A 17-year-old boy has been living on a train for two years

Lasse Stolley could have chosen to live a ‘traditional’ life. Finish studies at school, continue with an education and eventually look to earn a living. But, far from it, this intrepid 17-year-old has other ideas.

This German teenager has lived ‘on rails’ for almost two years, literally. Stolley has been living from train to train.

“I’m Lasse, I’m 17 years old and I love traveling! I have been living on the train since the summer of 2022 and I have changed my permanent residence for a 1st class BahnCard 100”, the caption reads. This is a type of German train ticket that allows unlimited trips on board any train of the country’s railway service.

As the young man explains, living on board the train allows him to have freedom to decide where to go at any time. And, in all this time, it has traveled more than 394,000 miles (635,000 kilometers) through every corner of Europe.

“Having breakfast by the Baltic Sea in the morning and enjoying the sunset in the Alps at night: the possibilities are endless!”, he adds about his way of life.

A 5,900 euro bill

The subscription with which this young German travels to all corners of the country is one of the most exclusive, with a price of around 5,900 euros per year. Thanks to this you can enjoy every centimeter of the German railway network, aboard regional, metropolitan and high-speed trains. Stolley estimates that he travels about 960 kilometers a day every day. In addition to the price of the subscription, the derived expenses, such as clothing, food or tickets to museums, among others, raise the bill to 10,000 euros a year.

Having a job is not a problem as he can do it while travelling; he is a programmer for a mobile application start-up. Simply turn on the computer, grab a seat with a table (if possible) and start working. And, in his free time, he enjoys tourist places around Europe. Who wouldn’t!

Go out (almost) with what you're wearing

In the summer of 2022 he decided to leave his home in Fockbek, Schleswig-Holstein, behind to join a new adventure. And he did it with hardly any luggage: four t-shirts, two pants and not much more underwear inside a 36-liter backpack.

“I exchanged the abundance of possessions for minimalism”, he says in his blog, in which he narrates his adventures.

In addition to this, you have at your disposal a travel blanket for the coldest days and a pillow for the neck. He plans his daily life through an application, with which he manages his routes. And to make the most of his time, he tries to sleep on overnight trips, sometimes in private cabins and, when this is not possible, in shared rooms or in his own seat. Headphones, however, are your inseparable companions to avoid any noise that may keep you awake.

In his daily life, he also takes the opportunity to have breakfast in the dining car and wash his clothes in public sinks and pools that are along his way. Perhaps your approach for the future is born from this lifestyle. “My wish would be to give advice to transport companies. For example, Deutsche Bahn or train manufacturers, and get paid for it.”