Leaving the girls for my second umrah trip (T_T)

I remember in 2015, my good friend was telling this every time after solat,

"This year, I want to go for umrah!"

But she didn't make any preparation for that. Come December, her brother in law (BIL) was supposed to go to Umrah, but had to be cancelled due to work, guess who went to replace the BIL and his wife?

Then 2016, this same friend of mine was telling me again, every time after solat,

"This year, I want to go for Hajj!"

Again, she didn't make any preparation and about two months before Hajj, guess who was invited by the Almighty?

One day I asked her, "How?"

"If you want something good bad enough, Allah will help you!" Her level of faith and dependency, I cried!

"I did want it bad enough.." I said.

"What hold you back then?" She asked, smiling. I thought hard. It was the girls. I am one hell of clingy mom, so does my girls. "You have to let go. When you know it is a good thing to do, your niat is for Allah, Allah will take care of them."

I took it to heart.

I let go, sincerely for the first time, let loose, give all the control to Almighty and left them for Umrah for 6 days. And my heart is totally peace in Makkah and Madinah, I missed them. But I wasn't paranoid, it didn't ache.

I am blessed to be constantly reminded by good people surrounding me. Love said, that is also my form of rezeki. Mufti Menk said sometimes, Allah gave a reminder to us via normal people and normal event.

So how was it to leave them?

I told them earlier of my plan, reminded them every day.

Left them love letters, so they could read one by one every day. One side of the letter was coloring page, one side was my notes.

Left them homeworks, day by day.

In return, Khaira made us a box with letters from her day by day as well before we left. It was priceless.

Aisha was crying almost everyday at night before we left, but once we were in Umrah, she was doing ok. Khaira on the other hand was cool and all before we left. But on the day, she cried for half a day. Was inconsolable at the airport.

But, Alhamdulillah for my strong family support. One of my brothers and my SIL took leave to cheer them up. They brought them to Petrosains the next day. My parents in law visited them every now and then at my parents' house. Everything was smooth sailing.

Every day, K would write us letters and send us the photo. A sent some too, but of course, it was just some sketching of something that we could not make sense of.

We would call them everday via Kakao as apparently Whatsapp Call was blocked in Saudi. It was quite difficult to get the sim card as contrary from the previous year. Booths in airport was offline, so we waited until the next day to buy sim card in Makkah. I had to roam for two days.

They would send us videos and pictures and voice messages. This was my favourite!

By day 6, K was already super sad. Cried at night a bit and all, but it was ok, because we reached Malaysia the afternoon of 7th day :)

Alhamdulillah, the longest I left them and the first time both of us were not there. Thank you Alllah for taking care of them while I was gone, and for taking care of them all these while 24/7 :)

Kapal + Ikeen 2017's short customized umrah trip!

I have been missing the Holy Land too much after my first umrah trip 2016. I felt incomplete. Like something was missing. Everyday I thought about the holy land. How it felt like to stay there for hours, how does masjidil haram looks like without the temporary mataf, all sorts of things. Every single day.

I pray every day to have been given the chance to be there in 2017. Plan A did not go well, and after Plan B, I basically stopped planning but continued praying.

Day in, day out and it was October. But.. I have no plan yet to the holy land. So as days went by, I felt sad and empty.

A few days before my birthday, Love suddenly managed to get a long leave and said, "Jom pergi Umrah!"

We were psyched. We resolved our issue one by one. From the fact that I have insufficient leave to the extra fees we need to pay as we just went the year before.

We opted to go via Shahid Travel and Tours as they organized a private package for us. We managed to cut short to 6 days trips and managed to leave the girls with my parents. Alhamdulillah, we were able to book a date when I was free from my menses and also on a week of semester break.

Unlike our Umrah the previous year, this time we entered Makkah first before Madinah. I felt comfortable with Saudi Airlines previously, so we did the same for this trip.

So, to Makkah first or to Madinah?

Considering I have experienced both, I choose Makkah. Because, I feel like it is more natural to perform your ibadah first, while you are still healthy and then take a little slow in Madinah as it is a peaceful land indeed.

