I spent a lot of last night downloading the new album (and filmclips) by Prata Vetra.
They are called Brainstorm in English but have now officially reverted to their Latvian name due to the fact there's also a German heavy metal band called it.

Anyway, I *love* them.
They came 3rd in Eurovision 2000, and since then I've bought their albums, downloaded their clips where I can and watched whatever little stuff on tv they have had on here (namely 2 other Eurovision appearances - hosting 2003 Eurovision, and co-hosting the 50 Years of Eurovision special). Renars Kaupers - the lead singer, is just such a cutie.

For me, Eurovision is about stuff like Prata Vetra. Finding hidden musical gems in a small part of the world. Usually its surrounded by trash, but finding one great artist every 4 years or so keeps me watching. Like Swedish band The Ark in Eurovision 2007. Glam pop just like T-Rex... since been included in a number of film soundtracks (eg. Shortbus) I like.

So... their new album... Its entirely in Latvian. Don't understand a word of it.
I still love it. It rocks in much the same way as the likes of Kaiser Chiefs. Prata Vetra has always sounded quite Britpop like and thats why I love them.

I enjoy the music itself, much like how I enjoy certain German songs I've got on my Ipod. I understand some of the lyrics, but I get caught up in the melodies more. There's also the fact that when I hear those songs, it brings back memories of Berlin for me. Stuff like 'MfG' by Die Fanta Fier (I danced to it in nightclubs with my penpal), 'Wir Sind Wir' by Paul Van Dyjk (heard it on the plane as we were coming in to land at Berlin, and then playing all through the shops for the next 7 days) and Herbert Groenmeyer 'Mensch' in particular - it was no 1 on the charts when I was last there so I saw the clip for it on MTV at least 8 times in 2 days. I since have discovered the clip itself was by Anton Corbijn (the movie Control, as well as almost every Depeche Mode clip ever) and Herbert Groenmeyer is an actor in some very fine German films like Das Boot.

I believe the new Prata Vetra album will be released in English sometime early next year. I look forward to it, and god I hope my trip to Latvia coincides with a concert to celebrate its release. In the meantime, I've just ordered a DVD of their 2004 concerts in Latvian, so I'll enjoy it and try to understand what I have to look forward to.

I have now paid for my whole airfare AND booked (and paid for) all my accommodation for the WHOLE overseas trip next year. I paid off the flight and Moscow B&B today which took care of things. I've got beds in Helsinki, Moscow, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, Berlin, Krakow, Edinburgh and London. woohoo!
(and I must highly recommend hostelbookers.com - I got a lot of great/cheap B&Bs booked from there - no 8 bed dorms for me!)

That officially means I've paid for almost half of my entire trip and I'm well ahead of schedule. I have 9 months to save another $5500... I reckon I can do it easily.

Of course, I have something like $50 to survive on for a week now, but geez it feels good knowing I somehow managed to save up $4500 in the past 3 months for this dream holiday.

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I booked a place to stay in Moscow last week (a B&B that was 4 stops from the Eurovision venue, 2 stops from the Kremlin - lets call them Kita Inn), and now they've emailed to say they have moved me to another B&B (mind you, still close by) but are upping the accommodation rate because of EUROVISION! So people there know its on then, and it just makes it doubly hard to find somewhere to stay.

I have no choice really, I'm accepting the higher cost, otherwise I'm gonna have to stay in a hostel in a room with 9 other people for a whole week. No thanks.

In better news, I have booked hotels to stay in at London and Berlin. 25 pounds in central London is unheard of. Even hostels cost more now. EasyHotel is South Kensington has saved the day.
And the Berlin hotel? Well, my favourite hotel EVER has a earlybird fee of 22 pounds a night on right now. Prior to seeing that, I was planning on staying at one of the very good Berlin hostels on offer. Its close to central Berlin (about 10 mins walk from the main train station), it has the best bed and pillows I've ever slept on, and it has a huge hall filled with buffet breakfast every morning - seriously never seen so much food on offer, with every type of breakfast food. When I stayed there I only ate food from the breakfast - I ate 3 serves of food then made rolls with the food for later.

OlivaerApart Hotel in Berlin - highly recommended to you all.

woooohoooo!

The UK fanclub spoke to the Eurovision organising committee and they said I can apply for the UK fanclub ticket ballot for Eurovision!!!!!
As my Eurovision fan friends told me, the trick to getting tickets really is to be a fanclub member. Show your love for Eurovision.

The 'Rest of the World' fanclub (esckaz.com) have not bothered to reply despite 5 emails and a letter sent there via post including an international post coupon so they wouldn't have to pay for postage to reply. And because I've been a member of the UK club for a year, they were willing to let me apply.

I'm posting off my application tomorrow, and fingers crossed, floor tix to Eurovision shall be mine!

I'm now booked in for Moscow -

7 May 09 - Melbourne - Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) connect Hong Kong - Helsinki (Finnair)
Staying in Helsinki for 2 nights
9 May 09 - Helsinki - Moscow (Finnair)
Eurovision is on 12/14/16 May in Moscow.
Travelling onto St Petersburg/Tallinn/Riga/Krakow/Berlin/Edinburgh/London
5 June 09 - London - Melbourne (Qantas)

$2410 all up for the airfare.

Now another problem...
Its 9 months away, but do you know how hard it is to find a cheap, single room to stay in Moscow during Eurovision?
I've already applied for 7 places and 4 said they were booked out. Looks like I'm staying in a hostel then.

My 2009 Eurovision planning has started. My first ever trip to Eurovision!

In a massive act of boredom at work today, I started calling travel agents for quotes to Moscow next May. Travel.com.au tried to fob me off (thats a first) with a $2865 flight on Virgin Atlantic and Swiss Air. Over the course of the day I got another 2 agents quote me around $2585 for Finnair and Qantas (Harvey World and Russia & Beyond), then I got an online quote from Student Flights in Melbourne for $2410 on Finnair and Cathay Pacific (I'll have to stop overnight in Helsinki but I'm not complaining). I took the quote to Flight Centre in Bondi this afternoon and despite it being a related agency to them, they couln't/wouldn't match it (so much for their advertising!). I took it to STA Travel in Bondi and they said to leave the $2410 online quote with them and they will match it, if not better it. I should have an answer tomorrow.

I think getting an airfare down by $455 in one day is pretty good work. And if I can achieve an airfare under $2400, I'm booking and paying for it all next week. I honestly did not expect to find anything for under $2500 and I figure that I shall take the risk securing it despite not having Eurovision tix yet - airfares are only rising, not declining and its hard enough getting a flight to Moscow now let alone in 3 months when non-fanclub members start buying tix to Eurovision. Also, by paying for it all next payday with most of my salary after rent means that I've taken care of 1/4 of my total holiday spend a month earlier than scheduled. It will curb my current spend and not waste it on more dvds. And once I have the flight, I think it will spur me on to in fact save more because the dream is becoming a reality.

Of course, there's always the added bonus of proving my parents wrong. I *can* save money.