I spend £8,000 a year living on a train but I wouldn’t change it for the world
A TEENAGER is living the life of luxury on just £8,500 a year while on board a train.
Lasse Stolley, 17, has been traveling across the border by train for the past 18 months Germany to the point where he sometimes spends 24 hours in a carriage, doing his job, surrounded by stressed-out commuters.
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Lasse travels no less than 900 kilometers every day through bustling villages and towns in his Deutsche Bahn train seat.
But even though the thought of living on a train is hell for many of us, the young German always travels in style and ultimate comfort.
Traveling in first class and sleeping on specially designed night trains, the teen has truly cracked the code with no bills and a stress-free life.
The only real time Lasse feels the need to step out is to shower at public pools or grab some quality food.
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But one of the biggest perks of his train lifestyle is the fact that he can get work done while exploring the country.
As an independent software developer and lifestyle blogger, Lasse has complete freedom over his working hours.
And with the benefit of free Wi-Fi on board the trains he uses, the job literally couldn’t be easier.
Lasse said Business insider: “I decided to live on the train at the age of 16. My school days were behind me and the whole world was open to me.
“So in the summer of 2022, I decided to give in to my wanderlust, leave my parents’ house behind and embark on a big adventure.”
‘The first months were tough and I had to learn a lot about how it all worked. Everything was different than I imagined.”
Since he started his ambitious mission to live his dream life, Lasse believes he has traveled an incredible 500,000 kilometers.
The teenager also revealed that his lifestyle only costs him £8,500 a year, despite Lasse having the freedom to come and go as he pleases.
Most of the cost comes from his unlimited annual rail pass, which means he can get on and off the trains he wants.
In a recent blog post in which Lasse summarized his 2023, he said that “the last few months have been the most intense of the entire year.”
My home is the train
Lasse Stolley
Explaining how his life on a moving train works, Lasse said: “If I feel like traveling to the sea, I take the train north in the morning.
“If I long for the hustle and bustle of the big city, I look for a connection with Berlin or Munich.
“Or I take the express train to the Alps for a hike.”
‘At night I sleep on the moving Intercity Express (ICE) train and during the day I sit on a chair, at a table and work as a programmer, surrounded by many other commuters and passengers.
“My home is the train.”
THE CONS
For the 17-year-old, one of the only challenges is his limited luggage space.
Lugging a heavy bag or two around isn’t ideal, so Lasse always travels light – a skill he’s learned since becoming a non-stop traveler.
“The most important thing is my laptop and my noise-canceling headphones, which at least give me a little privacy on the train,” he said.
“Because available space is very limited, you have to carefully choose what you really need. It means throwing away unnecessary items and limiting yourself to the bare essentials.
“The challenge of not collecting more and more things is a central part of minimalist living. Especially with a backpack you quickly reach a space limit.”
For many, another problem will be when to relax.
But Lasse has come up with an easy solution to relax his mind and deal with the hassle of sometimes busy trains.
He just looks out the window and watches the outside world fly by as he travels at high speed, letting his thoughts run away with themselves.
But when he’s not traveling by train, Lasse explores the places he ended up.
One of his main goals in life is to try to do as many things as possible in as many different places as possible. That’s why life on the train is the perfect life for him.
And it seems like Germany is the perfect place for people thinking about train life.
As one woman who left her tenanthood to live on the railroad said, it feels like she’s always on vacation.
After an argument with her landlord, Leonie Müller decided to move out of her apartment and bought a £300 pass that allowed her to board all trains in Germany for free.
She washed her hair in the train bathroom and said she enjoyed the freedom the train offered her.
She told me WashingtonPost at the time: “I really feel at home on the train and can visit so many more friends and cities.
“It’s like you’re on vacation all the time.”
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