Europe

‘I could rent an apartment, but why?’ The teenager who lives on Germany’s high-speed trains

Lasse Stolley has become a minor celebrity thanks to his unusual life aboard the country’s train network

Lasse Stolley: 'Once someone didn’t see me under my sleeping bag and dumped a microwave in on top of me.' Photograph: Derek Scally

Derek Scally's face
Derek Scally in Berlin
Sun Apr 28 2024 - 08:11

Every morning, Lasse Stolley wakes up to a new vista outside his window. One day it’s the glittering Baltic Sea, the next the snow-covered Alps.

The 17-year-old has become a minor celebrity in Germany thanks to his unusual life aboard the country’s high-speed train network.

In a cafe adjacent to Berlin’s central station, Stolley presents his journey log and announces a new landmark.

“I’ve travelled 600,000km since I began in August 2022, that’s 15 times around the Earth,” he says with a smile. “I enjoy the freedom of not being bound to one place.”

READ MORE

It’s quite a lifestyle change given how, this time two years ago, Stolley had rarely left his northern German home – and certainly not by train. Were his parents worried by his plan?

“At the start, yes, as I had no experience of travel but they are fairly happy now about the positive change in me, the new experiences and the new people I’ve met,” says Stolley, who programmes smartphone apps for a living.

Key to it all is the BahnCard 100, a flat-rate ticket which that the holder travel as much as they want on the German rail network.

Originally Stolley bought the annual second-class youth ticket for €2,600 but has upgraded since to the first-class ticket for €5,888. (The adult BahnCard 100 costs about €4,000 and €7,700 for second- and first-class respectively).

Lasse Stolley: key to it his travel is the BahnCard 100, a flat-rate ticket that allows the holder unlimited travel on the German rail network. Photograph: Derek Scally

Though Europe is experiencing a renaissance in night trains, offering travellers proper beds and bathrooms, Stolley’s ticket limits him to regular overnight trains operated by national rail company Deutsche Bahn (DB).

He has become an expert on how to pick a quiet train – check the soccer fixtures – and find an empty carriage. He is happy to stretch out on regular seats but he used to snooze in the carriage luggage area.

“Once someone didn’t see me there under my sleeping bag and dumped a microwave in on top of me,” he says.

By now he is so used to sleeping on trains that, when he has the odd night back in his old bed, he wakes up with neck cramps.

Mostly things go well and Lasse no longer needs earplugs or his airbed. He has rationalised his other possessions, too: after starting with a 60-litre rucksack he has halved that again.

“Minimalism was always my thing, and having as few things as possible means I don’t have to think about things and have more time for the beautiful things in life,” he says.

So what is Germany’s best rail route? The most beautiful, he says, is the stretch along the Rhine vineyards from Frankfurt to Cologne where the trains travel at speeds of up to 300km/h.

“You go up and down like a high-speed rollercoaster,” he adds.

Train travel in Germany isn’t the pleasure it used to be: after years of underinvestment, previously rare journey delays can now be epic. Stolley is philosophical about the challenges, saying Germans “love to moan” and that big investment projects are under way.

“The vast majority of trains are still punctual and no motorist complains if they arrive somewhere six minutes late,” he says.

With lines like that, the 17-year-old sounds at times like a spokesman for Deutsche Bahn. Surely they should sponsor his annual train ticket? After all it costs DB little to transport a sleeping teenager every night – and they are getting lots of free, positive publicity in return.

Stolley shakes his head with a smile. The journeys cost DB little but, every day, he eats his breakfast, lunch and dinner in the rail company’s first-class station lounges. The food is simple – fruit, focaccia, soup, pizza – but it’s enough for the lanky teenager.

“I think they are afraid other people will follow my example,” he says, “but the law in Germany means Deutsche Bahn has a conveyance obligation which doesn’t limit how often I can travel.”

Stolley’s girlfriend is a fellow train enthusiast. And after two years on the rails, he is ready for another BahnCard 100 and another few climate-friendly laps.

“I could rent an apartment, but why?” says Stolley. “I am not lonely and I have so many friends everywhere.”

  • Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
  • Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
  • Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here
GermanyFor You