A Young Man Living on Trains Without a Home... "I've Traveled the Equivalent of 14 Times Around the Earth"

A story about a man who lived on trains without a home for a year and a half in Germany is gaining attention. It is known that the distance he has traveled by train so far is equivalent to circling the Earth 14 times.

On the 8th (local time), local media including the daily Frankfurter Rundschau reported the story of Lasse Stollai from the small northern German town of Vokbeck.

He purchased a ticket in August 2022, shortly after graduating from high school, for 5,888 euros (about 8.5 million KRW) that allowed unlimited use of German railways for one year. He chose the train because of the advantage of not being restricted by location.

Stollai, a software developer at a startup headquartered in Cologne, introduced himself as a "digital nomad" and "minimalist," saying, "My job allows me to work anytime and anywhere as long as I have my laptop." He said that all he owns is a 36-liter backpack, a few sets of clothes, and a blanket, adding, "The most important things are my laptop and noise-canceling headphones."

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Of course, living on trains was not as easy as he initially thought. He often stayed up at night and ended up dozing off during the day, and sometimes missed trains, leaving him stranded in unfamiliar places late at night. He said, "I realized that making precise plans is important."

Stollai does not spend all 24 hours inside trains. Depending on the weather and his mood, he sometimes visits seaside or Alpine resorts. In this way, the distance he traveled by train over one year and five months exceeds 570,000 km, equivalent to circling the Earth 14 times.

Stollai’s annual living expenses, including the train ticket, are known to be about 10,000 euros (approximately 14.4 million KRW). Considering that the average cost of renting a room in a shared house in Cologne rose 15.8% over one year?from 475 euros (about 690,000 KRW) per month in summer 2022 to 550 euros (about 790,000 KRW)?his choice can be seen as an alternative housing strategy to address this issue.

In Germany, a similar story was reported in 2015 about Leoni M?ller, a 23-year-old female university student at the time, who lived on trains without a home for over half a year. She revealed that she started her nomadic train life after leaving her apartment due to conflicts with her landlord, which attracted public attention.

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