My Beautiful Umrah Journey

I think it is the time to share with you my awesome trip for Umrah. I know many people are waiting on this opportunity. Apparently, most of all get sick when doing Umrah or Hajj. The whole experience was slightly different than I expected. The amount of walking that you need to do is approximately 3 to 6 miles or more depending on how many tawaf’s you want to make.

Thousands of people are in a small space coupled with the weather change and dry atmosphere. I loved the whole thing. As my first Umrah, it was my preparation for the hopefully many more to come where I will be more prepared, now that I know what to expect. Hopefully, I will be able to give tips to you who will also be going for the first time.

First I booked Umrah Packages 2023 from a reliable company and my Umrah trip started with a journey to Manchester, as British Airways generously cut evening flight from Leeds to London. I booked my flight with Labbaik Hajj Umrah from Manchester to Istanbul with an overnight flight in London. A beautiful lady at the airport checked our luggage.

All the way to Istanbul which was awesome and we relaxed. The flight costs cheap fare for an economy. There is not much to do in the airport unless shopping which is not my dearest exercise in the world. I guess my husband would have been lucky if I wasn’t obsessed with travel and spend the equivalent saved from shopping on travel.

There is a vast area to sit and relax before your flight. I like that they have separated the space with some casual chairs close to the entrance and then some nice comfortable couches on the other end near the bar area. Overall the room is a nice area to relax and enjoy before your flight. I like spending time in the lounge since there is always something to drink and free Wi-Fi.

After we landed in Heathrow from Manchester we headed to the Holiday Inn London Heathrow airport by using the free bus just outside the terminal. There are free public buses that take you from Heathrow Terminals to Bath road the main take off with all the hotels. It takes approximately 20 minutes. This time I booked a standard room on my husband’s name and we only spent less than 7 hours in the hotel.

The plane was new with new leather seats and a friendly crew. British Airways flight from London to Istanbul takes 3.30 hours and it was a pleasant trip. Most of the travellers went to sleep straight after takeoff and didn’t seem to wake up for most of the ride. I think the business class had only 6 people and about 22 in the economy. I liked the flight was new and the timing was perfect. I think this 6am flight from London is excellent especially for a weekend away to Istanbul.

The Saudi Airlines plane was 90% full of people travelling to perform Umrah. It was nice to see so many peoples in Ihram, the white cloth you have to wear in order to perform Umrah and it is more a state of mind. Most of them travelling and listening to travel prayer or Quran. I thought that the flight to Jeddah will be a small aircraft however they had an A330 for the trip and since they have 3 flights per day.

The flight was not new. One of my favourite things with older and most Middle Eastern flights is the fact that they have a footrest. Not many airlines have this feature nowadays but I think it is awesome to have it in the economy. Once we arrived at Jeddah airport we did have to use the bus to get to the terminal. I was very lucky to have an awesome guide who provided me with a driver for my Umrah. So I was driven to Makkah and Madinah by car, which was great as it made everything so much easier.

May God bless them for kindness and generosity. I know however that many people will not have this benefit and they will have to rely on other means. In my package, I decided to add one option here as well. You will have to choose Labbaik Hajj Umrah as your travel partner and the problem almost solved. Always make sure you have copies of correspondence and contact details with you.

Umrah is prescribed but not compulsory for Muslims unlike Hajj however many choose to perform Umrah and visit the Holy city of Makkah. The city is literally built around the Kaabah and the Al Haram mosque. To be honest I am totally impressed and excited how people use to live there 1400 years ago. The whole area is rocks which makes everything around it so difficult to construct.

It is so densely populated and restrictive. There are many International hotels in the area and some are so expensive for the average peoples. This is one of the reasons why Labbaik Hajj Umrah made the best and Cheap Umrah Packages to help them save on unnecessary costs. Makkah currently is a construction site, as you will see there are cranes everywhere.