umrah help

Society Travel & Tourism
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Please recommend any travel agency for umrah purposes. We are currently looking at Haram Travel and Tours in CA.

We will have our 1.5 year old with us. Also what hotels are best to stay at? Is it ok if they are 10 mins away from the masjids?

Any other tips we should know about? If it matters we will be going in June InshaAllah.

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Re: umrah help

hmm r u located in pakistan

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Ira, we stayed at the Hilton Hotel minutes from the Haram. Zam Zam towers is also great. There is another hotel right next to hilton as well - forgot the name. All 3 hotels are just steps away from the haram.

i imagine it will be hot hot hot in june. how long are u staying? no need to bring any food/snack items since everything is there. Bin Dawood is like the Walmart of Saudi. Its everywhere.

items i would bring:
- pocket sized quran
- a messenger type bag (those long strap that go across ur body).
- those slings thing for ur daughter (so ur hubby could carry her as well)
- sunglasses
- a small nylon backpack (for ur shoes when u go in the haram)
- sunglasses
- vaseline (to rub on ur thighs so u wont chaf after doing tawaf sai)

We went with Sara International Travel. they are based out of NY. they were alright.

  • i will think of more items and tips and let u know. :)

congrats!

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Since you are traveling with a 1.5 year old, I would definitely not choose a hotel that is 10 minutes away from the Masjid. The june heat will get to you as adults anyway, but for a kid it's even more difficult. So you should really try to be as close as possible to the Haram.

We are going for Umra next month Inshallah and will have our 4.5 year old boy and our 2 year old daughter with us. Will stay at the Anwar Al Madinah in Madinah and the Rehab AlFirdous in Mecca.

Once we're back in town, I'll let you know how they were, Inshallah.

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It will be very hot in June for your lil one.. so plan it carefully..or just wait until Nov and then we can go for hajj together inshaAllah.. kiya khiyal hai?

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Mashallah thats great Ira…hope things work out well…Inshallah…:hugz:

I went for Umrah in June/July in 2007.It was pretty hot,but there were no kids accompanying us.
We stayed in hotels ,in Makkah and Medina,both which were about 7-8 mins walk away.
Although its ideal to be staying somewhere closeby especially if you have kids but it wasn’t that bad actually.
Hopefully someone who has been there with young kids can give some good advice.

:slight_smile:

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June is pretty hot time for SA.

For madina - I would recomended Movenpick Anwar Al Madinah because it opens up to the women's entrance. In Madina the women's and men's entrances are seprate. It will be MUCH easier for you since the baby will be with you.

For Makkah - hilton towers, zam zam, darul tawheed, are all good options. You can run back to the room and do you wudu instead of the haram.

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I agree. From Darul Tawheed you can just walk straight out into the courtyard of the Haram. You can do the same from the other 2 as well but first you have to negotiate your way through some lifts and the malls uder the hotel.

It really is easier to go to the hotel for wudhu, and also you get to spend more time in the haram for prayers etc. During busy times, even a 10 minute walk can end up taking half an hour or so.

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Thank you for the help folks. Umar, i will be looking forward to your experiences.

BUT we may have a problem. i want to spend a month in Pak before going for Umrah so my husband can join me too IA. But Saudi embassy only issues the visa thats valid for 30 days. There is no way i can do that on this trip :( We are exploring other options but we are in a bind because i have to attend a shadi and then go for the umrah :( :( :( Please pray taht we get to go and may Allah make it easy for us, Ameen.

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Ira - my mom is doing the same thing. She is going to Lahore and then Umrah. Dad will be joining her in UAE.

They didn't seem to have an issue with SA visa so double check on that. Call up the consulate and make sure you tell them your case.

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njgal, how long is your mom staying in Lahore? Is it less than a month? Its the month long stay in Pak thats the trouble.

I did call the SA embassy. The lady didnt hear me out and said, you called before too and i told you the same thing. And i was like, huh? I never called? So i tried explaining my situation again and she was adamant i had called before. Anyhow, not sure if she understood me or not but said no the validity of hte visa is 30 days. She then put me on hold, never to be heard from again, even after calling multiple times.

