This was sent in by Philip from Germany:
Sunshine MINIs + Rhein-Main MINIs + Hong Kong MINIs!
Not only is the MINI fun to drive, it also brings people together from all over the world. Here is how a group of MINI enthusiasts from the Frankfurt, Germany region got together for a group picture which will be sent to Hong Kong. And even better, you can hear about how the group welcome a MINI driving couple from Florida who happen to spend a couple of weeks in Europe.
Here’s how it all started: Susanne (aka Missis@), one of the members of Germany’s Rhein-Main MINI group went to Hong-Kong recently for a business trip. While exploring the city she took a picture of downtown Hong Kong from a road bridge. Back in Germany she discovered a MINI had passed by on the road below while she was taking the picture. She posted the picture and story to the online forum of the German new MINI IG. Another member soon discovered the Hong Kong MINI’s website and a couple of German members started visiting the site. Friendly messages were exchanged and a plan was made. It turns out that Susanne is travelling to Hong Kong on business again next week and she was invited by the Hong Kong MINI group to join them for a night out.
To make sure Susanne was well equipped for the meeting, everyone decided to get together for a group picture. To combine this with a little bit of fun the club met at the Frankenstein Castle near Darmstadt. The castle is on the top of smaller mountain with twisty roads going up and down, so guess what the fun part was!
How do the guys from Florida fit into this? Well, there is a connection from Germany to Sunshine MINIs of Florida (http://www.sunshineminis.org/). Their members Nickie and Steve (just married!) are currently in Germany and so they got invited to join the Frankenstein meeting. They got picked up in Frankfurt and dragged along to Frankenstein Castle where 13 MINIs and even more enthusiasts got together.
After the picture taken, a wild ride downhill and a kidnap-the-bride incident the group gathered at a traditional German … ehrr… pizza place.
Stay tuned for Missis@ Hong Kong…
Thanks Philip!
<p>MINI Owner Thailand. Rally to the beach outside BKK.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mini.co.th/mini" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.mini.co.th/mini</a><em>ster/photo</em>album/rally2005/list.php</p>
<p>Hello, all MINI enthusiasts,</p>
<p>I am one of memeber for “New Mini Club HK”, going to meet Susanne on Saturday night. In fact, we all get exciting for Susanne visit. In plan, We will have dinner first, hopefully, Chinese food is the one she love 🙂 and then meet with the others for a ride to the “Peak”, where the spot that having a beautiful night view of HK. I will keep you update for the event on that night. </p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Adam</p>
<p>Adam,</p>
<p>The link to the New Mini Club HK seems not working. I am very interest to figure out more about Mini in Hong Kong, because I am also form Hong Kong, but I am living in US with my Mini.</p>
<p>Hi Francis,
try this: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.newminiclub.org.hk/">http://www.newminiclub.org.hk</a>
Cheers
Philip</p>
<p>Kool stuff Philip. Looks like you all had fun.</p>
<p>Philip sent me a link to the Dutch MINI club for when I visit Holland in July/August.</p>
<p>Also Thanx for your help [Philip] with the German language I’m using on my Personalized plates on my newest MCS.</p>
<p>ROTBLTZ has been secured with the state of California!</p>
<p>RB</p>
<p>Slightly related question. I will be in Paris in a couple of weeks, and hope to rent a mini convertible for a tour of the country side. Does anyone know If, and where I might be able to rent a MINI converible in Paris?</p>
<p>I run the forums for Sunshine MINIs and we have quite a few members from Germany, the UK, and all over the world. We’ve helped many people meet up here in Florida and abroad:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I had been reading and posting on the mini2.de forums and got invited to visit Chapter North, the Hamburg-based club. I spent almost 2 weeks with them staying at two members’ houses and driving my own loaner MINI One (which they arranged) to a huge meet in Düsseldorf.</p></li>
<li><p>Alec from the Middlesex Mini Club visited Florida last year. A couple members from MINIS OF ORLANDO met him and his family for dinner where we exchanged MINI/Mini gear and offers to visit each other again.</p></li>
<li><p>Three members of Chapter North: Tita, Ralf, and Sven visited me in Florida in February. We motored to Miami for a BBQ before visiting Key West. We were joined on our trip to Miami by an English couple visiting Florida looking to meet other Mini/MINI owners.</p></li>
<li><p>Another German, Martin, visited Florida last month with his new wife and met up with the Sunshine MINIs at a MINI car show at Ron Jon’s Surf Shop.</p></li>
<li><p>Nickie (in the photo above in the denim shirt) and Steve (in the tan sweater) had a couple of offers from Germany to meet up. Their itinerary was busy, but they did squeeze in the trip mentioned above. We’re waiting for their full report when they get back home.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>We invite anyone visiting Florida from the US and abroad to contact Sunshine MINIs and we’ll do our best to arrange a meet or even lodging.</p>
<p>Gruß!
