We are going on a visa run on Boxing Day which should be an adventure! We are flying from Chiang Mai a Udon Thani and then taking a shuttle bus or taxi to the Laos Friendship bridge. The flight is only 1 hour and twenty minutes which is great, as anything longer and Max might get too fidgety. When we arrive at Udon Thani the bus journey is under an hour and so is preferable to having to do the 9 hour return bus journey in 1 day which was our only other option for our budget.
As we will be returning on the same day we have deliberately chosen a late flight which means we will have a good few hours to kill in between. The good news is that we can get to Vientiane in half and hour and hang out at Common Grounds (a cool little coffee shop we found when we went last time). It has a little playground perfect for Max to toddle about it and as a bonus they do yummy foods and healthy shakes. We also have the option to check out Udon Thani which from my research has quite a few things to see. Although to be honest we would probably just end up finding a coffee shop and hanging out in the malls.
This will be our last visa run for our trip and in all honesty it's a relief. Having to exit the country every 3 months can become tiresome! Why they don't just let you pay for an extension and check in at the immigration office beats me. Our previous visa runs have been fun though. With the exception of the 9 hour return bus ride from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai which we did for our first re-entry. Luckily at the time Max was breastfeeding and slept most of the journey so now he is a chatty toddler I'm quite relieved we don't have to do that.
I'm actually quite looking forward to this visa-run. On paper it doesn't sound too daunting but we will have to see on the day. Hopefully we can get him to do this...
