A TEENAGER has been living a life of luxury for just £8,500-a-year all whilst sitting on board a train.
Lasse Stolley, 17, has spent the last 18 months train-hopping across Germany to the point where he sometimes spends 24-hours in a carriage even doing his job surrounded by stressed out commuters.
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Lasse travels a whopping 600 miles daily through bustling towns and cities in his Deutsche Bahn train seat.
But despite the thought of living on a train being hellish for many of us, the young German always travels in style and ultimate comfort.
Travelling in first class and sleeping on specially designed night trains, the teenager has really cracked the code with no bills and a stress free life.
The only real time Lasse feels the need to hop off is to take a shower in public swimming pools or to grab some high quality food.
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But one of the biggest perks of his train lifestyle is the fact he can do his job while exploring the country.
As a self-employed software developer and lifestyle blogger Lasse has complete freedom over his working hours.
And with the benefit of free Wifi on board the trains he uses, work could literally not be any easier.
Lasse told Business Insider: “I decided to live on a train when I was 16 years old. My school days were behind me and the whole world was open to me.
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“So in the summer of 2022, I decided to give in to my wanderlust, leave my parents’ house behind and embark on a huge adventure.”
‘The early months were tough and I had to learn a lot about how it all worked. Everything was different than how I’d imagined.”
Since embarking on his ambitious mission to live his dream life, Lasse thinks he has covered an incredible 310,000 miles.
The teenager also revealed that his lifestyle only costs him £8,500-a-year despite Lasse having the freedom to go wherever he likes.
The bulk of the cost comes from his unlimited annual railcard that means he can hop on and off whatever trains he likes.
In a recent blog post where Lasse recapped his 2023 he said that “the last few months have been the most intense of the whole year”.
My home is the train
Lasse Stolley
Explaining how his life on a moving train works, Lasse said: “If I feel like travelling to the sea, I take the train north in the morning.
“If I long for the hustle and bustle of the big city, then I look for a connection to Berlin or Munich.
“Or I take the express train to the Alps for a hiking trip.”
“At night I sleep on the moving Intercity Express (ICE) train and during the day I sit in a seat, at a table and work as a programmer, surrounded by many other commuters and passengers.
“My home is the train.”
THE DOWNSIDES
For the 17-year-old one of the only challenges is his limited luggage space.
Lugging round a heavy bag or two everywhere you go isn’t ideal so Lasse always travels light – a skill he’s learnt since becoming a non-stop traveller.
“The most important thing is my laptop and my noise-cancelling headphones, which at least give me a little privacy on the train,” he said.
“Since the available space is very limited, you have to choose carefully what you really need. It means getting rid of unnecessary items and limiting yourself to the bare essentials.
“The challenge of not accumulating more and more things is a central component of minimalist living. Especially with a backpack, you quickly reach a space limit.”
For many, another issue will be when to relax.
But Lasse has come up with an easy solution to relax his mind and deal with the hassle of busy trains sometimes.
He just looks out the window and watches the outside world fly by as he travels at high speeds, letting his thought run away with himself.
When not travelling on a train however, Lasse explores the places he has ended up.
One of his main goals in life is to try and do as many things as possible in as many different places – hence living on a train being the perfect life for him.
And it seems like Germany is the perfect place to be for people thinking about train life.
As a woman who ditched being a tenant to live on the railways said she know feels like she’s always on holiday.
After a fight with her landlord, Leonie Müller decided to move out of her apartment and bought a £300 pass that would allow her to board all trains in Germany for free.
She would wash her hair in train bathrooms and said she enjoyed the liberty the train offered her.
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She told the Washington Post at the time: “I really feel at home on trains and can visit so many more friends and cities.
“It’s like being on vacation all the time.”
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