i have umrah visa and i am planning to go for umrah this time by road with family(Me,My wife,08 year old son and 06 &2 year old daughters), i have 2015 Toyota Corolla | Elevate your drive car, so what are the suggestions.
i only have to drive till riyadh as after that we will go with our father in law in his GMC.
Q1# is it good idea to go by car in this time of year?
Q2# Is it fine to travel with kids for a 10 hr long journey on small car?
Any additional suggestions.
PS: i need to go by road so that i can visit my in laws in riyadh.
Go for it; Make dua for all of us during the journey and during umrah. Write a post about your experience ( with pictures, if you can ) so others can benefit from it.
Sir my parents and i have been for Umrah by road around 6 times in my life (my last time was in 2007) and my parents alone have gone more, alhamdullilah Plus, there were 5 of us in the car. In our earlier ones, me and my bro were 6 and 7 respectively while my little sis was a little younger. I remember my parents had stuffed all our road trip items in the foot space near the back seat and put a mattress over it. SO for the 3 of us kids, when we would get tired of sitting, it was pretty much a portable bed.
Our car was a lot older than yours. We had a 1995 toyota camry back then and that blessed car still works to date (we use it as the spare car now). It is a nice but tedious trip. Everything is fine to the saudi border from UAE (we would go from Sharjah). Once you cross saudi border, you won’t find toilets or petrol pumps for many kilometers at a time so you will have to make sure the kids and the wife prepare accordingly. We would usually divide it as a two day trip and stay at a road side motel for the night, they are very cheap, clean and good enough for a nights stay. It helps you recooperate for the journey. My parents were smart because my mom would drive to the saudi border and from there on wards my dad would drive (women cant drive in Saudi, plus back then us kids were too young for licenses).
Just keep in mind, there are long stretches of desert for a while en route to the main land and in summer the desert reaches 50 degrees easily. Make sure you have an ice cooler in the car that has cold drinks and food for your kids (again no pumps to stop at) and help you not get a heat stroke which is very easy even if you are driving in the car. Make sure your ac is in top condition.
Also, when there are petrol pumps, the toilets are BEYOND DISGUSTING in saudi arabia. My mom vomited in one, it was so dirty. Make sure you are prepared with disposable wet kleenex, water bottles and soap etc, just to be one the safe side, but then again it has been a while since i went so it may be better now.
My parents did get us shots before going just to be on the safe side, in government hospital or clinic will tell you which shots are compulsory for heading to saudi or tell u if you are up to date on them. It’s worth it to find out in any case. Adults didnt need them, i remember on my last umrah when i was 16, didnt get the shots.
Anyway, Inshallah it will be worth it and going for tawaf in this heat has it’s own ajar. It can be tough but oh so worth it. I went in Ramadan for Umrah once and that was the most epic experience… nothing like breaking fast in Masjid Un nabwi and Harum shareef…amazing. May Allah grant your Umrah and please do keep me in your prayers when you go. Please feel free to ask questions, it will be my pleasure to help
Plus, there were 5 of us in the car. In our earlier ones, me and my bro were 6 and 7 respectively while my little sis was a little younger. I remember my parents had stuffed all our road trip items in the foot space near the back seat and put a mattress over it. SO for the 3 of us kids, when we would get tired of sitting, it was pretty much a portable bed.