This morning Cosmo refused to come out from under the bed. I had to SLOWLY bribe him out with his favorite treat. He did not want to go into the pet carrier and did his best to make his four limbs seem like 12 attempting to prevent entry.
Cosmo rolling over in his cage
Next the airline check-in guy made sure he looked up every rule and followed it to a T. He said I didn't have the right paperwork, and I went through it with him explaining all the pieces and the fact that their ticket office in Ho Chi Minh City had taken copies of all the papers and sent them to Hanoi and someone official at THIS airport office, probably his boss, had okayed it. Then I got to wait nervously while he checked with other people and decided it was okay. Finally he said that next we must wait for the pilot to arrive as he had to make the final decision on whether to admit the animal. It didn't help that Cosmo had been extra active during the roughly 20 minutes we were waiting, meowing a few times and pawing at the cage. I had tried giving him some catnip and I think that was maybe a bad idea. Cosmo relaxed over the next several minutes as I asked the check-in agent when the pilot might arrive (we had been instructed to come to the airport early to check in the cat) as it was now 1 hr 50 min before our flight. He suggested they often come about 90 minutes before the flight. After checking with others, he decided to let me pay at the ticket office, which I took as a good sign. By the time I came back Cosmo was back to his chill self and it was about 100 minutes before the flight with no pilot. The agent then suggested we come back in 35 minutes, which killed our plan to grab breakfast/lunch at the lounge (we skipped breakfast and it was a 12:50pm flight). We stood our ground since there were no customers in line and he left to check with others again and decided that we could go and they would contact us at the gate on the small chance there was a problem. Our stomachs were saved! Plenty of time to hit the lounge for a snack.
Dawne waiting to see what was
going to happen to her
We optimistically headed off for security, trying to guess which immigration line would go fastest. We eliminated the two slowest and each stood in a different one. Dawne's won by a couple of people, but as I watched her enviously, they held her up. The people in front of me went through and she was still there. An official came over, looked at her papers then came over and looked at mine. I guess mine was fine. She said they told her she had overstayed her visa, which is silly because you get 30 days and she had only been there for 8 days. They took her off to the side and I called out advice to show them her online evisa. I went through and stood on the other side near where she was sitting. She said she had put the wrong date on her visa application. I think she applied for it the day before we bought our last 2 flights and we may have made some changes. That just goes to show you that it can sometimes be bad to be too efficient! Later I would read that even though they warn you that you must be truthful in your dates, you should still add a day in front of your trip and use the entire 30 days for your visa just in case something comes up. I googled what would happen if you put the incorrect date and the first choice (if you find out before you go) is to scrap it and apply for a new one, losing the $25 fee as they will not change it. If you find out after you are there, the fines range from 500,000 dong to 2.5 million dong. That's $20-100. What a relief! I looked up to tell her but she was gone! They had taken her into a back room and demanded to know why she put the wrong dates. She honestly told them she made a mistake and didn't know why she put the wrong date. They finally decided she was no threat and let her go with no fine
New Year's dancer after they performed by the gates
The wonderful Song Hong
lounge in Hanoi
We got through security and to the priority pass lounge, quite hungry at this point with only 20 minutes before we were supposed to be at our gate. They checked in the person in front of us and then stopped us, saying they were quite full and not sure they had room for 2 people. The front desk sent someone to walk around and count seats. We were about to promise we would only be there for 10 minutes and then would leave, but they found some seats and let us in. The food was amazing! One of the best lounges I have been in. They had both fried and fresh spring rolls, salmon sushi, cold cuts, cheese, breads, bulgogi, chicken, rice, curries, rice casserole, other chicken and tofu, veggies, and more. They had some desserts and fresh fruit (watermelon, passion fruit, banana). Plus a bunch of drinks. And the toilet! It was a bidet with a toasty warm seat. Very nice! They also had showers but I didn't need one.
The bidet toilet in the lounge
great food at lounge
more great food
The lounge buffet
fruit at the lounge in Ha Noi
nice flight to laos
We ate quickly and rushed to our gate where we waited for the bus to come. I needed to organize my stuff and Dawne went to use the bathroom. I got out the flight attendant gifts, took out my wallet and waist belt pouch, put my passport away, tucked my ticket into my new phone holder pouch, and put Cosmo's leash back into his backpack, which was neatly flattened and folded up. Dawne came out a few minutes later but couldn't find her passport. She had used it to enter the gate so we knew it had to be here. She checked her pockets and small pack. We checked under all my bags. Then I saw my ticket sticking out of my cell phone pouch and sure enough it said "Kittredge" on it. I had swiped her stuff and put it away in my bags. Whew!
walking of the plane towards Luang Prabang airport
welcome
Long slow lines at Hanoi immigration
The rest of flight went smoothly, much to our relief. The lines to clear immigration were insanely slow. At first the locals were going through quickly and we were going nowhere. Then we finally started to move and I noticed that they had not moved at all. In fact the agent staffing their booth had left and was walking around checking with other booths. Several minutes later he came back. The westerners who must have had temporary residency seemed resigned and not that surprised so I think this is not that unusual. When in Laos...just be calm and take it easy I guess.
Dawne getting Cosmo from the baggage area
Cosmo was so glad to see me after the flight!
we have arrived at Luang Prabang airport
this is Luang prabang airport
I needed to check with the airline office in Laos to reserve Cosmo's return flight. The Luang Prabang office didn't have the authority, but gave me an email in Veintaine to write to about Cosmo, attaching his papers. Grab (like Uber) is not in Laos so we needed to use Loca, and I was a bit surprised at how easy it was to use. We were able to get a driver immediately from the airport for 109k instead of the 250k they wanted inside for the official taxi. It was a white covered truck! He put our stuff in the back and off we went. Nice comfy truck, and he was cool with Cosmo being in the truck. 
Our cool Loca driver in his truck
This featured blog entry was written by nutmeg2000 from the blog My Semester off for travel 2025.
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