Alhamdulillah my wife and I were blessed with the opportunity of
performing Umrah in February 2022. If you'd like a breakdown of some of our
costs, please visit
HEATHROW
After giving our farewells to our parents and family, we headed to Heathrow Airport via the London underground, taking the
District Line then the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow terminal 3.
Being one of the earliest there, we were able to smoothly check-in. We
had completed an online check-in beforehand and so received our boarding passes
quite quickly. At the desk they checked our Visa, Muqeem portal, Vaccination
and PCR, all of which were a requirement by the Saudi government at the time. Unbeknownst to me at the time, doing an online check-in benefited us not only
for our outbound journey, but also for our journey back, and I’ll tell you why
later inshaAllah.
We then went to pray Zuhr. Unfortunately, the prayer room was closed,
but we found a quiet corner thanks to an airport worker.
After going through security, our hand luggages etc. were checked, we
sat near the Duty-Free section waiting for the gate to open. We both remembered
that we were not in the state of Ihram, and so being in Duty Free, I had to try
on some of the perfumes of course!
We had a long time to wait so we bought ourselves lattes from a coffee
shop, refreshed and made sure to do Wudhu, ready for Asr. Soon it was time to
head to the gate.
At the gate, there were some passengers going for Umrah and others just
to Jordan. Our flight was with the Royal Jordanian, so we were to have a
stopover in Amman for a short while. The airport staff called us in batches, to
avoid a rush at the gate entrance.
THE FLIGHT
We boarded the plane, found our seat, and settled in for the flight. A
lady sitting next to my wife couldn't sit with her husband, who was a few seats
ahead, as they had been given seats in two different rows. Mid-way through the
flight however, she managed to join him, so we had a free seat next to us
Alhamdulillah.
The plane was rather small than what I had expected, but Alhamdulillah
it sufficed. I liked how the pilot began the flight with Allah's name and Duas
MashaAllah.
Alhamdulillah we were served some snacks and drinks soon into the
flight. We did wonder why they gave out peanuts as some people may have been
allergic. Sometime later we were served dinner. We opted for the fish option,
which consisted of white fish in rice with raisins, salad, cake, and
water.
Apart from screaming kids, nothing much happened on the plane! It was a
bit difficult to sleep with all the noise and for Salah coming in between. I
did manage to do my wudu during the flight but had to wait a while as people
kept using the bathroom non-stop. Wudu socks have been really beneficial during
the flight.
The plane hovered near 'Israel’; due to security reasons we couldn't
enter its airspace without permission and had to wait 45 minutes. This delayed
our flight.
Alhamdulillah after a 5 hour flight, we landed in Amman. It was a nice
feeling to be in Jordan, despite it being a short 1 hour stop over. So, we
thought.
TRANSIT IN JORDAN
We went through security, where they scanned our hand luggage. They
found water in our bags and for some reason despite the water being given on
their own planes, they chucked it away! I managed to save my reusable water
bottle. Wife had the same issue but for some reason the security personnel
didn't manage to tip the full thing away, so she had a little bit remaining
Alhamdulillah.
Then we got confused as to where to go as no one was around to direct
us, nor were there any clear signs to follow. The airport seemed a little too
quiet. We walked on, checking screens, and looking for our gate. When we did
manage to find it eventually, it said 'Final Call'.
We rushed over to the gate which was at the furthest end of the airport
terminal. Our flight was delayed already, and we feared missing the connecting
flight. When we got there, we heard that all flights in the airport have been
delayed due to a malfunction. I managed to call home using the airport free
Wi-Fi and gave my mother an update. She told me to call once we board the
plane.
After about an hour and a half, the system started working again and
passengers were being called for their flight. Our one was to Medina, and it
was such a relief to hear our call. We boarded, found our seats, and settled
in.
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MADINAH!
It took roughly 1.5 hours or so to get to Madinah. We could see the
beautiful city of Madinah lit up against the dark sky as we descended. We
spotted Mount Uhud as the plane continued to descend at Prince Mohammed ibn
Abdul Aziz International Airport. Oh, the joy!
Having landed, we went through security. Women managed these desks and
we had to show our PCR test result, give our fingerprint, and take a picture.
