I'm in Vietnam. The visa process is a bit messy if you have an Irish passport (some countries don't need a visa, Ireland does). It's "online" but actually you go online and find one of many travel companies and they apply for you. The Vietnam govt does not have an online service. So actually it takes some time and at the weekend it's worse. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security by "online", you need to do things 3-4 *business* days in advance.
If you're in a country with a Vietnamese embassy, doing it in person there might be best. Otherwise I can recommend
They were quick to respond, even on the weekend and everything was smooth (and they were the cheapest I found for the super-express weekend service).
And then the taxi driver drove like a young Anakin Skywalker in a pod-racer. Brought me close to my hotel and tried to charge me 10x from the airport! He had a meter but he had doctored it to say 1000x instead of 100x! In the end I paid pretty close to the right price but stress on top of an already stressy day. Kept telling me he saw the money in my wallet. I kept telling him to fuck off.
Dude put his cell-phone on the dash, not for Google maps, for youtube!
