Yukon Tao’s parents thought he was crazy. The 20-year-old student was selected for a one-year exchange between his home school of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Josephine Butler College in the United Kingdom. And he decided to drive across half the world to get to his first day of classes.

Tao joked, “For my parents, I think they would worry more than feeling proud… They spent about two or three months trying to stop me from this crazy plan.”

The exchange student spent the same three months planning his route and preparing his station wagon for the journey. He hadn’t been abroad since he was ten and admitted, “Everything was unknown.”

His route? China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands—before finally crossing into the UK. One month before classes, he said goodbye to his family and began driving.

“It really needs some spirit, some bravery to set off.”

How the exchange student’s 6,800 roadtrip got complicated

Before even leaving China, Tao struggled with engine trouble. Then he got some bad news, China told him his exit visa wasn’t flexible. He only had two days to cross into Kazakhstan or the trip was off. A friend called in a favor to get him an appointment with a mechanic on the border of Kazakhstan and they found “a large problem.”

The mechanic told Tao, “fixing it would take over a week.” The student asked if they could have it done in 48 hours. 

Tao remembered, “The engineers worked around the clock to help me get it back up and running.”

The rest of Tao’s trip may have felt easy by comparison. When he finally arrived, his new University turned out to welcome him. He’ll certainly have a story to tell in the cafeteria. And more importantly, he’s the cool kid on campus with a car. He’s certainly not intimidated by a little roadtrip. After getting used to driving on the left-hand side of the road, Tao’s already made trips to the Highlands and London and said he plans to see Wales. And in the spring, he plans to drive home.

So why the United Kingdom? Tao liked the option for a full year exchange instead of a single semester. But ever the dreamer, he said, “I think it’s quite similar to Harry Potter’s college so I finally chose Durham University.”