Can you find out the details from your mom and if she is indeed going to Pak for 30 days or more, can you find out the travel agent who got her the visa? Mucho gracias.

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Ira - She will be in Pak for 2 weeks. She uses Dar-es-salam Travel for Umrah packages. You can call them and find out.

It's not easy to get a straight answer from SA consulate.

Can you extend your SA visa from pakistan?

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ira... ure 30 day visa starts from teh day of entry in arabia.. not from teh date of issue.

we always get our visa 3 months in advance... it just sits there at teh embassy... cuz my dad likes to thing of things way in advance

so once we get it put in our passport, we have to travel within 3 months.. and then once we are in arabia, the visa day countdown starts.

granted mine is a visit visa... the routine is the same.

the date you put in the application.. is it from teh time u are wanting to leave from pakistan to go for umrah, or the day u leave the states? cuz that makes a diff.

if u havent filled out any forms yet, remember that ... if u put the date u will be leaving pakistan for arabia, then u should have no issues with the 30 day visa. but if u put the date u will be leaving the states, the ofcourse u will be wasting arabian days in pakistan.

and june is SUPER SUPER SUPER hot.. think rashes sweat and chapped feet. and also think CROWDS... schools are out worldwide and this is the time the whole world comes to mecca.. so think twice .. im not saying its no doable but honestly... its just a whole lotta money trying to get there, worship with a screaming and wailing child.. that it defeats the purpose. i would seriously put it off until she is say.. 3.

we just went this summer and man my son was wailing. the heat and the crowds.. we took his baby bjorn but we had to take it off cuz he was getting crushed .. it felt like it was hajj... we stripped him to his diaper but the poor thing just couldnt do it... god knows how we did that umrah.. but i had the privillege of leaving him everytime we went after that, with my folks.

the umrah we did with him was pathetic allah maaf kare.. didnt pray properly at all.. but it was ok cuz we could go so many times after that ...

since this is a pilgrimage for you, im sure u will want to be able to do everything properly

but a hotel with a 10 min walk is a no no... its hard for the grown ups especially those taht arent used to arabian heat.. but for a baby.. its horrible..

afshi has given good tips... even for the baby you dont have to take anything unless she is on somethign special.. arabia has all the european and american brands for everything.

all the best ira..

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I will be going to Umrah for 5 days end of may 2010 with 2 1/2 years old, but from dharan. any advice. i know its going to be really hot. i have no other choice. what else i should know. thanks

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u live in dhahran?

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yea i want to visit my mother in law there hopefully i get the visa. then from there will go to umrah for 5 days inshallah. come back to dharan then leave to home. u think will there be problem to get visa? i m us citizen

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Little Princess, could you please tell me good places to eat, shopping etc... :) also jewler shop. thanks

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Dhahran is right in between ALKHOBAR and DAMMAM. Both have tons of places to eat and shop. Khobar Souq , I think its also called Suwaikat, and then you have excellent malls like Rashid Mall.

In Dammam you have Dammam Souq, which is way cheaper than khobar, but the quality is the same from Khobar Souq, there are tons of Jewellery shops in Dammam and Khobar.

To eat, it all depends on what you like to eat. try LaSani for Pakistani food, and there is Chinese Tandoor and Grill, which is excellent, its near the Makkah Street signal on main khobar/dhahran road ( i totally forgot the name of the street).

You will find tons of places to eat on Khobar Corniche to eat from the finest western cuisine to arabic ones. Enjoy your stay..

I miss Dammam,Khobar and Dhahran so much. I used to live in Dammam and work in Dhahran.. :(

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thank you coolbreeze for such a detail info. :)

oh yeah i also like shawarma etc :p so khboar corniche will be good for that? thanks again.
do u know if i will have visa problem? i m us citizen. is it better to get sponsorship or by itself?

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:eek: coolbreeze thts coollllllllllllllllllll

Copper Chandni ,queen of india etc r good places to eat too (so i’ve heard) as far as shopping is concerned then as cool breeze said …khobar/dammam souq ,Malls such as rashid mall , dahran mall etc…then there r malls at the corniche itself.