Umm Adam’s Family Vacation: Makkah

I didn’t mention anything about going on vacation, if you haven’t noticed, I usually tell you guys after the fact. I don’t like talking about things before it actually happens, which is why I didn’t mention my lat pregnancy until after the baby was born.

Due to the Saudi Schools being on their midterm break, all domestic flights were booked. My husband is not the type to plan ahead and if we do something it is usually at the very last minute (once I pray REALLY LOUD in front of him ” O Allah Let My Husband Take Us on Vacation and not leave us bored out of our minds in the house again…aameen”). So two days before we left my dh finally went to book us a trip. We were told that we were on standby. I made dua (supplication)  almost every waken moment and even dreamed about it. I needed an Umrah trip. Umrah revises me.

We Get to the airport and shaytaan (satan) knows how hard I’m trying to be a good. Knows I want to please Allah and make umrah so my past sins are forgiven. He also knows that traveling with my husband can be the ultimate test. So the moment we leave the house the trial begins. Shaytaan uses him to provoke me. I know tyhis trick so I try to remain cool. Even when he didn’t know where he was going and admonished me for trying to help. After wandering around the airport for an hour and about to miss the flight that we weren’t even sure if we were getting on, my dh finally admits defeat (well not exactly but he asked for my help) and tells me to go see if he was standing in the right line (which I knew he wasn’t but was told earlier not to say another word). So I go off to find the right line and the were all very very long except for the first class line, that had nobody in it. I approached the clerk and asked him where do we go to check in as stand bys. He tells me to go dowb stairs. I told him that we had already been up, down, and all around and that we were going to miss the flight. He then takes my info, tells me that there are 55 standbys. I ask him if they are ahead of us and asked how difficult would it be for all 6 of us to get on. He then started fiddling around and I knew then that he was hooking me up but tried not to get excited. I told my daughter tpo get her father out of the WRONG line and to have him hurry up and get over here with the tickets cuz I was getting a hook up. He then sent us to the Supervisor who alhamduillah put us on the flight. All this time my oldest motor mouth daughter had been quiet. I could see that her faith had been boosted because she was earnestly making dua the whole time and that is why she was so quiet.

We arrived in Jeddah after midnight and took a taxi to Makkah. After checking in the hotel, which was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Masjid Al Haram, my oldest daughter and I went to make umrah and left my husband and the other kids sleep in the room. We got to the Haram at 3:15am. I was looking forward to making umrah before fajr prayer, which comes in around 4:30am. It usually takes me around 2 hours to perform umrah. However, the adthaan for tahajud was called at 3:30am. and people started pouring into the haram, waiting for salatul fajr.

It got so crowded, that I was not able to make umrah until after fajr. It took a while to make tawaf and messa, because so many people were making Umrah after fajr. My husband made umrah between salatul dhur and asr. Which is the hottest and least crowded time to go.

I took the children to see the Kabah before we left for Jeddah. This was around 2pm. Can you see the big difference in the amount of people who come at this time?

Here are some pictures from my Hotel Room window:

Do you see how they have carved roads into the mountains?!

I guess it’s just a matter of time before these homes are demolished and roads and new buildings are put up.