The day came. We were both anxious and excited at the same time. Here we were at Terminal 2 of Changi Airport with hubby and Afzal, adorning half ihram.
My intent to perform umrah has been on-going inside me for a very long while. When the desire was so strong, I even say it out loud to my parents. Though I was unsure when I will be called upon Him to be his guest, I was determined it will be a whole family affair. Finally, I told my husband we will do it this year, with the kids as well.
We shortlisted two travel agencies, and finally chose Shahidah Travel. The main reason, we wanted the umrah to be as convenient as possible since we are bringing our young child. The hotel's location - Makkah Hilton, which was just in front of Masjidil Haram, was the main deciding factor. With a young kid in tow, we thought it would be better to choose hotels that were directly facing Masjidil Haram (eg. Clock Tower which houses Fairmont and Swissotel, Intercontinental and some others).
However, one of the things I would do differently is not to fly direct into Makkah for our umrah rukun first. We left our home to be at the airport at 10 am on 20 Dec, and finally reached Makkah at midnight of 21 Dec (5 am Singapore time), checked in quickly and continued with our umrah rukun until 3 am. We were mentally and physically tired, and Aqil was cranky. However, with His Grace, we completed the umrah without major glitches. We were proud of both Afzal and Aqil to have been able to go through the rites and we were grateful for He gave us patience with our children and each other and determination to see it through.
Alhamdullillah, our umrah completed. Amin.
1 comment:
very nice blog i have done my Umrah in December 2015 and love the experience really its a blessed journey http://www.ukhajjumrah.travel/packages/umrah-december-2016/
Post a Comment