CONTRIBUTED BY
ALI RAUCH
OPINION —
Y’all. I have two Harry Potter tattoos.
That is probably all you need to know about me and books. Those were the stories that made me a reader, and I never stopped. So when I tell you that the Chamber is taking a group to London and Scotland in October 2027, and the trip checks off things I have wanted since I was a kid, I am not exaggerating.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. A broomstick flying lesson at Alnwick Castle, the original Hogwarts filming location. The Jacobite Steam Train across the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Christ Church College at Oxford. The winding streets of Edinburgh where J.K. Rowling wrote.
I am going to cry at least twice. Fair warning.
But here is what struck me reading back through the itinerary. This trip is not only for the Potterheads.
Edinburgh was named the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature. It is the city that gave us Sherlock Holmes, Treasure Island and Sir Walter Scott. At Oxford, we walk into the Bodleian and its Divinity School, where people have been reading in that room since the 1600s.
Outlander fans, Glencoe is the glen behind those opening credits, and we drive right through it. Downton Abbey fans, that same Alnwick Castle played Brancaster Castle, so you get your moment too.
And that steam train is doing double duty. It is the Hogwarts Express, yes. It is also named for the Jacobites, and Glenfinnan is the exact spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in 1745 and started the rising. One stop, two stories, both of them real. That is the thing about this itinerary. The history is not background. It is the whole point.
We spend time in the Cotswolds too, in the honey-colored stone villages you have pictured every time you read an English novel.
So, why am I writing about a fall 2027 trip in the summer of 2026? The train.
Jacobite tickets have to be booked a full year out, so our timeline is not flexible. We have 35 seats left and we need them claimed by the end of September. Book by Sept. 30 and you save $300.
That is the practical part. Here is the real part.
Some of the best days I have had in this job happened on a Chamber trip, and not because of the itinerary. It was who was on the bus. It was eating dinner with people I only knew from ribbon cuttings and coming home actually knowing them as friends. That is what Opelika Abroad is for, and it is open to anyone in this community, member or not. You do not have to own a business. You just have to want to go.
Book adaptations are everywhere right now and everyone is planning trips around the stories they love. This is ours, and I would love for you to come with me.
We’re also hosting an informational session on Thursday, Aug. 27, at 5 p.m. if you want to come learn in person or via Zoom. Register at opelikachamber.com.
Full itinerary and booking at opelikachamber.com/opelika-abroad. Questions come straight to me at ali@opelikachamber.com. I will talk about this trip with anyone who will let me.
