Mainz Travel Answers

Sometimes it is hard to be an adult. There is no way to know how this might affect you in the future. From your comments it is clear that you knew the rules when you boarded the train. You took a gamble and lost so now you must pay the man. It would be a shame if this were to ruin a later trip to the EU. You might try to contact the appropriate authorities and ask if there is an appeal process. Often in the states if you cannot produce your documents at the time of the infraction you are allowed to present evidence that your documents were in order just not in your possession. Then the fine is often lowered or canceled altogether. I am not sure if this will work in Germany but I would give it a try. He is right they speak German in Germany. Good luck what a bummer.

Man up and be responsible....You broke the rules and have no credentials. But hell, rules can be broken and the new generation that will be here will define that the ethics and morales have gone down...question authority and society will break down eventually. Look at wall street with their losers to greed. It turned our generation up side down...We just can't believe in people anymore. We were all poor college students , but that is a lame excuse as well as not having the paper work on the train. cheers tommy x

As the others said. >I'm a poor college student and I did nothing wrong. Errrmmm... you did. You travelled without a ticket. Now take responsibility.

To answer your question - it will not follow you back to the United States, however, there may be repercussions if you travel back in the EU or try to enter Germany (or possibly other EU countries). There is a slight chance it will get through the system. As to what you should do.... personally I think you should pay the fine and note it as a life experience. Karl

If you just did forgot your ticket you can have go an office*) and show that you had a valid ticket. Than the fee will be reduced to 5 Euro and you can pay this on spot. Which I think is a fair price, as you did of course something "wrong". If everybody could go away with "I've forgotten my ticket" nobody would buy a ticket anymore. *) which office depends who did issue this fine

Mobilitätszentrale Mainz rmv.de/de/Fahrkarten/Fahrkar... "Abwicklung Erhöhtes Beförderungsentgelt"

Pay the fine and hopefully return to Germany another time. My husband and I got on the wrong train from Mainz to Lucerne quite innocently and got kicked off at the Frankfurt airport so we could then transfer to the local train. We could have been fined for that mistake and would have paid it without question.It ended up being a wonderful experience because we were able to explore Frankfurt airport station. We were not going to plead our case because we are "old age pensioners" Cheers.

You made a mistake by not travelling with a valid ticket. The conductor absolutely did the right thing by issuing you with a fine and I can understand their frustration at you when you tried to plead your case. It would have also been within their rights to call the transport police, so I think you got off quite lightly all things said. As a former student in Germany who has used the free transport ID that you write about, I can confirm that its a great way to see the country. However, on the occasions that I forgot my ID, I would pay for a ticket like everyone else. Enjoy the last few days you have in Germany and pay the fine while you are there. As other people have said, this episode could leave a black mark next to your name with regards to future travel in Germany and may even return to haunt you in the US. For the sake of 40 Euros, its really not worth the worry.

Sorry--I meant to say Frankfurt (not Lucerne)

The only way you could have avoided the fine would have been to get off the train at the next stop and buy a ticket there. I am sure this fine will not haunt you forever but as a student with some brain you should learn and admit that you have made the mistake in first place and not the conductor who did not or did not want to speak English. I am the last person to defend German Railways as I have made bad experience with rude conductors, ticket machines that did not work, a fine notice despite the ticket machine at an unmanned station not working and me presenting a valid ticket bought at an intermediate stop... But your case is so obviously clear that you should just pay the fine because only you were to blame for being fined.