I‘d pretty much resigned myself to abandoning my visit to Vietnam. It would have cost me a little over $100 in non-refundable train tickets and hotel stays, but the hassle of getting there, while knowing the ease of Thailand, had already prompted me to look at flights and hotels for the next day.

I was confident when I made the original bookings that I would be able to get a train to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, where my flight departed. I knew from experience that train tickets on the Laos railway needed to be booked 3 days in advance. I also knew that the most reliable way to book tickets was through your hotel or a booking agent in town.

I share this information with fellow travelers any chance I get because most of the people who come through Laos are backpackers expecting that they can just show up and hop on a train. Those who do book in advance try to book directly through the Lao railway site or use apps like 12goAsia, but neither of those work in Laos for foreigners.

Unless you have a bank account in Laos, you cannot book through the Lao railway website. Those who’ve booked tickets throughout Asia using 12goAsia, find that the booking they thought was confirmed was merely a request and often receive an email the day of their expected travel informing them that they don’t actually have a ticket.

Even on the minivan from the train station I was mentally mocking two novice backpackers who didn’t know you had to get your train tickets in advance. I was polite enough to inform them before I got off. Despite all my confidence, it was I who was not able to get a train ticket when I went to the front desk of my hostel three days before my departure.

I was informed that the train was sold out. I asked him how this could be since I arrived at the desk as soon as the ticket window had opened. The receptionist told me that, because the railway is owned by China, that the Chinese get first access to the tickets one week in advance. I also have to compete with the booking agents who can buy large blocks of tickets in advance. So now, here I was, in the same position as those I’d mocked because I’d not done my research. In the past, it had never been a problem as long as you didn’t wait until the day before, but things have changed, and I was about to get a hard lesson in the new process.

Because the receptionist at my hostel was a Lao citizen, he could buy the ticket online using the app. He would then sell it to me at an inflated price, but there were no tickets to be had that morning. I couldn’t believe this so I headed into town looking for a tour operator. Someone told me that the people selling tours had different access to tickets than my hotel receptionist would.

While the only tour operator I found open at 7:30am confirmed that they were currently sold out, he explained the process to me and informed me that any tickets that the booking agencies couldn’t sell would be released the night before. He assured me that if I paid him for a ticket I would get one by the night before my intended departure. 

I’ve done enough travel to have faith in these arrangements, even if the lack of documentation is foreign to us,  so I paid him for the ticket and walked away with a receipt that gave me a perceived confidence. He even suggested that I might get my ticket that night. I didn’t. I inquired about the progress, and he said the next day for sure. By 7:30 that night, I was still without a ticket.

Finally, on the night before I needed to travel in order to catch my afternoon flight to Vietnam, he texted to say he had my ticket. I asked him what time it was for, and he said 4PM. I asked how long the train took, to which he replied 2.5 hours. I panicked. I reminded him that I told him I had a flight to catch and there was no way I was going to make it to the airport 15 minutes after the train pulled into the station at Vientiane. 

That’s when I began to do an re-assessment of my plans. Could I pay for a taxi? Could I fly a different route? Could I take the minibus first thing in the morning? The first two were prohibitively expensive. The last, while reasonably priced, was not a reasonable solution.

The first time I came to Laos, the railway didn’t exist so I’d taken the minivan from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. It was an arduous 8 hour journey I never care to repeat. The road over the mountains has hundreds of curves, and the dusty pavement is filled with potholes. Despite this, the driver is certain he can make the trip in record time. Even if you can avoid the nausea by getting the front seat, you’re likely to be squeezed in with two or three others. I would rather lose all the money I’d invested in my Vietnam trip than to do that journey again.

I went to sleep resolved to look at flights to Thailand if my guy could not get me a ticket that would work for me. Unfortunately, I only slept for a couple hours before someone came into the dorm making a lot of noise at 2am. The early morning disharmony matched the disharmony with my present situation, and I wasn’t able to fall back to sleep.

At 6:30, my agent texted me to inform me that his people could not get me a ticket on an earlier train. I got dressed and decided to walk to the train ticket office myself to see if I could buy one. Since it didn’t open until 8, I stopped by the office of the travel agent. When he arrived, he informed me that his people had gone in early that day just to get me a ticket for the earlier train. I would just have to pay a cancellation fee for the ticket that was already booked. This had the ring of “don’t throw good money after bad” written on it, but I was desperate, and in Lao money, it was only a few dollars. Besides, I was already ready to book a flight to Thailand that afternoon if it didn’t work out. 

He told me that he couldn’t give me the ticket because his people were already at the station for the day. He told me that a van would pick me up between 10:30 and 11 to take me to the station, and once I got there, all I had to do was take a picture of myself and send it to his people at the station. They would then find me and give me the ticket. It sounded a lot like an elaborate scam, but as I walked away from the ticket office having paid more money, I was simultaneously frustrated and tickled at how it is all playing out because I was already writing this story in my head.

When the van showed up 10 minutes after 11, it appears I’d been an afterthought. Despite all the seats being full, he had me sit on the console between him and another passenger. Having had many odd seats including the edge of an open trunk in Mexico, I took it in stride knowing the journey to the airport was only about 30 minutes. I did confirm with the guy in the passenger seat that the van was headed to the train station and not over the mountains.

When I got to the station I took my picture and sent it to the number my agent gave me but received only silence in return. I saw a couple people handing out tickets and walked up to them but none of them spoke English. I finally had to call my tour agent and hand my phone to a woman distributing tickets so they could resolve the situation. After talking with my agent, the woman told me to stay put where I was. Five minutes later, a guy showed up with a train ticket and a picture of my passport. After confirming the ticket was for the correct train, I thanked him and headed for the entrance to the station.

There was still a little bit of fear that it might be a counterfeit ticket, but they scanned it and sent me to my train. I was reminded once again, that leaps of faith are often required when traveling, and having a good back up plan doesn’t hurt either.