[SWEDEN] My first Swedish parking ticket

Ugh what dumb luck!!! I got a parking ticket a few days ago.

Normally when I head home, I have to get a parking pass from the hotel reception. I drive up to the front of the hotel, park on the side of the road, get a parking pass, then I chill in my room for a bit - you can park on the road for 10 minutes - before I head back out to drive my car to the parking lot about 200 meters away. Then I head straight to dinner.

I followed that same routine one day and when I step out of the hotel lobby, I see a parking ticket on my car! WTF? I was there for less than 10 minutes! I step back into the hotel and ask the receptionist to explain the ticket to me. Apparently, the ticket was not for parking for more than 10 minutes, but for pointing the car in the wrong direction i.e. against the flow of traffic. In the Philippines, parking this way is not a problem hehe so I didn't know there was a rule like that. To make matters worse, my ticket costs 800 kronor or about P5600. Damn!!! That is a lot of money for parking in the wrong direction for less than 10 minutes.

Anyway, I never made that mistake again. Ah well, I guess you could say your experience in a new country will never be complete unless you have some infraction against the law hehe. Okay that is not true, but I will just think of it that way so I'm not too bummed about the 800 kronor I just flushed down the toilet...