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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

#371

Post by jamiek88 »

flohofwoe wrote: post #268
jon-wood wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not. There was a little falling out that occurred in 2016, you might have heard of it.

EU and Europe are not the same thing (one is an organization, the other is a continent).

Yes and everyone understood what was meant from context without the pedantry.

Do you really think people don’t know which continent the UK belongs to?

Do you think people are in danger of thinking the UK is actually in Africa or Asia when the colloquialism of ‘Europe’ is used?

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

#372

Post by FirmwareBurner »

flohofwoe wrote: post #255
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…

> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse . Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance). I guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1…

>7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance)

What apartment can you still get for less than 640 Euros in Berlin today?

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

#373

Post by aidenn0 »

safety1st wrote: post #114
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…

This kid is 17. What a chad! As long as he doesn't let less interesting people beat the creative spirit out of him, he's going to go places in life. I mean he's already doing so, about 800 miles worth of places per day

Does "Chad" have positive connotations now? When I was younger it was fairly derogatory.

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

#374

Post by ncr100 »

flohofwoe wrote: post #303
ncr100 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about washing his clothing? What about doctors?

It's all in the article: "He travels first class, sleeps on night trains, has breakfast in DB lounges and takes showers in public swimming pools and leisure centres, all using his unlimited annual railcard." For washing your clothes there are plenty of laundromats in cities, for visiting the doctor or dentist, you make an appointment, and then plan your travels so that you are in the right city at the right time. It'…

Thank you for the reference @flohofwoe - I overlooked this!

Sounds fantastic.

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

#375

Post by sakjur »

MenhirMike wrote: post #350
moooo99 wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. It’s very common actually. As you probably know, Germany has a three tiered school system where kids move to after finishing elementary school at circa 10 years old. Going to school is mandatory for 9 years here, regardless of graduation or not. You’ll leave Mittelschule after grade 9, so at 1…

It's also the perfect age to do something like that. No lifestyle inflation or real responsibility yet, so go and do something crazy while you're young and carefree. I would recommend to any kid - if they can afford it/have the proper support system - to take off a year after finishing school and just explore. And if you need money, do try some freelancing and see if it suits you. And if you're done, you can always e…

And if you have a kid near you in your life, can afford it, and have no kids of your own, consider setting aside a little bit of money every month for this purpose. It really doesn't have to be a lot every month as it adds up (just make sure to invest it to not lose it to inflation).

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

#376

Post by JansjoFromIkea »

theBobBob wrote: post #318
mandmandam wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is literally nothing [0] available in Dublin City to rent for 600/month. 0 - https://www.daft.ie/property-for-rent/dublin-city?showMap=fa...

That is for renting a whole property. You will have to share with someone for €600 per month. Try the "Sharing" option in Daft for that.

Lowest I'm seeing in Blanchardstown for a room is €160 (the lower amounts are twin shares)

Lowest I'm seeing in all of Dublin is €140 once you exclude twin rooms, monday-to-friday terms and whatever "Dublin Host Families" is

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

#377

Post by brnt »

BigJ1211 wrote: post #328
brnt wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Netherlands You cannot possible rate the Netherlands good on comfort. It's cattle class, even on 'long' (for Dutch standards) haul routes. They _just_ started to operate carriages with power sockets! I rode better trains in Poland 10 years ago than in NL. I take el cheapo French TGV (Ouigo) over any Dutch rolling stock any day.

That really depends on the train you were taking. Intercity trains have had sockets for a while, but YMMV if this wasn't on the most used tracks. Short distance or trains that stop at towns (called sprinters) didn't. Haven't ridden a train in quite a few years so that might have changed. The trains are mostly on time though, which is something most countries fail at. Granted Dutch people still complain about public t…

NS uses a wilde variety of materiel for intercities, only a handful of new ones now that finally come with sockets. Never had a single one here at Maastricht. I did have a sprinter on intercity duty last time I went up north.

It's abysmal.

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

#378

Post by andai »

flohofwoe wrote: post #255
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…

> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse . Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance). I guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1…

Is the rest of Germany cheaper? That's wild, my student room in Holland ten years ago cost not much less than that.

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

#379

Post by brnt »

Tijdreiziger wrote: post #334
brnt wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Netherlands You cannot possible rate the Netherlands good on comfort. It's cattle class, even on 'long' (for Dutch standards) haul routes. They _just_ started to operate carriages with power sockets! I rode better trains in Poland 10 years ago than in NL. I take el cheapo French TGV (Ouigo) over any Dutch rolling stock any day.

Ouigo comfort is far less than any Dutch IC-class stock. Maybe the Ouigo is on par with Sprinter-class stock, but even then it’s a stretch. Compared to German stock — yes, the German stock is nicer (mainly has to do with different usage patterns, though — Netherlands train network has been said to resemble a country-sized metro network). Outlets — who cares, just bring a power bank — again, compare to networks like L…

That's so obviously incorrect that it'd be funny if those sprinters weren't so mightily uncomfortable. I guess it takes a Calvinist to prefer them.

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

#380

Post by obmelvin »

dfxm12 wrote: post #344
flohofwoe wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse . Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance). I guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1…

Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) I've heard Berlin is very expensive. I guess it's overblown like some other places I've lived that have a reputation for being "very expensive": if you're really looking, you can find affordable options, but the reporting data is being mostly skewed by outrageously expensive outliers.

Berlin is a very odd city for renting. There are so many protections for renters. I have a friend who's parents bought a place there while she was doing her PhD. She got a roommate who was starting a PhD at the same time. This friend has since done a PostDoc in the US and worked nearly 5 years here (read: the original rate was set a while ago). Meanwhile, her old-roommate refuses to move out, pay more in rent or pay for utilities. Through a combination of ignoring messages (knowing that no one is in the country) and citing every renter protection one can, this person continues to pay only ~500 euro/month for rent + all utilities.

It doesn't help that her parents live in a different EU country and need to use Russian-German lawyers, who seem to be fine taking money even if they can't do much.

I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit.

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