With Merlin Project In Deutsche Bahn

"I'm not compatible with Deutsche Bahn," was my answer for many years when asked about my choice of travel mode. I couldn't even say exactly how long it had been since my last train trip, but it may have been anything between 10 and 15 years.

Recently, however, it came to pass that the only way I could reasonably accomplish a business trip was by train. And by that I mean a combination of time and money. So I bravely chose this option and went on the adventure.

Over the course of 3 days, I rode the train from Osnabrück to Stuttgart, on to Munich and from there back to Osnabrück. I learned a lot on this trip. Some old prejudices were confirmed, but many were also revised. Here are a few of my insights:

• The DB staff is extremely friendly. I had never experienced that before. No matter where I have addressed a railroad employee, on the platform or on the train, not one employee has been in any way unfriendly or reserved towards me. My compliments!

• The train is often unpunctual. Out of three trips, not one train arrived at its destination on time. As a business traveler, if I had scheduled my appointments more tightly, it would have ended in disaster.

• The railroad still can't provide a smooth supply of WLAN and GSM in 2022. I don't know whether these are technical problems or a question of cost. It simply doesn't work consistently.

• You can work perfectly on the train. I worked with Merlin Project the whole way without any problems in my projects. And with the unreliable network of the railroad Merlin Project copes very well. When there is no network available, Merlin Project just works locally, and when it is back, our little wizard synchronizes without a problem. And I didn't have to worry about anything.

Conclusion

And what about my train compatibility now? I now have a BahnCard and will gladly board a train again. The next trip is already booked 😉.