passport question

If you have a valid visa for that other country, sure. There's no need for you to ckeck into the US first. I'm assuming here that you're talking about a US passport?

Sounds like the reasonable thing. Like Merry Andrew said, it depends on what country you're trying to access and from what country you are accessing the next country from is also a key factor, regarding the issue of visas. I've been looking around at the possibilities of getting a visa for work reasons and the online application asks what country are you from and what country will you be leaving in order to enter the country in which you are requesting a visa for.

True, dat. Don't try to go to Saudi Arabia directly from Israel, for example. Better if you don't even have an Israeli visa stamp in your pasport if you're going on to certain Muslim countries.

Better steer clear of any country which leading industry is kidnapping and ransoming of foreigners.

Of course, Saudi Arabia isn't one of those countries but still not a tourist friendly country either.

It's fairly common when visiting one country to go to a neighbouring country for a day or two, sometimes it only takes a few hours in order to comply with Visa requirements. In Thailand, guests will go to Burma or Cambodia for example..