17 ms·

Sounds alright really. Less dystopian than living in Google's car park. Doesn't work with dog or family and I'm not sure about being stuck near train stations a

Sounds alright really. Less dystopian than living in Google's car park. Doesn't work with dog or family and I'm not sure about being stuck near train stations at destinations, folding bicycle would improve things. Not remotely surprised that he's a programmer. This is essentially living subsidised by the train company who didn't expect someone to take an unlimited train ticket quite that literally. One guy doing this could be interpreted as marketing. A hundred would focus the operator's mind on words like "fair use". Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience.

safety1st 3y ago
This kid is 17. What a chad! As long as he doesn't let less interesting people beat the creative spirit out of him, he's going to go places in life. I mean he's already doing so, about 800 miles worth of places per day
- Zetobal 3y ago
  Or he just dwells on this one thing for the rest of his life like many others did before him...
  - WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
    In my exp if they're dwelling on one thing, they fell into it. Engineering a situation implies they worked out how to control things in their environment. Not all environments are conducive to musterable control but when it lines up stuff can happen.
- martindbp 3y ago
  Great thing to do when you're young, why not. I slept on a mattress in a closet for a year. Standards increase as you age, not just because you can but because you get increasingly tired. I held out as long as I could, sleeping in cheap hostels when traveling, but after one night of drunk people coming into the dorm causing days of fatigue I realized it's time to up the standards. Or just not travel.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  Does "Chad" have positive connotations now? When I was younger it was fairly derogatory.
  - ribosometronome 3y ago
    I believe incels co-opted and elevated Chads (using it to essentially refer to guys who have sex) and it became memed outside of just the incel community. https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/virgin-vs-chad-meme/ https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/virgin-vs-chad-meme/
    - aidenn0 3y ago
      So it went from "asshole" to "asshole who has lots of sex" to "guy who has lots of sex"? That kind of makes sense.
      - ribosometronome 3y ago
        Exactly! My understanding is the incels believe women are responding favorably to that asshole behavior thus the connection to the original meaning but also how it tied into their obsession. Not sure that way of thinking has worked out well for anyone save for being a redemption arc for the Chads of the world.
RamblingCTO 3y ago
He's not the only one though. I read about a guy that spends his whole days in trains, driving the whole day through Germany. They accounted for that, I'm sure. It just these people are in, what, the 0.000001% or something? He's subsidized by the state and other passengers, not the company.
- carlmr 3y ago
  >It just these people are in, what, the 0.000001% or something? Exactly. It's not comfortable, it's not safe and cozy, it's not that cheap that homeless people would buy the BahnCard 100 that you couldn't find some form of cohabitation for a similar price. And then there's the constant strikes as of now, so you might go days without shelter or need to pay for hotels which adds up quickly. I'd say this is a rounding error
  - kwhitefoot 3y ago
    > it's not safe and cozy What's unsafe about it?
    - lillecarl 3y ago
      Ending up at "random" train stations at weird times with all your experience belongings
      - pixxel 3y ago
        He sounds like a confident young man; not one who quivers at the thought of travelling.
        temporarara 3y ago
        Being a confident young man can be pretty disastrous if you end up in wrong place wrong time. "The world is my oyster" levels of confidence can get you in trouble really fast. Not that it is the most likely scenario in Germany, but it is not a place where you can completely drop your guards everywhere all the time. Though I guess he is aware of the risks and acts accordingly.
ta1243 3y ago
The marginal cost of the journey is tiny. If he didn't pay the £8500 then the trains would still run.
flohofwoe 3y ago
> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse. 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 guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1st class Bahncard 100 because the 1st class usually isn't as extremely overcrowded as the 2nd class.
- me_me_me 3y ago
  7714 per year is 600 per month €600/month In Dublin would get you a 1m2 closet and shit bucket
  - flohofwoe 3y ago
    Granted, I have a fairly "old" rent contract from before Berlin became posh. I guess the kid looked at current rents in German cities and then figured out that a Bahncard 100 actually isn't such a bad deal if you don't also have to pay rent ;) And TBH, as a new experience I can understand him, but I wonder how long it will take until he grows weary of the lifestyle, German cities all look a bit run down and depressing when arriving by train. Props to him for giving it a try though.
    - rockyj 3y ago
      To put this in context - The kid is 17. My daughter is 17 and she goes to school (11th grade) in Germany. I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. Kinda feels strange that someone so young is fending for himself and living in trains. Not saying it is bad, but just very uncommon. Also this is probably a "try it for a while" thing rather than the permanent / long-term lifestyle.
      - throwup238 3y ago
        Or he could become a drifter and graduate to roomier freight train cars. Probably cheaper too. I don’t know if that’s as viable a lifestyle in Europe as it is in the US, though.
locallost 3y ago
All fair points, but I don't think the company minds that much. His average price is low especially for 1st class, but they do have a small number of cheap tickets you can get if you book fast enough or there isn't much demand. I once booked an 8-hour international 1st class ride for 35 euros. The full price was something like 250. There is for sure a threshold where it would be too many people, but I don't think they'd mind a few more people dropped 8k on this. First class is not that full and 8k is 8k. On a personal note, I like trains, but not that much. One downside is that it's not guaranteed that he spends all his time in one train. It can be a bit of a distraction to have to switch trains. And also a bit tiring. Although since he I guess rides without a real destination he can just pick a train that goes across Germany, something like Hamburg - Freiburg.
- KptMarchewa 3y ago
  >I once booked an 8-hour international 1st class ride for 35 euros. If you book like 2-3 weeks ahead, there's plenty of 35 EUR first class tickets on the Warsaw-Berlin trains.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

safety1st 3y ago

This kid is 17. What a chad! As long as he doesn't let less interesting people beat the creative spirit out of him, he's going to go places in life. I mean he's already doing so, about 800 miles worth of places per day