We left Malaysia at 1210 noon, Saturday Malaysia time, arrived in Jeddah 415pm (Saudi time) and finally reached our hotel almost midnight via bus with the other jemaah. We stayed in Hotel Saraya Iman also with the rest of the jemaah, a bit further away compared to our previous hotel in Maqam, hence we didn't really have the luxury to go back and forth to our hotel every prayer time like we did. We didn't quite mind as it was just the two of us and it gave us more time in the mosque.

We performed our first umrah of 2017 at 1am and the feeling was beautiful :) Like everything you dreamed of and more.

A lot has changed in Masjidil Haram within a year. No more temporary mataf, the zam zam well was renovated, only those with ihram can do tawaf in ground floor and you thought things will be really chaos, but no. It was really REALLY peaceful indeed. I must applaud Saudi government for the way they manage this, thank you.

Our food was all taken care by Shahid Travel, 3 times a day in the hotel. But, we did not follow the tour as our focus this time not to ziarah, but more to exploring the mosque. And we did just that. We Sai'e at almost every floor, solat at almost every corner of Masjidil Haram where Kaabah is visible, we stalked the imam so that we could solat close to them, after solat, we stayed at the rooftop where it was windy, looking at Kaabah and how synchronize and peaceful everything was from the top.

We took a taxi from outside our hotel to Tan'im for us to perform our Umrah. Tan'im was about 10-15 minutes away from Masjidil Haram and it costs you around 50-60 Riyal (About RM60-70).

This is pretty much our timetable everyday in Makkah.

We left our hotel at 3am to Tan'im, performed Umrah and had our Subuh prayer. Back home for breakfast and sleep for about 3 hours. Woke up about an hour before Zuhur, shopped for about 15 minutes for souvenirs back home and rushed to the mosque for Zuhur prayer. Come back to the hotel for lunch and after lunch, freshened up for about half an hour. Then, we stayed in the mosque before Asar until after Isyak. After Isyak, we had dinner and normally by 9pm I have already fell asleep so I could wake up at 2am the next day and the cycle continued.

I also come out with plans on what to do every solat time. Typically would be Solat Sunat Tahajjud (before Subuh), Solat Sunat Dhuha (after Subuh), Solat Sunat Taubat, Sujud Syukur, Solat Hajat, Solat Witir, Solat Jenazah, Zikir, specific doa, doa from friends, recite Quran (I have specific target for every solat) if I have extra time, I will sedekah Fatihah for my family member that have passed away especially my grandmother. You need to have strategy, a good friend of mine who have been there multiple times always advised me and that was just what I did.

We stayed in Makkah from Saturday until Wednesday. Right after we performed our last umrah in Makkah that year, we performed our Subuh and Tawaf Wida' (probably one of the saddest feeling I had), waited outside hotel where Shahid Travel prepared a cab for us to Madinah. It took about 4 hours to Madinah via car, where it was almost 9 hours previously by bus!

Our scenery for hours in the cab

We stayed in Bahauddin Hotel which was right in front of the mosque just before Zuhur. We purposely requested to arrange our own food as we thought of trying the local food in restaurant, but boy.. there was not much restaurant in Madinah. But I really REALLY love the food in the only dine in restaurant visible from our hotel, hence we ate that almost every time.

After Isyak, I waited to get in Raudhah, Alhamdulillah was given the chance to do that. Alhamdulillah, I was a bit nervous as I was alone. The previous year, I went inside Raudhah with the jemaah. But I found a friend there, we were both clueless so we just go with the flow. I managed to get in, was protected by some group from Pakistan, may Allah swt bless their soul (T_T). After Raudhah, we had dinner with our good friend who was also a representative from Shahid Travel and came there to greet us at the hotel.

After Zuhur the next day, we packed up our things and waited for an Uber driver together with Shahid's representative (our good friend, Mus) where he personally sent us to the airport to leave the peaceful Madinah.

