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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

#381

Post by brewdad »

jen20 wrote: post #224
gspetr wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or being unable to travel at certain times at all. This is all fine and dandy until enough people decide to travel by car, and eventually there are traffic jams making you virtually unable to travel (by car) at certain times as well.

The times are different though. Plus the time when there tends to be the most traffic is when train fairs can be so ludicrous that it was not unreasonable for a group of 4 to consider chartering a helicopter from Bath to London instead.

You aren't lying. I recently visited London and did a day-trip by train to Oxford. I booked my ticket way ahead for 12 Pounds each way. If I had waited and bought a ticket at the station on the day of travel, it would have been closer to 80 Pounds each way IIRC. There was a bus option as well but I wasn't aware of it until I was already in Oxford. Bus was 13 Pounds each way.

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

#382

Post by mrandish »

pdpi wrote: post #287
flohofwoe wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Armed train robberies are not all that common in Germany though.

In his position, train robberies aren't the first problem that comes to mind. Just somebody stealing my backpack with all my earthly possessions.

Pretty easy to reduce the chances of that with a lightweight cable lock. Just lock it around a seat post or armrest. A combination lock on the main compartment of his backpack would stop casual pilfering too.

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

#383

Post by mundays »

elif wrote: post #358

I've dreamed (and planned) on taking a 3 month trip in Japan, sleeping on first class overnight shinkansen trains. They are needle drop quiet every single day and foreigners can get unlimited rail passes for a good deal (though not as amazing as it used to be)

Overnight trains in Japan are all but extinct now. Only two remain (but really, one). It seems that the economics just don't add up.

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

#384

Post by mrandish »

IMHO, more young people should do this kind of thing (within reason of course). Now that I'm older I realize I didn't appreciate how opportunities to do stuff like this often diminish in later phases of life. Personally, I did have some adventures kind of like this, but in retrospect, I should have done a bit more as I look back very fondly on those times.

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

#386

Post by curtisblaine »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #245
halper wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very arguably. Presuming the train has cameras, staff and other people on it, it could be argued it's safer than sleeping in a house.

it could be argued but then again you could argue that I'm actually the King of England. there is no question a private space would be better, and cameras or bystanders won't do jack for you until after the attack has started.

Or staff. Even if they are super efficient they 1) will never be there when the attack starts 2) will most probably not risk their own safety if the attack is violent 3) will call the police at the next station, since it doesn't make sense stopping the train in the middle of nothing. The best way of being safe is to avoid attacks in the first place. Being in a locked, enclose space (where you and you only control the lock) is much safer than being in a public space that anybody can occupy.

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

#387

Post by grecy »

sandworm101 wrote: post #317

I do not believe. Does this guy have a passport? Then he has a mailing address. He claims to work. Then he pays taxes. In which country? he has a mailing address. At 17, I'd bet good money that his mailing address is also his parent's mailing address. This is a gap student having fun bouncing around Europe, about as nomadic as any other backpacker.

I spent 10 years without setting foot in the country I have a passport for.

I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina all on tourist visas. I spent 3 years driving around Africa all on tourist visas. Technically I could have done that without paying tax anywhere, though I continued to do so because I was working towards permanent residency in another country.

I now have a passport from a country I've never been to. I've renewed my passport from the country I was born in three times without going there.

I only need a mailing address to actually pick something up, and I usually use a friends address, or even that of a hostel or campground.

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

#388

Post by letsdothisagain »

chippiewill wrote: post #315
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…

> Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips" They can change that though (if there's a material cost impact to them of this). They could just say from next year that you're capped at N journeys per month or something, where N is a very large number for anyone other than someone trying to live on trains.

Tell me you're a landlord without telling me you're a landlord.

"How dare this fucker weasel his way out of giving me 50% of his income! That's MY money!"

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

#389

Post by TylerE »

chippiewill wrote: post #315
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…

> Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips" They can change that though (if there's a material cost impact to them of this). They could just say from next year that you're capped at N journeys per month or something, where N is a very large number for anyone other than someone trying to live on trains.

How do you do that and not screw over someone who has to make two transfers each way to work?

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

#390

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]
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