Real Life Story: An Australian friend of mine was taking the "trip of his life", flying around through Europe and North Africa for over half a year, with some trains or buses thrown in. He had saved years for this trip. At the end, he wanted to travel in style on the Transsiberian railway from Europe to China and fly back home from there (maybe Hongkong).
But he needed a Russian visa. In Australia he was told that he can't have a visa more than six months ahead. He should apply in Europe. In Vienna, he went to the consulate one morning, stood in line for hours and when it was his turn they closed. "Come back tomorrow." But tomorrow he was in Budapest already. So he went to the Russian consulate in Budapest, where he was told that he had to apply at the Russian consulate in Australia since his residence and/or citizenship was in Australia.
He never went on the Transsiberian railway and spent his savings in other countries.
Now if he had needed a visa for the Schengen area, it would probably have been no better.