Goodbye Mus, thank you for the hospitality. Goodbye Makkah and Madinah, dear Allah swt, please allow us to visit your holy land again.

To end my post, I highly recommend Shahid Travel and Tours especially if you opt for customized umrah like us. I rate the 5/5.

How He reminds me: My aftermath umrah story

Right after I arrived in Malaysia from Makkah, I missed the holy land so badly, I cried sometimes so horribly I almost couldn't breathe one time.

Then a month after, I received somewhat like an offer as a postdoc in a university in Jeddah, an hour away from Makkah, in an exact field I'm majoring right now, with triple the pay than what I received in my current university.

Was I excited? Not a word could describe it, and my supportive husband willing to let go his current job.

But, looking at my parents, I didn't have the heart. I came from a very conservative family in that sense, my mom never left us anywhere overnight. When I stayed in uni, my parents called me every night, seriously I promise, every night. And none of us have ever been away to boarding school or anything.

I couldn't imagine them being away from my girls.

Then, my husband got promoted and that was it. I knew I had to let it go, although husband insisted. He is at the peak of his career, and after all the provider of the family, thinking of prioritizing mine over him just kills me inside.

"Let's go again end of this year!" Love suggested, without the kids this time around.

Not now. Not when Aisha is still cranky having to sleep without me. Recently, I had to work outstation and she slept at 2am after crying inconsolably, poor mom.

Where my heart belongs :)

When I missed Makkah, I looked at the images in Google Map. The drone and 360 images help a lot.

A couple of days ago, I received a message.

An invitation.

To that particular university, may I remind you just an hour away from Masjidil Haraam.

On October, right after Hajj where you can only enter Makkah by invitation during that time. Imagine how empty Masjidil Haraam would be, not empty but you know what I mean..

Anddddd... the best part, I would be given business visa + umrah.

"Can I bring my spouse?" Was my first question. No need to think, this is Almighty's invitation ro me.

"No, because this is by invitation," was the reply I got. Sure would shatter by hub's heart, but I still want to go.

"How about my mahram, then?" I asked. "For umrah, how about my mahram?"

Anddddd... stuck. Now, I'm stuck with the mahram issue. Make lots of doa if this is meant for me, Allah swt would make everything easy for me.

Even if it's not meant for me this time around, He constantly reminds me of Makkah, masha Allah terharunya. *cries*

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 7: Saying goodbye

Read my Part 1 story here, Part 2 story here, Part 3 story here, Part 4 story here, Part 5 story here and Part 6 here.

I first saw the Kaabah from the entrance of King Fahd's gate 79. The inside of Masjidil Haraam appears to be quite dark from the outside, and then in the middle.. the Kaabah appears to illuminate with all its black and gold beauty, looking all grand and proud.

I was speechless.. of its beauty.. of all my sins.. of whether or not Allah swt allows me to just for a while hold the Kaabah, to do the tawaf with all the sins I came in.. so unclean.

Never have I met something so beautiful in my life.

My favourite gate

Love at first sight, that's it. Not a single day goes by that I haven't think of the first time I looked at Kaabah. Not a single second goes by without me wishing to go back there again everytime I thought of Makkah. 

Masjidil Haraam is oneee big mosque, it is so understandable how people could get lost inside. So many things to see, to do, to venture, you just do not want to get out once you're inside. It even has a library!

I performed my tawaf at the mataf, the highest level. Weather was cold during our visit, so it was okay for us considering the highest level is open air. I figured it was just nice, since not many people at the highest level and for me, personally I found that I could focus more.

Tawaf slowly at the highest level would take approximately around 20 minutes. Personally, I would prefer to take turns taking care of the kids during tawaf. Though I saw some super mommies just put their kids on the wheelchair and the kids had fun as well while they could focus on their ibadah. As for me, the sight of Kaabah was so overwhelming, I would prefer my time alone with my Creator for a while.

Your preference, after all, nobody is judging you in the Allah's mosque.

