Shanghai to Donegal in a Mini Cooper!

They drove from Shanghai to Donegal in a Mini Cooper. But has the journey now ended?! Let’s help if we can…

A modest Chinese couple slipped quietly into a popular Donegal hostel on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way in December 2015. They had arrived at their intended destination – beautiful Glencolmcille, with it’s majestic cliffs, hidden coves and famous traditional culture. This is not a particularly unusual occurrence; Áras Ghleann Cholm Cille attracts visitors from all over of the world, right throughout the year. But this wasn’t any ordinary arrival. The self-styled ‘Two Lunatics’ from China had made the 16,558 kilometer trip from Shanghai to Donegal in a Mini Cooper! Now The Paris Method wants to track them down using the #Find2Lunatics hashtag, and send our best wishes for their journey home to China.

Luna and Han Jin Li who drove all the way from Shangai to Donegal in a Mini Cooper, pictured here at Aras Ghleann Colm Cille. This was the most westerly point of their epic road trip.

September 12th 2015 was an exciting day in the lives of Han and Luna Jin Li. Having updated their social media accounts with hashtags such as #MinisOfInstagram and #TransEurAsian, the Shanghai couple loaded up their new Mini Cooper and took to the open road. (Let’s hope they remembered to switch the immersion off!) Bidding farewell to their home city on the East China Sea, they set off northwards via Beijing towards the Mongolian border. They would eventually ‘kick’, ‘drag’ and ‘push’ their ‘little car’ around the world to the Wild Atlantic Way in Glencolmcille, Ireland.

The mammoth road trip took the lovable ‘Lunatics’ through north-eastern Mongolia, into Russia and it’s vast Siberian wilderness. Passing by the worlds deepest lake (5,314 feet) at Baikal, and through the historic Russian cities of Tomsk and Novosibirsk, they eventually reached Red Square in Moscow – where the excited couple first encountered snow.

Up next was St Petersburg; and then it was northwards into Scandinavia. The little Mini Cooper got to visit Santa’s Village at Rovaniemi, and crossed the Arctic Circle to visit Inari. From here the traveling trio veered south, through Sweeden, where they shopped in the largest IKEA store in the world at Haparanda and relaxed in the capital city Stockholm.

Driving from Shanghai to Donegal takes you through many different landscapes and experiences

The Norwegian leg took in ‘expensive’ Oslo, and the coastal cities of Bergen, Stavenger and afterwards they visited the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark with its little mermaid.

Central European highlights were enjoyed in Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam (where the ‘little car’ had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Van Gogh museum), and Rotterdam with it’s iconic windmills.

A car ferry brought them to England for a stopover at Oxford, and another from Holyhead in Wales carried the couple across the Irish Sea to Dublin. Once on The Emerald Isle, the satNav was set to the north west; to the wild Atlantic coastline which the Two Lunatics had dreamed of visiting.

In the Irish midlands, Storm Desmond greeted Han and Luna’s arrival; reminding them that the Wild Atlantic Way was aptly named. When the now rapidly aged Cooper finally turned into the Aras Ghleann Colm Cille car park, it looked a little worse for wear, with flood debris trapped in the front grill. But Han and Luna had achieved their goal of traveling all the way from Shanghai to Donegal in a Mini Cooper!

Half way around the world, from Shanghai to Donegal, with a list of destinations on the Mini Cooper’s door

Paul O’Hare, who manages the family run Aras Ghleann Cholm Cille, initially saw nothing out of the ordinary about the couple’s arrival. “We have people from all over the world coming to stay with us, so a Chinese couple showing up in December is nothing new. We just got them checked in as usual, helping them feel welcome ad comfortable. It was only later when I went outside and noticed the car registration plate, that I realized they had actually driven all the way from Shanghai to Donegal! I was amazed. The funny thing is, they were equally amazed by the beauty of the Glencolmcille, Malin More and Malin Beg area. They loved the coastline and the culture here.”

When asked about the journey from Shangai to Donegal and their plans for the return leg, Luna and Han explained how they loved to travel, and seeing the Wild Atlantic Way around Glencolmcille was a dream come true. The Slieve League cliffs, the Folk Village, ghost village of Port and Glenlough, Glen Village, Malin More and Malin Beg were on their bucket list. The couple thoroughly enjoyed their visit, relaxing along the rugged Wild Atlantic Way -with it’s often stormy yet beautiful relationship with the Donegal coastline.

Glencolmcille represented the final destination on their westward journey. After a few days of enjoying the beautiful scenery and famously warm hospitality, they once again loaded up the Mini Cooper and took to the road; this time planning to take in central and southern central Europe.

So off the happy, free-spirited couple went. But then, it appears, there was a slight diversion. One of the last updates from the Two Lunatics social media, documents a harmless slide into a ditch near Doonbeg Golf Club. Thankfully Han and Luna were completely uninjured, and received some great assistance from the locals. But it appears that the Mini Cooper took a little collateral damage.

Luna and Han’s Mini Cooper slides into a ditch 🙁 Thankfully they were uninjured.

And then – the updates suddenly stopped with a simple Merry Christmas message, and no updates have followed. Have Luna and Han abandoned the Mini Cooper and flown home? It is very possible that they are resting up along the Wild Atlantic Way, sheltering from the latest storms, while the Mini Cooper that made it from Shanghai to Donegal is patched up for the return journey. Maybe we will never know. But with your help, we just might. Please share this story so we can all send them our best wishes.

Han and Luna have thanked the ”kind and warm-hearted Irish people” for their help, following the incident with the ditch, using the loveIreland hashtag. Well, as it happens, that is exactly what we are famous for. Visitors come to Ireland for the first time to see our beautiful scenery, but often leave with an even greater memory of the amazing Irish friendliness and hospitality.

SO…let’s get behind this couple, and help in any way we can to get them home…wherever they may be. If you have any news with regard to how this epic Trans-Eurasian return leg is progressing, please send Paul O’Hare a message via the Aras Ghleann Cholm Cille website; he would really like to wish his guests well. You can track any updates that Paul will hopefully receive by checking on the hostel’s Facebook Page.

Lets find this happy and adventurous couple, and send them our help and best wishes for their return journey home to China! Do you have an update about their progress?

In the meantime, we can only but sit back and admire the adventurous spirit of this amazing couple. If there is one thing better than having a dream, it is doing whatever it takes to make that dream become a reality, and seeing others reach out to offer help along the way.

What an epic road trip and experience this is. Luna and Han, if you are reading this – please know that there are people in Ireland cheering you on to finish this epic road trip, and share the amazing story of how you drove over sixteen and a half thousand km’s from Shanghai to Donegal in your Mini Cooper! Hopefully you will also be able to tell us about your safe journey home to China. Bon Voyage!