A few 'live' notes...

-arrived in Vientiane early afternoon, spent two nights (so essentially one full day of walkaround tourism) prior to taking the two hour train to LP. Hotel arranged private ride from the airport - 20 USD, charged to my room - less than 30 minutes from airport to hotel.

-I generally book lodging on booking.com unless my Marriott or Hilton status are getting me a fantastic deal. I also have a BW matching status. When looking at booking, I discovered a SureStay by BW. I was not at all familiar with this brand. I highly recommend it for Vientiane. The location could not have been better. I posted a review on TA.

-I believe that I covered the highlights of Vientiane, including the night market, in the one day. I think less than a full day would have been pushing it.

-I booked a train ticket to LP via baolau.com. Yes it is not the official site and it incurred a 10% commission + 3% credit card fee. I wanted to book a round trip, but tickets weren't open yet for the return. Apparently one may only book 3 days out. And only first class seats were available, which I highly recommend given that the train was full.

-Getting to the train station from the hotel. Front desk told me 40 USD via 'hotel car' or she could get me a taxi for 15 USD. I chose the taxi. 15 USD = 325-350K LKP. I had 350 LKP set aside for the driver, handed it to him, and he gave me a bunch of change. I should have stuffed it in a different pocket so that I could have better figured out the cost. Train station was 45 minutes in midday weekday traffic.

-Train was punctual. I had read that security was strict. But it was simply a bag scan - nothing out - and walk through the metal detector, phone in hand. There are reasonably priced concessions in the train station. The train station is spotless.

I'll add to this from LP.