After that we went to pick our luggages up. At this point I was very glad my
luggage was bright yellow as I could easily identify it at the baggage
collection!
As we came out, people were waiting for their loved ones. Also waiting
were taxi drivers. A man asked if I needed a taxi, but I told him I need to get
a SIM card first. We went to the STC mobile desk and bought two SIMs costing
104 SAR each.
The taxi driver agreed to charge us 150 SAR (I could have got it
cheaper) and took us to his car. We went down to the car park where he had
parked his 4x4.
We set off towards our hotel, showing the driver the location on Google
Maps along the way. When we reached our hotel, the driver asked for 200SAR. But
he had said 150 at the airport! He insisted on us paying more but I kept firm
and after a minute or two, he drove away after making Du'a for us. (Take an
Uber, it’s much cheaper and secure).
We had booked the Hayatt International 1 hotel. It's pretty close to
Masjid An-Nabawi. As the driver drove away, something didn’t seem right. I looked around. Where
is the hotel? We stood outside a building, with much of its lights off. The
building, which I had checked on google maps supposedly the location of the
‘Hayatt International 1’ hotel, had another name on it. But the Hayatt name was
faded.
We went into the hotel, pulling our luggages along. At the reception I
enquired with the receptionist of the whereabouts of Hayatt International. He
said such hotel doesn't exist anymore. I started to get stressed out. I asked
him to check if there was a booking under my name. He checked, but there wasn't
anything. I started to get worried. No one wants to be without a hotel at
5am in the morning! We left the building and sat down on some benches. One or
two people were walking towards the Masjid. It was dark and eerie.
STRANDED
The Azan went off for Fajr. Not knowing what to do at that moment, we
went back to the hotel and showed the booking, we had made on booking.com. The
receptionist was adamant that it's not the hotel we are after. Eventually he
called a Bangladeshi worker over to explain to us as he couldn't speak English
and we couldn't speak Arabic. The worker told us that Hayatt international has
left the building but there is another one down the road called al-Hayat Plus,
maybe we should check that. We thanked him and went off.
We made Du'a, we recited Salawat. I was very much stressed out at this
point and kept glancing towards Masjid An-Nabawi. Deep inside I knew there
would be relief, but I was still worried.
Pulling our luggages along, we went to Al-Hayatt Plus hotel. The roads
were dark, and a lot of construction work was going on. At this point I really
didn’t know where we were going, as the last time I heard of a Hayatt Plus
hotel was on the side of Masjid An-Nabawi, which has since been demolished. By
chance, Allah’s mercy, we saw the bright and lit signs of the hotel as we
passed an alleyway.
We went to the reception and asked for help with the booking. They told
us the same thing, that the hotel we are after doesn't exist. A guard at the
hotel asked if I was Bangladeshi. When I said yes, he asked if I knew Hasina
(the Prime Minister) and I said to him ''I must be her dad," and showed my
name to him. He looked confused, didn't say anything else and got told off by
another man! I was able to crack a joke amid the stress and worry that I was
going through much to my own amusement.
What to do?
My wife nudged me and said we should ask for a room here. So, I did. The
man at the desk was Bangladeshi, which was helpful, and after checking to see
if a room was able came and said yes, much to our relief. But it'll cost 600
SAR. I said fine. Cheaper than the other one.
But I had no cash. The man said we can leave our luggages at the hotel and get the cash. He even offered wife to take a sit too, but I wouldn't leave her behind! He then took us to a cash point at Anwar Al-Madina hotel shopping complex and said feel free to take out from there and he went off to the Masjid.
We would have needed to show the Tawakalna app to the guard upon
entrance into the shopping centre, but somehow, we by passed as our apps were
still not set up on our phones. I took out the cash, went back to the hotel and
paid the receptionist and made our way to the room they allocated.
Alhamdulillah. It was a decent room, which we appreciated.
What a relief!
We set up the Tawakalna and Eatmarna apps to book our slots for Umrah,
Tawaf, Rawdah etc. After settling in, we went to sleep. 24 hours without much
sleep, tired and in need of a good rest.
Update: We have made a complaint to booking.com and got a
compensation.
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