Now that’s what I call a huge transnational and cross-sectoral difference in transportation costs: On my trip home from Qingdao, China, to Bremen, Germany, I paid these quite different amounts today for the modes of transportation I used.
| From – To | km | € | €/km |
| Qindao City – Airport | 50 | 0.86 | 0.02 € |
| Qindao – Frankfurt | 9600 | 350.00 | 0.04 € |
| Frankfurt Flughafen – Hbf Bremen | 440 | 87.60 | 0.20 € |
By far the cheapest mode of transportation was the fantastic metro in Qingdao: opened as recently as 2015, it’s extremely well-maintained, safe, and fast—for just 86 cents, it takes you directly from downtown to the airport in two hours.
By far the most expensive part of the trip was the final leg from Frankfurt Airport to Bremen by train: despite having a Bahncard 50 discount card, I had to pay more than €87 because I booked at the last minute.