I’m not sure about VISA, cause I’m from Ukraine and as a post member of Soviet Union republics I can go there without VISA. But to avoid troubles in Tashkent, once you settle in some hotel, you should make city registration ticket – it’s for free and should be provided by hotel administration.

As a German, I got my visa pretty quickly, but just make sure to have a visa for all transit countries (i.e. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan), even if you are just driving through.

I was going there to work so my employer dealt with the visa application. I just had to go to the embassy in London and pick it up. I’m sure that the visa application is not as difficult to complete as say, for a Russian visa though.

You certainly can cross from Kazakhstan. I’ve not done it but I’ve heard from a few people that it’s not always a simple process but in my experience, difficulties at border crossings can vary from day to day and you never know how bad (or indeed good) the experience is going to be.