Minivan arrived on time. But too many people were squeezed into one minivan. Some had to sit on a stool for 6 hours. The minivan left 35 minutes late. You felt like an animal in a cage that was far too small.
The bus left Luang Prabang 3.5 hours late and arrived in Vang Vieng 4 hours late. The bus service had more people packed in than seats available so we each had very little room and after picking up even more people on the route I ended up with a stranger sitting in my feet. The roads they drove down could barely even be called roads with us getting stuck multiple times but I guess that's not the bus's fault
The travel was incredible! Fast train and the online ticket works well. Sadly I paid more then double via 12go then if I have bought at the train agency. But thats ok. Worth it
Taking this van was a Great experience for us, but it is definitely mit for everyone. Being delayed shouldn't be a problem for you. It was the craziest drive of our life. As the street's' conditions were very bad, we we're shaked the whole 7h Trip. Most of the 20 People in our tiny van got more and more angry while driving. We also don't recommend it for tall or strongly built people - it was really tight.
Do not get irritated If the driver stops to grab some locals. One time we had a break for Toilette and eating at a Restaurant.
However, we we're glad we took this Option as we couldn't get Tickets for the train and want to have New experiences to enlargen put horizont.
I had to get my transportation to the railway station, which is 30m away from Luang Prabang. I'm not sure if you need to email 12go.asia in advance with pick up information. Well, the place where I was staying had a shuttle to the railway station, for cheap price, so I took it.
Besides that detail, everything worked good, you get the e-ticket with QR code that you will need on the beginning of your trip and end of it, the train is new and it's on time and goes fast and stable.
Squeezed into a 14 person bus with 20 people! Air con was very weak! The journey is very bumpy and windy roads! Would have been better off riding the train
