Southeast Asia forum

Firstly, congrats on the upcoming marriage!

Whilst I would normally say slow it down, I do understand what you are trying to achieve, and as long as you are prepared for the rapid pace of travel, and acknowledge that you will be experiencing the highlights rather than more of a cultural immersion, then go for it! But just remember that each time you travel from one place to the next, you will typically lose a day (getting to/from airport, waiting time, travel time, check-in/out hotel, more waiting time, etc)

Having said that, if it were me, I'd do one or more of the following:

1. You land in BKK 3 nights, and will spend at least one night there each time. Get rid of one of those stays. Cut back on your time in Bkk to may only 2-3 nights in total, and if you plan to do lots of shopping, consider spending that time at the end so you're not lugging your stuff around. Alternatively, if you're staying at the same hotel at the end, you can leave stuff at the hotel to retrieve when you return a few weeks later.

2.I think Vientiane and Phnom Pehn warrant an extra night each if you take away a night or two elsewhere.

3. Use one of the 1-2 of the days that you take off from Bkk and add it to LP. But use this time to take a mini-van up to Nong Khiaw (4 hrs) for 2 nights then take a boat back to LP (5-6 hrs of river scenery) before flying out. It's well worth it for a more rural-ish experience to get out of the bigger cities/towns which is mostly what you will see otherwise. You can decide this once you are in LP as it's very easy to organise a boat the day before, and to then walk around once you are there to find accom.

4. Alternatively, take 1-2 of the days from Bkk and spend it on the island. You'll need it by the time you get there - and it IS your honeymoon after all!

Good on you for choosing to fly the longer routes in spite of the extra costs - you'd be nuts to try it otherwise.

Hope that helps....

Since you are only going to Phnom Penh for 2 nights on this schedule, perhaps just skip it to save on traveling around so much. I enjoyed PP, but with your schedule you only get one full day there - and if you go to see the 'highlights' of S21 and the Killing Fields . . . well, a honeymoon does not it make. Cutting it would allow you to add an extra day to either Vientiane or Vang Vieng so that you could relax a little bit more on that leg of the journey - and you could try to arrange a flight directly from Siem Reap to one of the islands to streamline your passage.