we recommend finding out which countries require visas. country embassy websites, as well as the very useful lonely planet thorn tree travel forum were our main sources.
some countries (S. Africa) don't require visas, others (Zambia) you can buy when u enter, others (Australia) you can buy online, and then others (Tanzania and China), you need to buy beforehand.
Tanzania was pretty straightforward...i just went to the embassy in NYC and turned in my cash, passport, pictures, and self-addressed envelope and a few days later, a visa was delivered.
China was a bit more complicated. the visa process requires a detailed itinerary (blah blah blah) so i just went to a chinese travel agency which promptly made up a bunch of details for $25. we are def. an organized bunch but not that organized that we have all the minute details of China planned.
what is a bit annoying is how much us citizens have to pay vs. non-us citizens. alan only paid $50 for his tanzania visa, but i had to pay $100.
