German Girl Sick of Rent Decides To Live On Trains
Most of us have been there at some point of our lives, paying expensive rents to fat cat landlords that don’t give a damn.
Well a German student named Leonie Muller has decided to escape the ordeal of renting an apartment and has opted for something all together different. She is living permanently on trains instead.
It all started with a dispute I had with my landlord,” said Leonie. “I instantly decided I didn’t want to live there anymore – and then I realized: Actually, I didn’t want to live anywhere anymore.”
It may sound crazy, but the economics checks out. After realising that she could purchase a monthly rail pass for a mere €380, which would in turn allow her to board any train in Germany at no charge – her accommodation woes were a thing of the past.
She now showers, changes, eats, sleeps, and even does her homework while traveling at speeds of up to 190mph.
Leonie, 23, says that living out of trains has given her a lot of freedom and she’s enjoying every bit of it. “I really feel at home on trains, and can visit so many more friends and cities,” she said. “It’s like being on vacation all the time. I read, I write, I look out of the window and I meet nice people all the time. There’s always something to do on trains.”
Of course a lifestyle such as this does come at a cost. All of her belongings now have to fit into a single backpack. What she doesn’t need is being stored at her parents house.
There seems to be another reason that Leonie has pursed this alternative style of living arrangement:
I want to inspire people to question their habits and the things they consider to be normal,” she said. “There are always more opportunities than one thinks there are. The next adventure is just waiting just around the corner – provided that you want to find it.”
Leonie is also documenting her experience of what it is like to live on a train via her blog at tyatravel.com. She plans to updated it regularly for a year, with the time spent conducting this rather unique social experiment forming the basis of her final undergraduate paper. By then she really will know what it is like to live as modern-day urban nomad.
