Pure Freedom Across the Rails
In less than two years, Lasse Stolley has clocked a staggering 650,000 kilometers (more than 400,000 miles)—that’s the equivalent of circling the globe 15 times—all while seated on various trains, racking up more than 6,700 hours onboard. Sipping a drink in a café at Frankfurt’s train station, the lanky, red-haired young man sums up his unconventional lifestyle:
“Being able to decide every day where I want to go—it’s simply wonderful, it’s freedom.”
Traveling light, his sole piece of luggage is a 30-liter backpack. His biggest expense? A €5,888 (about $6,400) unlimited first-class rail pass from Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway.
Life (and Laundry) in First Class
With this magical pass, Lasse enjoys unrestricted access to first-class lounges in train stations across the country. Here he can:
- Eat for free
- Wash his clothes in the lounge sinks (he dries them overnight on sleeper trains—functional, if not glamorous)
- Brush his teeth and freshen up at the lounge washbasins
For proper showers, he heads to swimming pools near the stations. When it’s time to sleep, Lasse goes for the plush first-class seats, which he now finds so comfortable that sleeping in a “real” bed is a challenge.
“I miss the rocking of the train,” he admits.
Coding on the Rails
After finishing school, Lasse landed a part-time job as a freelance developer with a small start-up—a perfect fit for his roving lifestyle, as it allows him to work from anywhere, including train carriages humming through the countryside. He explains,
“I love that I can just look out the window, watch the landscape race by… and explore every corner of Germany.”
Funnily enough, nothing in his childhood suggested he was destined to become a railway nomad. As a kid, he barely noticed trains, never owned an electric train set, and had only boarded Germany’s high-speed ICE train twice before he decided to make the railway network his permanent home.
From Fockbeck to Finding Love on the Move
He’d originally planned to start an apprenticeship in programming after graduating high school, but when that fell through, a random documentary about someone living on trains sparked an idea:
“I thought I could do the same,” he recalls.
His parents initially tried to talk him out of it, but when they saw he was determined, they came around and chose to support him. His first journey began in Fockbeck, a small town in northern Germany near the Danish border, from where he headed to Hamburg and then, via sleeper train, all the way down to Munich in the south.
The early days? Not so glamorous. He struggled to fall asleep on moving trains and often retreated home to his parents’ place. But he soon got used to it. And as a bonus, he even met his soulmate in a first-class lounge at Cologne station. Who needs Tinder when you have Deutsche Bahn?
Not Always a Smooth Ride
Life on Germany’s railway network—often criticized for poor service after years of underinvestment—isn’t all sunsets and brisk landscapes. Lasse admits:
“Delays and other issues happen every day.”
When asked about their unusual passenger, Deutsche Bahn declined to comment to AFP.
In 2023 and early 2024, frequent strikes by railway workers demanding better pay and conditions paralyzed the network for days at a time. During these disruptions, Lasse adapted—by sleeping in airports instead. Not that he’s fed up; he’s still riding the rails.
Asked how long he plans to continue this traveling life, he grins and says:
“It could be a year, it could be five.” He adds, “For now, I’m having fun and discovering something new every day.”
John is a curious mind who loves to write about diverse topics. Passionate about sharing his thoughts and perspectives, he enjoys sparking conversations and encouraging discovery. For him, every subject is an invitation to discuss and learn.