Zetobal 3y ago
Or he just dwells on this one thing for the rest of his life like many others did before him...
- WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
  In my exp if they're dwelling on one thing, they fell into it. Engineering a situation implies they worked out how to control things in their environment. Not all environments are conducive to musterable control but when it lines up stuff can happen.
martindbp 3y ago
Great thing to do when you're young, why not. I slept on a mattress in a closet for a year. Standards increase as you age, not just because you can but because you get increasingly tired. I held out as long as I could, sleeping in cheap hostels when traveling, but after one night of drunk people coming into the dorm causing days of fatigue I realized it's time to up the standards. Or just not travel.
aidenn0 3y ago
Does "Chad" have positive connotations now? When I was younger it was fairly derogatory.
- ribosometronome 3y ago
  I believe incels co-opted and elevated Chads (using it to essentially refer to guys who have sex) and it became memed outside of just the incel community. https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/virgin-vs-chad-meme/ https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/virgin-vs-chad-meme/
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    So it went from "asshole" to "asshole who has lots of sex" to "guy who has lots of sex"? That kind of makes sense.
    - ribosometronome 3y ago
      Exactly! My understanding is the incels believe women are responding favorably to that asshole behavior thus the connection to the original meaning but also how it tied into their obsession. Not sure that way of thinking has worked out well for anyone save for being a redemption arc for the Chads of the world.

RamblingCTO 3y ago

He's not the only one though. I read about a guy that spends his whole days in trains, driving the whole day through Germany. They accounted for that, I'm sure. It just these people are in, what, the 0.000001% or something? He's subsidized by the state and other passengers, not the company.

carlmr 3y ago
>It just these people are in, what, the 0.000001% or something? Exactly. It's not comfortable, it's not safe and cozy, it's not that cheap that homeless people would buy the BahnCard 100 that you couldn't find some form of cohabitation for a similar price. And then there's the constant strikes as of now, so you might go days without shelter or need to pay for hotels which adds up quickly. I'd say this is a rounding error
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  > it's not safe and cozy What's unsafe about it?
  - lillecarl 3y ago
    Ending up at "random" train stations at weird times with all your experience belongings
    - pixxel 3y ago
      He sounds like a confident young man; not one who quivers at the thought of travelling.
      - temporarara 3y ago
        Being a confident young man can be pretty disastrous if you end up in wrong place wrong time. "The world is my oyster" levels of confidence can get you in trouble really fast. Not that it is the most likely scenario in Germany, but it is not a place where you can completely drop your guards everywhere all the time. Though I guess he is aware of the risks and acts accordingly.

ta1243 3y ago

The marginal cost of the journey is tiny. If he didn't pay the £8500 then the trains would still run.

flohofwoe 3y ago

> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse. 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 guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1st class Bahncard 100 because the 1st class usually isn't as extremely overcrowded as the 2nd class.

me_me_me 3y ago
7714 per year is 600 per month €600/month In Dublin would get you a 1m2 closet and shit bucket
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  Granted, I have a fairly "old" rent contract from before Berlin became posh. I guess the kid looked at current rents in German cities and then figured out that a Bahncard 100 actually isn't such a bad deal if you don't also have to pay rent ;) And TBH, as a new experience I can understand him, but I wonder how long it will take until he grows weary of the lifestyle, German cities all look a bit run down and depressing when arriving by train. Props to him for giving it a try though.
  - rockyj 3y ago
    To put this in context - The kid is 17. My daughter is 17 and she goes to school (11th grade) in Germany. I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. Kinda feels strange that someone so young is fending for himself and living in trains. Not saying it is bad, but just very uncommon. Also this is probably a "try it for a while" thing rather than the permanent / long-term lifestyle.
    - throwup238 3y ago
      Or he could become a drifter and graduate to roomier freight train cars. Probably cheaper too. I don’t know if that’s as viable a lifestyle in Europe as it is in the US, though.

locallost 3y ago

All fair points, but I don't think the company minds that much. His average price is low especially for 1st class, but they do have a small number of cheap tickets you can get if you book fast enough or there isn't much demand. I once booked an 8-hour international 1st class ride for 35 euros. The full price was something like 250. There is for sure a threshold where it would be too many people, but I don't think they'd mind a few more people dropped 8k on this. First class is not that full and 8k is 8k. On a personal note, I like trains, but not that much. One downside is that it's not guaranteed that he spends all his time in one train. It can be a bit of a distraction to have to switch trains. And also a bit tiring. Although since he I guess rides without a real destination he can just pick a train that goes across Germany, something like Hamburg - Freiburg.

KptMarchewa 3y ago
>I once booked an 8-hour international 1st class ride for 35 euros. If you book like 2-3 weeks ahead, there's plenty of 35 EUR first class tickets on the Warsaw-Berlin trains.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]