Thai-Tex

The slow road: five weeks, no airplane.

You can still go from Bangkok to Texas without leaving the surface of the earth, if you pick your dates. It takes three railways and one ship, and in the spring of 2027 the connections line up to the hour.

See the 35 days
An old turquoise Chevrolet pickup parked beside a red pipe fence on a Texas ranch at dusk
Where the road ends

The whole road on one map

The red dots are railways. The blue line is the ship: Singapore to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Los Angeles.

BangkokSingaporeHong KongTokyoLos AngelesSan AntonioDallas

The 35 days on one calendar page

It happens to begin on a Monday and end on a Sunday: five weeks exactly, April 26 to May 30, 2027. Point at a day to see where you are.

  1. 26
  2. 27
  3. 28
  4. 29
  5. 30
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  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
Monday, April 26
Day 1 of 35

On the train from Bangkok to Singapore.

One day you live twice. The second sailing is sold as 17 nights, May 12 to May 28.40 A wall calendar counts 16. The ship crosses the date line going east, so one date comes around again.

Bangkok to Singapore by rail

One railway runs the whole way down the peninsula. With the connections it comes to about three days.32 Most people break it in Kuala Lumpur or Penang and call it a week.

  1. Bangkok

    The overnight train leaves Krung Thep Aphiwat station and takes about 17 hours to the border.38 33

  2. Padang Besar

    Both countries stamp you at this one station, and you change to Malaysia's electric trains.38 37

  3. Kuala Lumpur

    On to Johor Bahru takes 4 hours 10 to 4 hours 40 on the line that opened in December 2025, for about $24.35

  4. Johor Bahru

    A five-minute shuttle train crosses the last mile of water.36

  5. Singapore

    The ship sails on Thursday, April 29.39

Coming north instead

One through train leaves Johor Bahru at 7:35 in the morning and reaches the Thai border at 5:53 in the afternoon.34 Be at Padang Besar by 4 in the afternoon to clear both countries and make the night train to Bangkok.37

What it does not cover

Surin to Bangkok is its own train ride, and so is Dallas from San Antonio. This page starts and ends where the long connections do.

Across the Pacific on a ship that has to go anyway

Every spring the cruise lines move ships from Asia to Alaska and California for the summer, and every fall they bring them back. They sell the crossing cheaply because the ship is going whether you are on it or not.

Sailings we found for 2027
DirectionShip and routeDatesPublished from
Toward TexasNavigator of the Seas, Singapore to Tokyo by way of Vietnam and Hong Kong39April 29 to May 12, 13 nights$2,210 a person, inside cabin39
Toward TexasNavigator of the Seas, Tokyo to Los Angeles, with four stops in Japan and then twelve days at sea39 40May 12 to 28, 17 nights$1,252 a person, inside cabin39
Toward TexasNorwegian Cruise Line, Tokyo to Vancouver by way of Alaska4216 days; ask the line for datesUS$1,648 a person42
Toward ThailandNorwegian Jade, Vancouver across the Pacific43From April 9, 15 nightsAsk the line
Toward ThailandSeabourn Encore, Vancouver to Tokyo44From September 18, 34 nightsAsk the line
30nights from Singapore to Los Angeles, on the two yellow sailings taken back to back39
$3,462a person for both, at the published starting prices39
16Pacific crossings on one listing for May 2027 alone, if those dates do not suit41

Los Angeles to Texas on Amtrak

The Sunset Limited has run between Los Angeles and New Orleans since 1894. It goes three days a week, through El Paso, San Antonio and Houston.49 45

The train leaves Los Angeles at 10 at night on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, and pulls into San Antonio at 5 in the morning two days later.47 Houston is about a day and a half from Los Angeles.48

At San Antonio the train splits. Part goes on to Houston. Part becomes the Texas Eagle, which runs every day up through Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas.46

The 2027 connection

Navigator of the Seas is due into Los Angeles at 5 in the morning on Friday, May 28.40 The Texas train leaves Union Station at 10 that night.47 That is a whole day to cross town, and you are in San Antonio before breakfast on Sunday.

  • Friday, 5 a.m.: the ship docks.40
  • Friday, 10 p.m.: the train leaves.47
  • Sunday, 5 a.m.: San Antonio.47

What about a freighter?

The answer has changed. Container ships used to keep a few cabins for paying passengers. Since the pandemic the big shipowners have stopped, and crossing an ocean on a working cargo ship is, with few exceptions, no longer possible.50 51

What is left is small and far from here: some sailings between Europe and South Africa, the supply ship that works the islands of French Polynesia, a boat on the St. Lawrence.50 If someone offers you a cabin on a container ship across the Pacific, ask for the name of the ship and the date it sails.