Ramadan Umrah 2024: Faisalabad to Makkah via Dubai, Iftar in Madinah and Eid Prayer in the Haram

I flew flydubai from Faisalabad Airport to Dubai. In the Dubai transit I changed into Ihram, and on the next flight we said the Talbiyah in the air before the Meeqat.

We landed late at night at the Jeddah Hajj Terminal, took the pilgrim buses to Makkah, met family at the hotel and walked into Masjid al-Haram for Tawaf, Sa'i and Taraweeh.

• Jummah in the Mataf. The hotel shuttles were stuck in traffic, so we took a shared 5-riyal taxi to the tunnels and walked the rest under the midday sun. We made it down into the Mataf just before the Azan and watched the white mobile minbar being wheeled out.
• Last morning before Madinah. Big bags aren't allowed inside the Haram. We prayed Fajr, filled Zamzam at the dispensers for the 5.5-hour road trip, lost each other in the crowd, found each other again and boarded the bus.

We reached Masjid an-Nabawi at Fajr, entered through Bab al-Salam and offered our first salam at Roza-e-Rasool (S.A.W).

• Rooftop iftar. We took the escalators up to the open roof, sat on the long mats with thousands of others and opened our fast with a sealed iftar pack, dates and dukkah mixed into yoghurt. After Maghrib, volunteers cleaned the whole roof in minutes.
• Jummah in the rain. On the third Friday of Ramadan a huge storm hit. The shuttles had stopped and the roads were closed for Jummah, so I walked through flooded streets, bought a cap near Jannat al-Baqi and prayed in the soaked courtyard under the umbrellas.
• Blessed rain at Fajr. Another morning, after sehri of nihari near the hotel, we watched the courtyard's automated cleaning machines at work in the rain.
• Ziyarat: Jannat al-Baqi, Bi'r Ghars and the 10-riyal ziyarat bus. All of it is in the Madinah ziyarat guide.
• Badr. A 20 SAR local coach took us from Madinah to the battlefield of Badr.

From Madinah we went back to Makkah by road, tying Ihram at Dhul Hulayfah (Masjid al-Shajarah), and entered the Haram through Gate 79 before dawn.

For Eid ul Fitr we left the hotel at about 12:30 AM in Ihram, walked along Al-Hijra Road and found a place on the Mataf hours before sunrise. We stayed through Tahajjud and Fajr, heard the Eid takbeerat echo around the Kaaba, saw sweets being handed out and watched the mechanical minbar roll out for the khutbah. We lost our shoes in the rush afterwards, but sharing Zamzam outside made up for it.

I had arrived on flydubai but was flying home on a separate PIA booking, and I was worried about boarding on an Umrah visa. So, while fasting, I walked about 4 km through Makkah to the PIA office to get a clear answer. They sorted it, and the flight home was smooth.

• Go early for everything. Jummah, Taraweeh and especially Eid.
• Know your shuttle times. On Fridays and in rain, shuttles stop.
• One bag only when going to the Haram.
• Check your return booking before you fly, especially if it's a separate ticket.

The full 2-hour-47-minute Saudi Arabia vlog with every chapter is in the videos below. Next: the Makkah ziyarat bus tour and Jabal al-Noor.