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I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

metro.co.uk

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Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#121

Post by RamblingCTO »

JonChesterfield wrote: post #84

Sounds alright really. Less dystopian than living in Google's car park. Doesn't work with dog or family and I'm not sure about being stuck near train stations at destinations, folding bicycle would improve things. Not remotely surprised that he's a programmer. This is essentially living subsidised by the train company who didn't expect someone to take an unlimited train ticket quite that literally. One guy doing this…

He's not the only one though. I read about a guy that spends his whole days in trains, driving the whole day through Germany. They accounted for that, I'm sure. It just these people are in, what, the 0.000001% or something?

He's subsidized by the state and other passengers, not the company.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#122

Post by 0x000xca0xfe »

kristov wrote: post #96
oven9342 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He can visit relatives and friends whenever he feels like, no matter how far away they might be. Breakfast in Berlin, Dinner in München. His exit strategy is probably the same as mine, his bedroom at mom and pop’s hotel

It's not just about seeing people. It's about having deep connections and shared experiences. Eg: one of his friends has a life crisis and just needs to talk to someone. Are they going to hop on a train and track this guy down, or will they go see one of their other friends? So he will miss out being the person someone turns to, and these are the defining moments for long lasting friendships. Again, probably fine for…

Literally the other way around? Dude could hop on the train himself for free literally the same hour and see his friends no matter where they live in a couple hours?

Seriously, I have lived in remote regions and not everybody living there owns a car. Many people need hours to get to their friends as well.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#123

Post by interludead »

kristov wrote: post #62

Brave move, but I wonder how he keeps or makes new friendships and deeper relationships. Maybe this is fine for a while, but people need people (not just text in a chatroom), and I hope he has an exit strategy from this lifestyle, for this reason.

There are people who enjoy getting to know a full of new peopel everyday and do not need that kind of connection

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#124

Post by coldtea »

rob74 wrote: post #87
dagw wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the cost of eating only at restaurants The article says he often eats (for free) at the 1st class lounges at the train stations

That sounds a bit better than it really is: according to https://www.bahn.de/service/zug/db-lounge#zutritt (apparently only available in German), only 5 DB lounges (Berlin, München, Köln, Hamburg and Frankfurt) have a "premium area" where you can get a "small snack" - all others only offer non-alcoholic hot and cold beverages.

So? It's not like the reason he uses the train is for going remote places. So he could stick to travel from/to Berlin, München, Köln, Hamburg and Frankfurt most of the time.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#125

Post by 0x000xca0xfe »

troupo wrote: post #68
kristov wrote: post #62

Brave move, but I wonder how he keeps or makes new friendships and deeper relationships. Maybe this is fine for a while, but people need people (not just text in a chatroom), and I hope he has an exit strategy from this lifestyle, for this reason.

I wonder more how he keeps his clothes and underwear clean :)

He could also rent a couple of stash places with clothes and stuff like a movie undercover agent :)

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#126

Post by 01acheru »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #107
01acheru wrote: post #7

All fine and good, I hope he likes it but €10k is a lot of money to live more or less like a beggar. With €10k/y you can afford a house+food+bills in most of Europe and in many places it is way cheaper than that. So... yeah, I find it incredibly stupid.

No, you really really can't afford a house with 10K euros/year anywhere in europe even eastern europe. I live in EE, rent a 30m^2 studio, costs around 3K a year (just rent + utilities). I live in one of the cheapest countries in EE.

So... you afford a house for 3k/y and say that one cannot afford one for 10k/y? I'm missing something about your point. For 10k/y you can live in most of Europe, of course not the center of Paris or Munich or Amsterdam or whatever but there is a lot of Europe outside the center of large cities.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#127

Post by coldtea »

igetspam wrote: post #82
rrr_oh_man wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not now?

This is something you could do at 17 that you can't at 30+, with a partner and a kid. If full remote had been an option for me at 17, I'd have likely ended up a lifetime nomad. This is that.

Depends on the willingness of the partner and the age of the kid. Tons of people travel "nomad style", and even have wild adventures around the globe for months on end with small kids.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#128

Post by Freak_NL »

NeoTar wrote: post #6
Gasp0de wrote: post #2

So he's been sleeping in an uncomfortable plastic chair with the lights on for the past year. The things you can do while you're still 17.

There are some sleeper trains still in Germany - although you need to pay a supplement on top of the annual train-ticket to use them. It would limit you quite heavily to certain transport coridors though.

As mentioned elsewhere: none of these are free with the BahnCard 100, and most are fully booked quite a while in advance. He sleeps in regular night trains on the floor or on some seats, not in bunk or bed on sleeper trains.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#129

Post by Mvandenbergh »

pera wrote: post #69
Daviey wrote: post #5

Compared to the UK where a standard-class rail season ticket for me to get to London (including underground), at £8,272 p/y.. but for that, I also have the luxury of either standing in an overcrowded carriage, or if I am super lucky I get to sit in a seat that smells of urine.

I never understood why trains are so expensive in England: when I lived in Bristol I liked to spend time in Bath, it's just a ~10 minutes ride but it costed 10 pounds each way if I remember correctly... but at least you could bring your bike for free :p

There's a policy decision to cover as much as possible of the operating costs of the network from fares rather than government funding. The operating costs of UK trains per passenger-km is actually pretty competitive to European comparators but many countries fund a large part of the operating costs of their train networks from general taxation.
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