I had an irritated initial response to the original post, which concludes by asking for any specific advice regarding visas for Central and South America and much of Africa. Hey, that's fifty or more countries! All the information you crave is readily available; you've just got to do the legwork. That means some combination of phone calls to embassies, talking to other travelers (who spend almost as much time discussing the best places to get visas as they do talking about varieties of intestinal ailments and finding the best exchange rates), pouring through redundant, often inaccurate postings on your preferred internet sites, studying guidebooks, using internet search engines, etc.

Then it occurred to me that maybe the OP is asking about general approaches, not country-specific advice. This makes more sense, in a way....except that asking the question suggests a belief that there must be a magic formula of some sort--a methodical approach which applies readily to any and all situations. Well, the magic formula doesn't exist (except in Europe, where the whole concept of international borders seems substantially different from the rest of the world). For this reason it's fortunate that for a Westerner most places are really rather simple: you show up, they charge you some money or not, they stamp your passport, they wave you on through. In my experience, this is often true even when the official rules say you're supposed to have gotten a visa in advance. You only need to pay attention to the special cases.

The kind of information that really matters, and which I stash away mentally against future need, concerns the few countries which are really and truly difficult. Angola is currently giving people fits; Burma used to grant only brief transit visas; Indian and Ghanian bureaucrats are cut from the same annoying, rule-bound mold; etc. I also pay attention to countries which are notably more expensive than others (Sierra Leone and Liberia were both charging US$100 last I checked) or which require invitations (Russia, Nigeria). Note that I haven't actually been to some of these countries; I've just been listening to what people say. That way.I don't ever need to start from scratch.

Personally, I pay more attention than I like to admit to the Lonely Planet (Thorn Tree) and Hubb discussions; there's hardly anything I need to know which hasn't been addressed repeatedly by others on one or both boards. I read guidebooks, though not in any real detail. I talk to other travelers. When I'm really and truly stuck, I ask *specific* questions on-line. Sometimes, just for the hell of it, I trust my dumb luck by showing up visa-less even when I've been warned I'll be denied entry. Surprisingly, this usually works out fine. In fact, it all works out in the end, sooner or later.

To answer the specific question: well yeah, sometimes I settle into a regional center and collect visas, which can involve a certain amount of running around, but these are usually places where I want to spend a couple of days anyway. I try not to get stuck anyplace unappealing, and when there's a long wait involved I'll pay extra to expedite (almost always possible except when one country is trying to teach the other a lesson of some sort) or find something fun to do in the meantime. Is it really a problem having to kill a few days in Dakar, London or Nairobi?

There: I've written almost a page, all of which amounts to suggesting you just blunder ahead and do what comes naturally. But....if asking questions about visas, why not state your nationality? Otherwise, how will you know whether to trust whatever specific advice you're given?

Yours in a directionless, rudderless world,

Mark