Most places don’t have a separate transaction fee, they just factor that into their exchange rates. If you need money immediately you can exchange some at the airport but you will find better rates in the city. You can also order some currencies ahead of time through your bank :)

@@ChaoLeeAdventures Thank you for the info. I have seen some videos of people using the Red ATMs for pulling money out via their visa cards. Threre is a 20,000 KIP fee per transaction. Do you think the ATMs are a better option compared carrying crisp bills to have exchanged? Going to Laos for the first time in a week. Doing last minute research for this last minute trip. Wish I knew ahead of time that Bank of America could order my KIPs inadvance.

We haven’t used ATMs to withdraw money so we can’t comment on that, but from what you say, the fee seems reasonable and convenient enough for not having to carry crisp bills. Just have to be careful about the ATM location and provider security, but you do get protection from Visa. And yes, we did have issues with merchants refusing some bills that aren’t giving them paper cuts. They run their finger on the edge in the middle of the bill where it’s typically curved from a wallet (where the shiny ribbon is on the $100 bill). If that area is soft, then it’s considered too used and they didn’t take it. But that was at a gold shop and not a bank so you might have a different experience. We just ordered some Thai Baht and Indonesian Rupiah from BofA on 10/31 and they were ready for pickup on 11/1. You can still try to order. If you do end up using the ATMs, please let us know what you think, maybe we’ll consider that in the future. Have a wonderful trip!