Sai'e is more relax and free flow although it was a bit tiring. 40 minutes for me to wrap up my Sai'e. Maybe I did it leisurely. I guess, here the kids could get involved as much. Along the way, you could see zam zam water by the side and could stop for a drink.

Sai'e

At the ground floor, the level of Kaabah, you could see that people come and go to perform their tawaf, it is sooo packed. But afraid not, all of them tawaf with a flow. You just follow the flow, bit by bit closer to the Kaabah, in shaa Allah you would get closer. Love directed me straight to the Kaabah one Friday evening, and holding the Kaabah flashed back all the sins I've brought in this Tanah Haraam, I cried like there is no tomorrow. Like everyone around you didn't exist, somehow. Despite of the chaos, it was just me and my Creator. I didn't realize if people were pushing me or pulling me or anything, I was just too mesmerized.

Suddenly, I heard my husband said, "You're in the Hijir Ismail, Sayang. Would you like to solat here?"

I don't know where or how or when I got there, like I told you, the flow will direct you.. and you know when you're there, everybody is helping each other. One big Moroccan lady kept making way for me to hold the Kaabah and hence, to Hijir Ismail. Of course, my husband wrapped me around him all the time. So, I performed my two raqaat solah there.. Peacefully.. despite the chaos..

Nothing else matters at that time. NOTHING.

Just me and my Creator. Just us.

You could even pray near the dome, open air :)

If you think of it logically, it was on Friday right after Friday prayer, you could imagine how full Masjidil Haraam was, even more at the ground floor for tawaf, and me being soooo small to make my way there to Kaabah, but Masha Allah, Allahu Akbar, for sure everything is possible for Him. 

My point is, don't attract negative vibes much from the stories you have heard. Makkah and Madinah are such beautiful places with beautiful people; the Arabics and Turks that just loooveeee kids. I would everyday miss. I would everyday long to go there again.

Sighh...

Saturday, after Tawaf Wida', as early as 12 noon, we quickly got out of hotel and left Makkah with so much sadness. About an hour drive to Jeddah international airport, freshen up and waiting for our flight at 11pm. Imagine the long wait for the kids. Not a good start for a long hour flight. 

And we had one tiring flight with cranky toddler, but Alhamdulillah sleeping baby throughout.

I miss!

One of the worst flight I had in life, 90% because, I don't want to go back at all.. No "home sweet home" phrase as we arrived at KLIA, not from me, not from Love, the first among 8 countries we have visited together before.

Dear Allah SWT, please invite us again.

Until the end of my Umrah sharing, I sure hope it will be beneficial to you :) 3 months have passed since we performed our Umrah and I still cry a bucket the moment I write this.

Pic from shafiqolbu

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 6: Ziarah Makkah

Read my Part 1 story here, Part 2 story here, Part 3 story here, Part 4 story here and Part 5 story here.

Day 6

In Makkah, we went to two mountains (jabals); Jabal Thur and Jabal Nur.

In Jabal Thur resides the Cave of Thur in which Rasulullah and Saidina Abu Bakar hid from the Quraish during hijrah to Madinah.

In Jabal Nur resides the Cave of Hira' where Rasulullah received his first wahyu there. It took approximately one hour to climb the mountain to get to Gua Hira'.

Lil K was forever obsessed with the sand in every jabal so yeah.. whatever it was, play time was her priority. Not a second to waste for a proper pic, so I gave up.

Then, we went to Mount Arafat, a place that is believed to be where Nabi Adam a.s and Hawa met once again when they were sent down to reside on earth.

We also passed by Muzdalifah and Mina for the haaj. The stay at Muzdalifah is preceded by a day at Arafat, consisting of glorifying Allah, repeating the Supplication, and repentance to Allah and asking Him for forgiveness. Whereas, in the valley of Mina is the Jamarat Bridge, the location of the ritual of the Stoning of the Devil, performed between sunrise and sunset on the last day of the Hajj. Mina is the place where pilgrims throw stones, commemorating the occasion that the Prophet Ibrâhîm (Abraham) stoned the Devil that came between him and the command Allah had set him.

