17/11/2024
السلام عليكم،
I have been receiving so many messages about travelling to to perform alone 🕋
Umrah is an easy preparation to do, but a challenging but definitely rewarding journey. Umrah agents definitely made it look like a big task preparing a group for umrah. But going alone for the 2nd time as a couple with an infant made me realise how easy actually the whole trip can be, if you are a minimalist person and dont like complex things.
It is definitely the best trip and experience but trust me we do not need the latest clothes to engage in this spiritual journey. The goal is to focus on the basics, again if you are a minimalist person, you will find it easy to just bring a few random abayas instead of buying clearly overpriced new ones, doing a lot of shopping before the trip and actually tiring yourself out before the journey itself.
🕋 As i mentioned it is an easy trip to prepare for, but not an easy journey!
So spare yourself the physical and mental energy and cancel unnecessry shopping, pick only the basics. You can do the rest of your shopping right after your umrah itself as the shops in makkah open till late night 12 a.m.
If someone tells you that its impossible to go for umrah alone with an infant, and without a group, they are wrong. I went twice, all alone, without a group, air tickets and hotel,taxi bookings done by ourselves. The umrah, and flights are definitely challenging but afterwards everything becomes rather stable. Besides there is a kindergarten in both makkah and madinah where you can leave your child safely in case it is not possible for you to carry your child while performing umrah.
Now regarding flight tickets & hotel bookings:
1. Tickets: Book ahead, atleast 2 months before.
Emirates or Mytrip. If you can find cheaper at salon de voyage, better for you.
You have the option to go directly via Saudi Airlines or Emirates. Be mindful of stopovers when choosing Emirates airline.
2. Visa: Pay and receive via email in less than an hour. Usually takes 10 mins. Link https://visa.visitsaudi.com/
3. Hotel booking: booking.com or agoda. Look for different dates that are cheaper example january. Look for hotels that have free cancellation in case you change your mind.
4. Airport transfers
NO need to worry, taxi drivers are always present in airport Jeddah looking for passengers, any time of the day. I landed in jeddah at 3 a.m, got plenty of taxi drivers inside following us, then you can bargain about price, as taxi is quite expensive there... you can also book online on facebook.
As for madinah, we only travelled via uber it was very cheap, and we took uber itself to bring us to airport.
If you will go to madinah by train, you can book it online in madinah itself. If you will go by car, it is upto 6 hours drive.
Don't forget me in your duah.
عمرة مكبول، ان شاء الله 🤲🏼🕋❤️
