Alhamdulillah, I finally got the chance - financial, time, mahram etc.
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| All white |
Few years ago, I planned to go there from Prague, Czech - I mean, I would meet my parents (who would fly from Kuala Lumpur) at Jeddah airport / King Abdulaziz International Airport. However, it was beyond my limit to apply for the visa and seemed like it was impossible to fly separately (due to mahram was not travelling with me etc).
18th-29th December 2017
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| My first departure from KLIA2. |
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| Mak Ayah with their besan who flew all the way from Kuala Terengganu to send us off. Thank youuuuu :D |
The preparation for umrah was obviously different than my previous travels - from packing clothes, flights, preparing my mental, health and the lists will go on.
1. Clothes.
I used to take with me jeans and blouses and it felt literally different (a bit weird) to pack mostly jubah penuh, jubah seluar and few telekung. The scarfs were different where this time, I packed mostly black tudung sarung. My mum said tudung sarung would be easier to wear there. I took with me black shawl as well (no need to iron and thicker as I don't want to wear inner tudung there)
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| The schedule. |
2. Flights and the journey.
- AirAsiaX
I have never tried long haul flights with AirAsiaX before and I did not have any expectations with it.
For this umrah, my parents and I registered with Tiram Travel Sdn. Bhd, after considering the price, schedule and location of hotel.
The plane was full with approximately 90% Malaysians and the rest is Indonesian. Well, everyone was in there to perform Umrah, as well from different agents like Rayhar, Andalusia etc. It was a 9-hours flight. And I can say the aura was totally different - no in-flight entertainment (people around you keep on reading Quran and other books or some simple sleep through out the journey). Good vibes though :)
Another point, since it was with AirAsiaX, I need to pay at least RM4 for an extra mineral bottle to keep hydrated (in which all drinks were mostly free during my previous trips T_T)
Another point, since it was with AirAsiaX, I need to pay at least RM4 for an extra mineral bottle to keep hydrated (in which all drinks were mostly free during my previous trips T_T)
Meals were included, no need to worry about starving up there. :)
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| Boarding pass. |
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| Meals. |
- KLIA2
That evening of 17th, my family members sent us to Terminal Amanjaya. At 6pm to be exact, my parents and I took a direct bus from Terminal Amanjaya to KLIA2. It was with our favourite bus carrier - YOYO (my family regularly use YOYO to travel between Ipoh and KLIA/KLIA2). The road was full with vehicles and the journey delayed to 5 hours instead of 3 hours plus.
Upon arrival to KLIA2, I was a bit nervous as I have to guide my parents and I have no idea about the airport. T_T I didn't know where was the departure from the bus station and we relied to the signboards most of the times until we met few other group-mates travelling to Jeddah as well. For my own reference, YOYO bus will drop and take passengers from A02 (in front of Capsule).
Our flight was scheduled to depart at 5am of 18th December 2017.
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| Not that used to sit in the middle of the plane. Haha. |
3. Makkah or Madinah first?
To be honest, I have no idea why this question becomes the most favourite that people would ask every time someone is going to perform Umrah. Blame my ignorance but I am slowly learning why some people decide to enter Makkah first instead of Madinah or vice versa.
From my understanding, the main purpose of Umrah is to perform tawaf, saie (all those rukun & syarat wajib umrah) in which all these can only be done in Makkah. Some people said it is better for them to finish the compulsory first before heading to Madinah to visit Rasulullah and his city.
Meanwhile, some others who prefer Madinah first, mentioned it is better for them to prepare and get themselves adapted with the weather and atmosphere in Madinah first before giving all out in Makkah.
So, it depends on you. If you have the chance to try both, it would be great to personally know and understand the differences :)
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As for me, I just followed my parents who prefer Makkah first. To be honest, even though I attended few Umrah courses and read the guidelines, it was hard for me to imagine the real situation. All in all, our own experience is one of the best teachers :)
Till next post :)
FROM JEDDAH TO MAKKAH, SAUDI ARABIA
FROM JEDDAH TO MAKKAH, SAUDI ARABIA
Umrah 18th-29th December 2017
SS, Perak, Malaysia
171230
