In the headline I quote freely a popular Russian film, "Peculiarities of the National Fishing". Why? Because my last trip to Petrozavodsk was great in all other aspects except transport-wise. I admit, it is incredible that by just 60 € you you will be transported from your home door almost anywhere in Finland over the vast distance to Petrozavodsk, Eastern Karelia. From my home that is about 600 km - figure out yourself how profitable that can be!

Great, yes, but when your driver arrives four hours late and his estimation of the arrival time is seven hours off the mark and you go conduct a rehearsal without actually sleeping at all during past 24 hours, you might feel a little annoyed, wouldn't you? Anyway, for Russians that is completely normal! Nobody in the packed minibus expressed slightest dissatisfaction during the ordeal... I, on the other hand am considering taking a train via St Petersburg next time.

Soon I will take off to another interesting trip: Flying to Manchester via Dublin on Ryanair. I took this route purely for budget reasons - Ryanair can be half cheaper than the "normal" airlines, especially if you are traveling with backpack only! The bad thing is they don't provide any connections, so you have to buy separate tickets for every wing of the trip and maybe sleep in the airport, as usually the connection times are awkward. Some help for planning that part of the trip can be found on the website "Budget Traveller's Guide to Sleeping in Airports".

I am planning to write an entry about How to Travel Cheap, because for a conducting student that really is essential information. You have to travel so much during your student years - to master classes, competitions, auditions, music festivals - that if you do it without due consideration you will definitely lose a lot of money. I think conducting actually is one of the most expensive disciplines to study! Has anyone else noticed the same?

Anyway, now I am off to England and hopefully I will return with some good news - or at least an interesting story!