Most of us put up with trains. We squeeze in next to strangers, stare at delay boards, and count down the minutes until we can get off.
Lasse Stolley? He never gets off.
The 17-year-old from Germany has been living full-time aboard his country's national rail network since August 2022. No apartment. No fixed address. Just a rucksack and a train seat.
And honestly, once you hear his reasoning, it's hard to argue with him.
Who Is Lasse Stolley?
Lasse is a teenager who programs smartphones for a living — which means he can work from pretty much anywhere with wifi.
So he did what any of us would totally do (or at least think about): he ditched his permanent address and moved onto Germany's rail network.
By his own count, he has traveled 600,000 kilometers since he started. That's 15 times around the Earth.
Yeah. Fifteen.
How Does It Actually Work?
Here's where it gets interesting. Lasse's whole setup rests on one thing: a subscription pass called the BahnCard 100, offered by Germany's national railway company, Deutsche Bahn.
When he first started out, he bought the second-class youth version for about $2,800 a year. That alone gave him a 25 percent discount on flexible and saver fares for long-distance travel.
He has since upgraded to a first-class ticket, which runs $6,300 a year.
For that price, he gets spacious seats, access to DB Lounges, free wifi, seat reservations, and sometimes free food and drinks on ICE trains.
Not bad for someone with no rent to pay.
Why Not Just Get an Apartment?
That's the obvious question, right?
Lasse has thought about it. He just doesn't see the point.
“I could rent an apartment,” he told the Irish Times, “but why would I when I have so many friends everywhere to go and visit and I'm not lonely?”
His philosophy is pretty straightforward: own less, stress less. Minimalism has always been his thing, he says, and having fewer possessions means more time for the things that actually matter to him.
Freedom is a big part of it too. He put it simply: “I enjoy the freedom of not being bound to one place.”
Is It Even Legal?
Great question — and yes, it is.
There's a law in Germany that gives Deutsche Bahn what's called a “conveyance obligation.” In plain English, that means they can't limit how often a valid ticket holder rides. As long as Lasse keeps his subscription active, they have to keep letting him on.
That legal detail is basically the backbone of his whole lifestyle.
What About His Parents?
As you might expect, they had some concerns.
Lasse had no experience traveling when he started. He was essentially a teenager with a rucksack and an idea. His parents weren't exactly jumping for joy.
But he went anyway, and it has clearly worked out.
Could You Do This?
That depends on a few things — mainly whether you can work remotely, whether you can live out of a single bag, and whether you find train rides peaceful or maddening.
For Lasse, it checks every box. He has built a life around movement, flexibility, and a very light footprint.
Is it for everyone? Definitely not. But it is proof that “home” doesn't have to look the way most people expect it to.