Before we arrived to the hotel, we dropped by to Jaaranah, a miqat place for those who stayed in Makkah.

Other days

Other than Bir Ali and Jaaranah, with Rayhar, they provided you with four times umrah; two more are at Taneem and Hudaibiyah.

Also once, they provided a visit to Museum. Overall, the journey to these places took around 15 minutes to 1 hour max, so you could just travel lightly with the kids.

The museum

Until my part 7 :)

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 5: The kids in Makkah

Read my Part 1 story here, Part 2 story here, Part 3 story here, and Part 4 story here.

Day 5

Day 5 was one relaxing day for us. We stayed in Al-Maqam, 120m away from Masjidil Haraam. Basically, you got out of the lobby, and you could see the grand mosque already. During Friday prayer, there were lots of jemaah that they prayed from the mosque up until the outside of our hotel.

Hotel room in Makkah was a lot smaller than in Madinah. Aisha would get cranky if she stayed too long in the hotel. I would suggest to find out the size of the hotel as well, other than the distance if you bring your kids with you. My friend whom stayed in Hilton said, her room was so big that the kids could even run round. For a week stay, I would say it is worth spending on a better hotel with the kids around for their comfort.

Makkah was a bit hotter than Madinah, it was around 19 degrees when we arrived. Next to our hotel resides an ice cream shop, and everybody was crazy about it. They said the ice cream here is a must. Plus it costs only 1 riyal. So, every other day, the girls were treated an ice cream.

Just outside of our hotel was an area where pigeons and doves hang around almost everytime. You could purchase the bird foods and let your kids feed them. This became their everyday routine in Makkah.

In Makkah, the gates to the mosque close an hour before azan. And during winter, the gap between Zuhur to Asar, then Asar to Maghrib was so short. If not because of the kids, I would prefer to stay from Zohor until Isyak there. Because there are soooo many things you could do and explore in Masjidil Haraam, just don't want to get out.

Contrary from Masjidil Nabawi, I was not so comfortable bringing in the girls during prayer time. First, because it would be too long and secondly because there was not as many kids as in Masjidil Nabawi. The toilet was quite a distant as well, so.. most of the time we took turns.

During my stay, I did not see any strollers inside Masjidil Haraam. Though, I have been told that sometimes they allow, but most of the parents obliged with the rules to leave theirs outside. I, myself honestly did not have the heart to bring the stroller in as I am scared that the wheel of the stroller would stained the holy mosque.

Normally, people would rent the wheelchair and put their kids on it while they do tawaf and saie. For us, we figured they would have more fun walking on their own. Hopefully, by the end of it, they would get tired and we would have a better sleep ourselves.

Every other day, we would bring the kids to shopping malls as not to bore them and to make sure they associate Makkah with fun. And at night, we would buy some snacks and enjoy our picnic Arab style outside the beautiful grand mosque with the breezy beautiful weather. Mashaa Allah, I miss!

Until my Part 6 everyoneee!! :)

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 4: The journey to Makkah

Read my Part 1 story here, Part 2 story here, and Part 3 story here.

Pardon me for the delay in sharing my Umrah stories. Have I been busy? Yes. But mostly I have been contemplating. Because it aches so much everytime I start to write. The memories, the pictures just break my heart. Rindunya mashaa Allah never have I experienced this kind of feeling before. I could still smell the air of that holy land. Simple solution is to just stop writing this altogether so the pain become somehow unbearable, but I just need to share this in case it is beneficial to some.

Here is my Day 4 story

Day 4

Imagine waking up in your dream land, knowing you have to leave everything in a jiffy and not knowing whether you will come back again.

That morning was one sad day. Woke up early to do my ziarah wada'. Saying goodbye to Rasulullah, not that I want to. I'm gonna miss the green qubah for everyday for the rest of my life now.

Meanwhile, Love captured this picture of me outside Raudhah.. later we realized the reflection was breathtaking, couldn't find out how it got there.

