A dream come true!

I had been dreaming of going for my Umrah since ages and ages.. and somehow, the plan kept on shifting. But of course, the Invitation has to come from the Almighty - such matters cannot be rushed and suited to oneself.. Finally, it happened. But first things first..

We had applied through an agent, applying just for the visa since we had planned on driving. We ditched that plan though and bought tickets for Nas Air. Which, if you are flying from the UAE, is an excellent option. The fare is cheap, the seats comfortable and the flying good. They dont serve food, rather offer it at a price. Which is fine by me. We had sandwiches with us and just bought a cup of tea from them and that was good enough.

Took the flight in the afternoon, and arrived in Jeddah around Maghrib time. We had friends in Jeddah so it was easy to spend the night - I'd advise anyone else too to spend a night in Jeddah and then head for whereever it is that youre heading. In our case, it was to Madina first.

You get all sorts of Taxis for Madina - but 99 out of 100 they are Arabs. Nothing wrong with that if you can speak Arabic of course :) Otherwise it becomes a game of sign language and good guessing.

The route to Madina is mostly barren land. Bring enough water with you and some light snacks. And be sure to choose a taxi that is well airconditioned..

As I was saying, mostly barren lands, dusty and dry. They dont have any special eateries or fancy petrol stations like we are used to seeing here in the UAE between say Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I guess thats all a well thought out plan. The obvious object is to get from place A to place B without any loitering inbetween. I must say I agree with the thought. It helps you to keep the destination in sight.

We stayed at the New Al Ansar Palace. Long name, good enough location. I could see the Haram from our window, if I leaned out a bit. They dont set much store by toilet paper or tissue though.. :)

So - time to sign out.. will continue tomorrow Inshallah :)