KLIA to Jeddah

today marked the beginning of our journey together to the Holy Land with JUARA Travel... coincidentally, our neighbour provides taxi services, which made the arrangements much easier for us... we left home at 3:30 am, heading straight to KLIA, choosing to arrive early rather than risk being late... upon arrival, we had breakfast at the food court before performing the Subuh prayer at a nearby surau, together with fellow JUARA Travel pilgrims who had departed from the northern region a last night... the calm and orderly start set a peaceful tone for the journey ahead as we prepared ourselves physically and spiritually for the blessed Umrah... 

before departing for Jeddah, we sought permission from the warden to make a WhatsApp video call to the warden’s mobile phone so that we could speak to Abyana and Azim... the wardens were truly kind and understanding, allowing us the opportunity without hesitation... seeing them smiling faces and happiness, even though they were not travelling with us, brought great comfort and reassurance... by 9:30 am, we had proceeded to Gate C13 for Air Saudi flight G9801, scheduled to depart at 10:00 am... we were assigned seats 26E and 26D... the flight duration was approximately 7 hours to Sharjah, where we had a 1-hour transit... from there, we continued our journey to Gate 7 for Air Saudi flight G9147 bound for Jeddah, with seats allocated at 35C and 35D, marking the next stage of our Umrah journey... we did not need to make the intention for ihram at that time because we were travelling directly to Taif first, not entering Mecca to perform Umrah immediately... since Taif is outside the Haram boundary, it is permissible to delay entering ihram until later... the intention for Umrah can be made at the appropriate miqat once we begin our journey from Taif towards Mecca... this arrangement allowed us to travel comfortably without ihram restrictions initially, while still ensuring that the Umrah rites would be performed correctly and in accordance with Islamic guidelines when the time came...

 

aboard an Airbus A321neo, we finally arrived in Jeddah after a long but smooth 9‑hour flight... upon arrival, our mutawif, Hafiz, officially took on his role and responsibilities, guiding us throughout the entire journey with care and assurance... as we settled in, we had to adjust ourselves to Saudi Arabia time, a reminder that we were now far from home - 5:00 pm in Saudi Arabia corresponds to 10:00 pm in Malaysia... despite the travel fatigue, the sense of gratitude and anticipation was strong, marking the beginning of a meaningful and spiritually enriching journey ahead... there was no need for us to worry about purchasing a local SIM card upon arrival, as we had already activated international roaming through the Celcom 14‑day package... this allowed us to stay connected seamlessly for calls, messages, and internet access throughout our journey, making communication with family back home and coordination during travel much more convenient and hassle‑free...