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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

#401

Post by JackSlateur »

jamiek88 wrote: post #371
flohofwoe wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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

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

#402

Post by flohofwoe »

jamiek88 wrote: post #371
flohofwoe wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

What better place to be overly pedantic than the HN comment section ;)

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

#403

Post by probablynish »

grecy wrote: post #387
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 bee…

> I continued to do so because I was working towards permanent residency in another country.

I'm curious, what country let you work towards permanent residency without you being physically present in it? (Sounds like you were driving around different places at the time)

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

#404

Post by shankr »

asynchronous wrote: post #272
corobo wrote: post #47

I love trains as much as the next nerd but that's a heck of a commitment haha I think if I wanted to do the digital nomad thing I'd have to cheat on the nomad bit a little and have an anchor flat somewhere.. where else would I keep the NAS?! As it stands my lil studio flat is 300/yr cheaper with all bills inc and has a coffee machine built into the (admittedly communal, but massive) kitchen. Plenty of caffeine, plent…

Where do you find a flat that cheap? Genuine question, housing in the US is borked currently.

Wherever the pay is proportionally lower. If people are making 1500 bucks then charging them 2000 won't work.

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

#405

Post by jpalawaga »

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.

does passport necessitate mailing address?

but anyhow, you could plausibly get by with not paying any taxes by continuously moving countries. The real question is to which bank is the payment being made? If your an employee you'll probably have your income reported. you could skirt that, somewhat, by being a contractor, but even then, to which business, or to which bank account is being made?

Anyhow, none of that precludes him from being a nomad. it seems you have more of a bone to pick with the choice of the word nomad, which descends from 'noman' or more modernly 'nobody'. I think it has more to do with a lack of permanent community than a lack of a mailing address.

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

#406

Post by grecy »

probablynish wrote: post #403
grecy wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 bee…

> I continued to do so because I was working towards permanent residency in another country. I'm curious, what country let you work towards permanent residency without you being physically present in it? (Sounds like you were driving around different places at the time)

Sorry, typo. I was working towards citizenship and wanted to keep my PR.

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

#407

Post by dfxm12 »

obmelvin wrote: post #380
dfxm12 wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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

Can you elaborate on why you imagine this?

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

#408

Post by lenkite »

I always enjoyed Deutsche Bahn whenever I traveled to Germany. Such a user-friendly experience for an international tourist. Even before the smartphone era it was easy to book tickets at the machine. Just hop and go to another city and return with the night train!

Saw so many places without the stress of driving.

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

#409

Post by syndicatedjelly »

boppo1 wrote: post #400
mrandish wrote: post #384

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.

Would have done tons of things like this if I didn't have student loans hanging over my head.

Don’t create mental blocks like that in your head just because everyone else in your age group says the same thing. You don’t have to zap every penny of debt in order to enjoy your life.

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

#410

Post by probablynish »

grecy wrote: post #406
probablynish wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I continued to do so because I was working towards permanent residency in another country. I'm curious, what country let you work towards permanent residency without you being physically present in it? (Sounds like you were driving around different places at the time)

Sorry, typo. I was working towards citizenship and wanted to keep my PR.

Ah, I see - same question though, I'm curious which citizenship you eventually acquired without stepping foot in the country?

BTW I spent the last 15 mins enjoying your blog, particularly the entries on Tanzania (I grew up there). Glad you enjoyed your time there :)

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