So normally, if traveling to Vientiane, we’d fly to Udon Thani, get a van to the border, change to another van at the Lao immigration checkpoint, and then change to another van to get into town. Or you could just fly Nok Air (www.nokair.com): its fly ‘n’ ride ticket to Laos includes an air ticket with a shuttle service crossing the Thai-Lao border and into Vientiane. Rates for a roundtrip ticket start from around B4,350, excluding border-crossing and visa fees (B50 weekdays, B70 weekends).