airport.

BUDGET (4 people)

Flight: $4413 ($3229 United, $712 Lao Airlines, $471 Bangkok Airways)

Hotels: $981 + 32,000 points

Transport: $186 ($91 Grab, $95 Haneda shuttle)

Spending: $3050

TOTAL: $8630*

*Our time in Laos was virtually free, as Toy's family completely took care of us.

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