A about 11am, we left Madinah with non-stop tears in my eyes. I must have cried until I became dizzy and finally developed a fever there.

It took us 9 hours bus drive to Makkah due to heavy traffic that weekend. Even more challenging with the kids around. So, make sure you bring lots of snacks and lots of toys to entertain them. With only 2 pit stops, I would strongly suggest to wear diapers even for toddlers. I did that with 4 yo Khaira.

Our first pit stop was at Bir Ali mosque, miqat place for those who want to enter Makkah from Madinah. Bir Ali is a very simple mosque, so we performed our jamak Zuhur and Asar here and niat umrah, and so the ihram begun.

Second pit stop was for late lunch. Food was not provided, so you have to buy food of your own. Delicious Nasi Arab everywhere. Toilet was okay for me, clean enough to freshen up yourself and the kids.

Arrived the hotel at 8pm, was already super exhausted to even had my dinner. An hour freshen up anddddd.. the first umrah.

We decided to take turns, leaving the kids behind because it has been a long day for them. We let them rest.

Until my part 5 journey, in Makkah with the girls :)

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 3: Ziarah Madinah

Read part 1 of my story here and part 2 of my story here.

Day 3

After breakfast, we begun our 15 minutes journey by bus to Masjid Quba'. Masjid Quba' is Islam's oldest masjid in the world.

It is stated in a hadith: "Whoever makes ablutions at home and then goes and prays in the Mosque of Quba, he will have a reward like that of an 'Umrah."

So we took ablutions at home and perform our solat tahiyatul masjid, solat taubat and solat hajat there. We still have time for sujud syukur and Quran recitation.

Then, we headed to "a mountain which loves us and which we love", Bukit Uhud, the largest mountain in Madinah where the Battle of Uhud once took place.

I think it is so worth it to tell the story about Perang Uhud to your kids prior to your visit to Bukit Uhud so they appreciate the visit. I did some reading about Rasulullah before my Umrah, so every now and then I shared my story with 4yo Khaira. I must have forgotten to tell her that Rasulullah has passed away. She only knew that in Raudhah, and guess what.. she cried so bad sampai mimpi2 as she was soooo excited to meet Rasulullah.

So much love for this messenger of Allah. Rindunyaa..

Afterwards, to Ladang kurma Saidina Uthman, in which his waqaf is still on going up until today. Must be one genius skilful businessman!

We had to rush back because it was about time for Friday prayer. On the way back, we passed by Majlis Qiblatain; or the Mosque of the Two Qiblas. It is the mosque where, after Rasulullah received the command to change the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Makkah, the entire congregation led by a companion changed direction in prayer.

In Masjid Nabawi, it is common for women to follow for Friday prayer, but not in Masjidil Haraam. So mom joined in while I stayed in hotel with the girls. I figured it would be too long for them to be in the mosque, I could not afford having cranky babies while everyone wanted to focus on their solat.

That night was one sad day for me, I did not want to leave Medina.. It felt so heavy to leave Rasulullah, I cried the whole journey from Medina to Makkah, so unlike me. I miss Rasulullah too much already, it breaks my heart to type this.

Pray for the strength for me to write my Part 4. The journey to Makkah.

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 2: Handling the girls in Masjid Nabawi, Madinah

Read my part 1 story here.

As soon as we arrived in the hotel, we were too tired to do anything and immediately fell asleep.

We stayed in Dallah Taibah hotel, just opposite of the Masjid Nabawi. With 4 bed for all 6 of us including my parents. Very very comfortable, I must say. Location, food, hospitality as well as the services, I would highly recommend.

View from hotel window, you can even see Masjid Nabawi

Day 2

Since the time difference between Madinah and Malaysia is 5 hours, in shaa Allah it is easier for us to wake up for tahajjud. 3am in Madinah means 8am in Malaysia, so we were wide awake by then. Don't miss the opportunity for tahajjud k, friends.

We were excited to perform Subuh in Masjid Nabawi. We arrived half an hour before azan because we were scared that the gate would be closed. But later, we found out that they do not close the gate at all. You can even enter as masbuk.