James</p>
<p>… and let me tell you, those T-shirts they have in Florida are very cool!!!
Big thanks to Steve for bringing a few Sunshine MINI Ts over! And thanks to Scotty for keeping one for me :-D</p>
<p>Glad you liked them. If anyone else there wants one, they should get their orders in soon, I’m about to place a 2nd order.</p>
<p>James</p>
<p>hi philip,
great stuff! :thumbs:</p>
<p>hi adam,
these photos should have been a surprise… anyway, we’re as well excited as your HK crew are 😉 we’ll stay tuned about your saturday evening peak event <em>lol</em></p>
<p>hi james,
it really was a pleasure to meet steve & nickie last week :top: and we’re about to organize a very special “rhine valley night cruise” when they are back here… ,-)
and: thx again 4 the shirts – you’ll have ours then… :-)</p>
<p>last but not least – good evening to all mini freaks worldwide!
anyone who plans to visit germany the other day – keep us posted @ forum.mini2ig.de and we will absolutely welcome you at any time!</p>
<p>let’s mini world wide :-))
n!co</p>
<p>@all
btw, philip is the one on the far right :P</p>
<p>Hi!</p>
<p>This is cool. I just got back from Maui Hawaii and i left our spotters on the MINIs. I was hoping that someone would post something on our forums but they have not. As all others have said, if you are coming to the houston area we would be glad to have a Happy Hour or another fun event for you. It is a great idea!</p>
<p>Adam O.
Hmms</p>
<p>Opps, website is Hmms.cc</p>
<p>Go to user forums on MetroplexMINI.</p>
<p>Wow! Nickie and I just popped on to check some emails (We are currently in Rockcliffe, Scotland on our honeymoon…beautiful) and saw the link to this post. Thanks for the great post and the ride, Phillip and n!co. Thanks to Marcus also for meeting us at the train station. Thanks for getting us involved, Darcy (and the fastest ride home ever!). Thanks to all the Frankfurt MINI folks for making us so welcome. And thanks James for hosting Sunshine MINIs so we can find out about stuff like this! Nickie and I had a great time and are looking forward to our tour of the Rhine countryside.</p>
<p>Aren’t MINIs great?!</p>
<p>Steve</p>
<p>hey steve :))</p>
<p>nice to hear from you. in fact we all are sort of excited in adavance of the “rhine valley night cruise” and awaiting your arrival. eek! 8) pls drop us the date for the cruise as soon as you can 😉 so we can finish our plans… ,-)</p>
<p>grüsse an nickie</p>
<p>cu next week 🙂 <em>thumbs</em>
n!co</p>
<p>Hey Steve,</p>
<p>good to hear from you. I can do better than that, I was saving gas ;)</p>
<p>Enjoy your honeymoon and give my regards to Nickie.</p>
<p>I can’t wait for Susannes report on her night out with the Hongkong MINIs.
Have fun over there.</p>
<p>Let’s MINI the world ;)</p>
<p>Darcy a.k.a. Scotty</p>
<p>Hello, Mini Friends,</p>
<p>Just want to round up the event of our meeting on Saturday. We pcik Susanne by the her hotel at 7:00 pm that night then we go for dinner together, I think Susanne love the food (lucky!), then we met with the others to “The Peak” around 16 Minis were running up to hill, but it was too foggy, cannot see so clear of the night view, anyway, we take picture with Susanne. Of course, she alos gave us the gift from Germany. Thank you so much for Germany Mini Community. In turn, we gave Susanne some present form our club. It a umbella and a pack of Seatbelt comformer. After The Peak, we just went to the stadium of the East and took the group picture. Finally, we round up with a drink party in the West side. I think she is a bit sleepy when I drove her to the hotel. In fact, we just get together for 7 hours, but we find endless topic of Mini. You guys can find some picture of that night in our website. I hope we can get together when you guys drop by Hong Kong :)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newminiclub.org.hk/18062005/index.htm" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.newminiclub.org.hk/18062005/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Adam</p>
<p>Hi Adam,</p>
<p>many thanks for making it a wonderful night out in HK for Sus@nne! nice pics indeed :-)</p>
<p>greetings to everyone @ newminiclub.org.hk</p>
<p>let’s mini world wide</p>
<p>n!co</p>