Laos visas when travelling in groups
 

I am going on a trip to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand with Intrepid. Intrepid tell us they do not want us to get our visa in our home country, because sometimes people have difficulties using them. They tell us that our tour leader will assist us in getting the visa at the starting location (Bangkok) or sometimes at the border. The entry point (Voen Kham) does not have visas on arrival as far as I can tell, so this means visas would need to obtained in Bangkok. We only have one day in Bangkok and it will be a Sunday. So, I don't see how the tour leader can obtain Laos visas for us... unless the tour leaders have some special facility available to them. I have a Laos embassy at home in Canberra so it would be easy for me to get the visa beforehand. Has anyone done a similar tour, how did they get their visas? Thanks

often tour groups get group visas in advance...

Poppy, I'd be concerned as well. The tour group leader would need the passports of all of the travelers to get the visas. I've observed whole tour groups getting visas on arrival at the airport in Luang Prabang, but if there are no visas on arrival where you are entering, I'd talk more with the tour company. I did see a woman who had paid for her visa in Germany and had to pay again, as the agent at immigration said she didn't have a visa, she had "permission for a visa."

I've traveled with Intrepid to both Cambodia and Laos. The Cambodian trip started in PP, but the Lao trip started in Bangkok. As far as I remember we gave our passports to the tour leader, and she got all the visas for Laos in Bangkok, but I don't think it was a Sunday! Are you on Trail of the Khmer? If so, it looks like you go to Cambodia first, so your leader could get the Lao visas in PP, and Cambodian visas are available at the border on the way from Bangkok.

Thanks for the info everyone. Yes it's "Trail of the Khmer", so we do go to Cambodia first.