Crossing from Thailand into Laos by bus (not boat)!

I am so grateful to others who had travelled through the same areas before us who had written online about their experiences and recommendations for travel methods and things to do,

At the time, most people had travelled from Thailand to Laos by the slow boat (or plane, if they could afford it).

Nearly all of them write about sickness, hunger and / or gun crime related experiences that came with the slow boat - I was not interested in that,

We decided to take the bus across the Thai border over the 4th Thai-Lao friendship bridge; it took a few hours longer than flying, but a few hours less than the boat,

Overall, it was a simple way to get into Laos and I'm really glad we did it this way!

For some reason it is a less talked about method of travel online, and therefore seemed more complicated than it really was when we were planning it.

In case this helps anyone else, this is how we did travelled:

Previously, in Thailand:

Bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong, in the Chiang Rai province
Stayed overnight in Chiang Khong

To get to Laos:

Day 1:

Bus from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Thailand Border Control (~20 mins)
Passport stamped after looking at Thai Departure Card (~25 mins)
Bus across the border into Laos (costs 20B usual hours, or 25B each out of office hours)
Arrive at Laos Immigration in Houai Xai, Laos
Passport is checked (haphazardly!)
Give officers a passport photo, then your Visa on Arrival will be issued for $35
Get a tuk tuk to the bus stop in the town centre (100B each, ~15 mins)
Buy bus ticket (we waited here for 3 hours for the next VIP Sleeper bus at 6pm which boarded at 5.40pm, we explored the nearby local market and made use of the station wifi while waiting)

Day 2:

Arrive in Luang Prabang, Laos after 12 hour sleeper bus arrives at the bus stop at 5.30am
Share a tuk tuk to hostel in Luang Prabang, USD 2.50 each