We live in an amazing world. If you have an iPad, or have ever boarded a plane, you know we live in an amazing world.

Carrie and I have been fortunate to ride hydrofoils between Hong Kong and Macau, take tuk-tuks in several countries, go 100 feet down in the ocean while still being in an open room, and ride across the ocean in complete luxury and comfort.

But one thing I had never done was to take an ocean crossing on a train.

How do you cross the ocean on a train?

Good question.

Between Germany and Denmark, there is a large body of water. In German, it is called the Ostsee.

(If anyone wants to look up what it’s called in English, please post that in the comments below. First one to post correct answer gets German chocolate sent to them.)

Crossing this body of water is straightforward if you’re a passenger. You sit on the train.

Then, when they tell you to, you get off the train, and go up 4 decks of stairs into the ferry the train is now on.

They literally drive the train right onto one of the lower decks of the ship. I think they can fit 4-5 train cars.

After a fun ocean crossing, they make an announcement on the ferry, you go back down four decks of stairs, board the train, and ride the train right off the ship.

The engine of the train stays on the platform, and just the cars go on the ship. A different engine must be waiting on the other side, though I never actually saw the engine as we were busy making train connections when we pulled into the stations (going and coming back).

An average ICE train car must weigh thousands of pounds, but it rolled right into the grooves on the ship and really felt just the same as we’d been going along right up to that point.

We truly live in an amazing age when you can ride on a train across the ocean in comfort and relative luxury.