Our road to Eurovision has not been an easy one. Obtaining tickets was, of course, pivotal. While we had discussed going to soak up the party vibe regardless, deep down, we both knew that it just wouldn’t be the same travelling all that way if we weren’t going to the actual event.
Firstly, we had to work out how to buy tickets. Travel agencies in Australia had advertised Eurovision themed tours, however, a reading of the fine print revealed that these did not include the actual tickets. We would have to go it alone. To make sure we would find out when tickets for 2013 were on sale, we joined every online Eurovision themed newsletter or update we could find. Eventually the date was announced, and the time difference from Sweden meant that tickets would be on sale from the very reasonable hour of 8pm Australian time. To get in the Euro mood, we went for dinner at Una’s then returned to fire up the laptops. However, as we tried to buy tickets, we soon realised something was wrong. After entering the validation code, our payment was not accepted. Another check of the fine print revealed that non-European credit cards were only accepted via the telephone, not the website. Social media was in a frenzy with Australian and other non-European potential Eurovision audience members claiming discrimination. We tried calling, but with no luck. Australians had posted online that they had eventually got through, only to be told there was a 30 minute wait, which is prohibitive on a call from Australia to Sweden. We joined in the commiserations, posting our disappointment online.
We felt stunned. After all the initial excitement, the waiting and the preparation, it seemed our Eurovision dreams were dashed.