In Masjid Nabawi, your bags will be checked first as they do not allow bringing in cameras. And they have special praying areas for mommies with kids. But not for daddies with kids though, you can pray in the normal praying area.

With my 4 y.o; the lion is her harness

Since we have 2 girls, Love decided to take care of our 15 months old Aisha and I decided to take care of 4 years old Khaira because they behave better with us.

I must say that it is easier with Aisha as she was still small and clingy. Love carried her during jemaah and the rest of the time, she just sat still in her carrier or at the prayer mat eating her biscuit happily.

With Khaira, she had the tendency to run around the praying area, make new friends and hence make noises. What I did was I talk to her about the ethics in mosque before each prayer. And put her next to me on a prayer mat with her toys and books. Most of the time it worked and she would have her new friends play, colour and read with her. Other times, she would just run around, but never that far.

Btw, you can bring in any toys in the mosque except dolls and guns.

Husband with my 15m.o

These kids tend to get hungry during prayer time. Because in between azan and iqamat would took approximately 15 minutes. I normally arrived around 15 minutes before azan. Let them settle down, had my Solat tahiyatul masjid, solat taubat, solat hajat, sujud syukur and then normally I still have some time to qada' solat before solat fardhu jemaah begun. After jemaah, I would recite some Quran before I left. So altogether, perhaps around half an hour with the kids in the mosque.

I brought lots and variety of snacks I bought from Malaysia. In the mosque, the Arabs love kids and my girls always got some Arabic or Turks snacks to bring home. And they always gave their snacks to the kids in the mosque as well.

Zam zam water is available everywhere in the mosque, so don't worry much about bringing water bottle for your kids. I do bring an empty one for me to fill in with zam zam water at the mosque to drink in the hotel later.

Zam zam water is provided together with the cup, my girls enjoyed the free flow so much

To help handle the girls, we found our Pognae carrier is really useful for our baby and our harness really useful for the toddler.

After Subuh prayer, we were shocked that all the way from Masjid Nabawi to our hotel has turned into Pasar. Jubah was so so cheap as cheap as 10 riyal (about RM11). It opens after Subuh and Asar, we bought 80% of our souvenirs here.

We promised to meet each other in front of gate 25. But we couldn't find each other due to the chaosness of the pasar. My suggestion, just meet your better half at the hotel to avoid confusion.

Then, we had our yummy breakfast and got ready for our visit to Masjid Nabawi with the tour.

With Rayhar, we visited Raudhah and the Baqi' Cemetery.

We were given the opportunity to pray inside Raudhah; me with Khaira, Love with Aisha, Alhamdulillah. Allah swt eases everything as the Arabs love kids a lot so they just let us in. Raudhah used to be the house of Rasulullah saw and later his tomb. So much love for this messenger of Allah swt, I cried so badly everytime I had to leave Raudhah.

The Baqi' Cemetery contains many of Rasulullah's relatives and companions. It's just a walking distance away from Masjid Nabawi.

My visit in Raudhah brought so much tears and sadness. Within that couple of hours, I fell in love with Madinah so much.. I just want to stay there, so close to the man I love with all my heart and yet I've never met before.

Just by remembering it brings so much sadness already. Guess I'll see you in my next post, in shaa Allah.

My umrah story with a toddler and a baby - Part 1: the travelling experience.

As salam everyone!! Sorry for the overdue post, been trying to settle down with the girls' jetlag and my everyday routine. And now I'm back.

So, we (my parents, hubs, both my girls and I) left Malaysia on 13th January, our travel agent is Rayhar and using Saudia Airlines. Departed from KLIA where we needed to be there 3 hours before and a short briefing by our agent before we went into the departure hall.

Flight duration was 9 hours, we left Malaysia at 2pm and arrived at 11 pm Malaysia time (7 pm Madinah's time). Transit for less than an hour in Riyadh.

