When Harry Potter boarded the train to Hogwarts, his old life was gone forever. And today, American Retreats — the only magical travel agency in the world — is seeking bold Muggles who are ready to leave behind their magic-less lives behind and step into a brand new reality.
At what point do you say goodbye to more of the same — and choose to experience something extraordinary, instead?
By Mike Reid | August 2026
Ok. You do remember what happened to Harry Potter — right?
First of all, you'll recall that the first 11 years of Harry Potter’s life were extremely bleak, bleak beyond belief.
But then, these strange letters start arriving in the mail, one after another, and one of them is even addressed to "Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs," and so Harry’s aunt and uncle totally freak out, and they flee to a remote shack on a rock in the ocean.
And then, at exactly midnight on Harry Potter’s 11th birthday, this enormous, haggard-looking man bursts into the shack with such force that he knocks the door completely off its hinges.
And the haggard man introduces himself as Hagrid, hands Harry a birthday cake, and casually explains that he’s the groundskeeper at a school for wizards called Hogwarts.
Oh, and by the way, Harry’s a wizard, too.
And then Hagrid says, "Yo Harry, want to get the fuck out of here?"
And without a moment of hesitation, Harry’s like, "Absolutely."
But I guess Harry Potter’s decision must have been easy, because his life with the Dursleys was so bleak that he had nothing to lose by trusting the giant haggard-looking man.
Obviously, it’s not like Harry Potter had a job, or an apartment lease, or a girlfriend, or anything like that. And so, although you probably felt a little sorry for young Potter at the time, Harry's complete and total lack of anything going for him in life freed him to leave it all behind in pursuit of a more magical life.
On the other hand, when Princess Jasmine steps onto Prince Ali's magic carpet for the first time, she seemingly has everything going for her. She's the daughter of a sultan, living a life of luxury inside the palace walls, and she's being courted by countless rich suitors.
But Princess Jasmine is bored.
Princess Jasmine feels trapped by her privilege.
And even her pet tiger Rajah isn't enough to keep her satisfied.
Harry Potter trusted Hagrid because he had no other options, but Princess Jasmine trusted Prince Ali because she realized he was Aladdin.
So Princess Jasmine impulsively and irresponsibly decides to step onto Prince Ali's magic carpet on a hunch that Prince Ali is actually Aladdin, the street rat she'd met (briefly) just days before.
And so, although Harry Potter and Princess Jasmine come from starkly different socioeconomic backgrounds, they both decide to take a leap of faith in order to escape magic-less circumstances.
Both Harry and Jasmine decide to put their trust in a sketchy stranger, and it's only after that moment of trust that they discover that a magical world does in fact exist after all.
And what's my point, you ask?
My point is that every magical adventure begins with someone doing something that looks a wee bit irrational from the outside.
Buying the ticket.
Trusting a stranger's advice.
Saying yes before every single question has been answered.
Because the people who spend their lives waiting until every risk has disappeared will never experience anything extraordinary.
But the brave and courageous — Harry Potter, Princess Jasmine, and you? — who take a leap of faith into the unknown, those are the people who discover that magic was real all along.