Editing Germany (section)

== Transportation ==

=== Taking the train ===

You can find all information about departure and arrivals, fares, timetables and buy tickets online at the website of [http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVOSN:eiu7YtNNS2IT99NNNYIM/p/view/international/englisch/international_guests.shtml Deutsche Bahn].

'''Train for Free/Less:''' There several regional and (for weekends) germanwide '''group tickets''' for 5 Persons only for the lokal (means small, stops everywhere) trains. There are often groups with less than 5 Persons who have them and it's easy - at least on common routes - to find people who have a place left on there group ticket. Often it's ''for free'' but sometimes they'll ask you if you can spend ''about 5,- €''. If you take the risk, you can just go into the trains and ask the people there. If you want to be more careful (and you are not at a very small station) you can ask people on the train platform. You can also ask people who are leaving the train if they don't need there group tickets anymore, but since last year officially you have to write a name on the tickets and very few controllers also asking for passport to check. (At big stations there are also very often people who try to sell there tickets after use. Check the date carefully, occasionally it's a rip off.)

=== Hitchhiking ===

It is very easy to hitchhike in Germany. There are big motorways, called '''Autobahn''' in German, which connect the big cities. If you get on these, you can use the stations on the road to change the hosting car. (''It is against the law to hike directly on the Autobahn. Often there is no speed limit and you would risk your life.'') 
You have more success if you ask the drivers directly where they go and if they can give you a ride then putting you thumb up. (Best is to have a cardboard sign with your your destination.)
A very good site in the Internet is [http://hitchbase.com/ Hitchbase]. There are useful experiences from other hitchhikers.

=== Ride Shares ===

Ride sharing known als Mitfahrgelegenheit is common in Germany especially amongst younger people. The existing systems are also (ab)used for sharing group tickets for Deutsche Bahn. Most pages are available in several languages. Due to the changes at Mitfahrgelegenheit, so far the most important/useful page, a lot of people checking out alternative / new pages right now. So, in the moment, it can't harm to use several pages at once.

* The most popular website to place and search add was for a long time Mitfahrgelegenheit [http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de]. Unfortunately they recently decided to make lot's of money with the page, made registration obligatory and the system pretty useless for sharing group train tickets. A
* [http://www.mitfahrzentrale.de Mitfahrzentrale]
* [https://www.flinc.org/ flinc] - service for neal-time ridesharing
* [http://fahrgemeinschaft.de Fahrgemeinschaft]
* [http://www.bessermitfahren.de Bessermitfahren]
* [http://www.drive2day.de Drive2Day]

=== Public Transport ===
* [http://www.verbundinfo.de.vu/ Detailed Information on Public Transport in Germany (German)]
* [http://www.oepnv-info.de/ detailed information for people with or without disabilities (German)]
* [http://www.berlinlinienbus regular Buses in Germany or abroad (German)]

=== Flights ===
Especially if you're going long distance within Germany flying might be an option. Very famous for it's prices is Ryanair [http://www.ryanair.de] - but they have only a few routes within Germany, often fly from suburban airports (Berlin and Bremen are an exception). Also be aware that it easily might happen they rip you off by extra fees - so be aware of their luggage limits... Other low cost airlines are:
* [http://www.airberlin.com/ Air Berlin]
* [http://www.germanwings.de/ Germanwings]