Hacker News Reader

Tomorrow I will be traveling all the way from southern Germany to northern Netherlands. 6 hour drive. If I go by train it's 220€ with return. If I fly from a nearby airport to a nearby airport (so with limited train use) it's 700€ to 900€ with return. If I rent a car it's 120€ plus 90€ petrol, return journey.

View on HN

I doubt the price of 700euro for a plane ticket. I just checked and got Munich-Amsterdam for 98 euros.

https://www.google.com/flights?lite=0#flt=/m/02h6_6p./m/0k3p...

Which puts it around the same price, but with a train, you don't need to deal with airline security. I'm sure the situation in Europe is less ridiculous than the US, but it's still an extra process.

It depends. For the euro tunnel train from Paris to London you have to go through the same security checks like at the airport. But this is not the rule and rather an exemption. However, there have been voices in the EU Comission to perform security checks at train stations, too.

It's absolutely insane that we have to pay 19% VAT on train tickets in Germany while kerosine is tax-free. I think the Greens are now calling to reverse this situation, and I fully support that proposal.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com