I prepared everything I could because by far this is the longest flight for the girls (Khaira had 8 hours flight from Japan to Malaysia 2 years back, the longest flight Aisha had was only 3 hours).

What I brought in the flight:
1) Colouring books for each girls with colour pencils
2) Lots of videos in my phone
3) Legos
4) Play Doh
5) Jigsaw puzzles
6) Lots and variety of snacks

What I actually used in the flight:
Just snacks.

Haha! It's ok to be over prepared right!

Turned out the kids were already happy with the movies and games provided by Saudia, they couldn't care less about other things. They were too hungry in between meal time (meal was served twice), so the snacks came in handy. The rest of the time, they just slept all the wayyyy and everyone in the flight was complimenting them, Alhamdulillah, I always said to my husband, they were born traveler like us. We have at least two holidays a year, so I guess they are used to it.

Also, I must highly recommend Saudia, the kids were pampered with other toys and gifts in the flight, they were so happy.

Arrived at Madinah with the airport so packed of people checking out. Alhamdulillah, it took us about one hour and a half to clear, very efficient service I must say. We had it longer in Goldcoast Airport last time, with less people. Their immigration took all 10 fingerprints of ours, I have no fingerprints due to eczema, so I came in prepared with letters from JPN and from my specialists. My first miracle in my Umrah journey came in when for the first time in my life, the device managed to scan my fingerprints in only one attempt (Some of my family members had theirs up to three times although they have no fingerprints problem).

Arrived in Madinah with temperature outside around 17 degrees. Took a bus around half an hour to our hotel.

Happy baby in holiday mode!

Will continue my Madinah story in Part 2.

Read my Part 2 here.

Preparation for Umrah; bringing baby and toddler

Hye everyone!

At the moment, I am soo soo excited, counting the days to be the guest of my Creator.

To breathe the same air and be in the same land where my Prophet used to live.

December has been a month where I cried more than the whole year itself. The month where I have been depressed more than the PhD itself. The month when my beloved Grandmother whom I dearly called 'Mak' passed away.

To be given the opportunity to be in Makkah and Madinah just a month after Mak's passing, I took it as a way Allah swt wants to cheer me up.

So let me just share with you some of our preparation to go there:

Financially
1. Package varies from RM5k to 10k. Ours is around RM7k. RM5k for 4y.o Khaira and RM1k+ for 18m.o Aisha.
2. Overall for adult, would suggest to prepare around RM10k -> RM7k for package, RM500 for documentations (passport, injection, etc), RM1k for clothings, snacks from here and RM1.5k expenses there.

Flight
We are going with Saudi Airlines. Please check where you will be heading first. As far as I know; you have 3 options:
1. Land in Madinah and stay in Madinah first, then from Madinah by bus to Makkah (6 hours) and from Makkah to Jeddah (1 hour) and fly there.
2. Land in Jeddah and stay in Makkah first, then to Madinah and fly back from Madinah.
3. Land in Jeddah, then bus to Madinah, and from Madinah back to Makkah and fly back from Jeddah.

I opt for Option 1 as suggested by Rayhar. First timer is always advised to go to Madinah first and because they said airport in Madinah is more manageable.  I would suggest to avoid Option 3 as it requires twice travelling; Jeddah to Madinah and Madinah back to Makkah.

Hotel
We took a package with Rayhar where our hotel is just around 120m away from masjidil haram, which I think is very convenient when bringing kids along. Make sure the hotel provides at least 3 meals a day; again for convenience.

Documentations
1. Sijil nikah verified by jabatan agama if you're going with your husband and if you are below 45
2. Surat beranak verified by jpn for your kids
3. Visa photo wearing black scarf - RM12 for 4 pieces
4. Passport - now standardized to RM200 for 5 years
5. Acyw-135 vaccination. RM165 per pax. For child below 2, must go to paed and will be evaluated case by case whether or not need the vaccination. If not needed, the paed must produce a letter.

Physically
1. Walk 5km a day as suggested. Need to do it pronto

Mentally
1. Solat taubat and solat hajat may everything will be ease for you.