Umrah Trip Part 1

Ok, aku tahu cerita ni dah masuk kategori basi tapi dah janji nak cerita and I want to be able to read back and treasure the magical moments there, so here goes.

It was on 28th August I think that I received a call from my Senior Mgr offering this Umrah trip. I was a bit stunned coz I never thought my turn would be so soon and I simply said "I think I'll pass la boss, maybe next time". You see, each year during Ramadhan, my parent company will be sponsoring 1 staff from each company to perform Umrah. How do they select the staff? Based on seniority (number of years working). I've worked for about 4 years plus here and there were quite a number of other Muslim staffs that worked here longer than me, but the rule says that if that particular staff choose not to accept the offer, the opportunity will be given to the next longest serving staff, get it?

So, bila balik rumah, lepas discuss dgn mama and hubby, I decided that this might be the only opprtunity I have, and maybe it's time for me to go, rezeki dah terbuka luas depan aku, kan? So, the day after, I called back my Manager and told him I want to go and I also made arrangements for hubby to follow me. As it is fully sponsored (dapat elaun tambahan plak tuh), I just have to top up for hubby jek. We were told that it would be for 2 weeks and our flight will be on 19 Sept. Aku dah freak out gak sbb ada 2 minggu je nak prepare and the agent want the passport by 3rd Sept..agak kelam kabut gak la nak settle kan documentation semua dgn problem2 yg aku dah citer sebelum tu. Alhamdulillah, Tuhan mudahkan urusan walaupun ada dugaan sket dan tiba la 19 September tuh.

Even kat airport, phone aku dok bunyi lagi sms dari office colleague asking work related question. Walapun flight aku 3pm, by 12pm aku dah off handphone, tak larat dah and aku nak relaxkan otak aku, nak kosongkan minda and fokus kat ibadat ni. Said goodbye to my parents and sister (Tiyah siap apply leave sbb nak hantar ke airport :P)..aku cam biasa drama queen kan, peluk Mama pun nangis2. Tapi sekejap je, bila dah lalu kat Kastam aku dah ok, thanks to B yg tak lepas2 pegang tangan suruh aku calm down.

Dari flight ticket aku dah tahu aku tak dpt duduk sebelah B tapi kitaorg rilek je sbb dah plan kalau dapat nanti, minta je tukar tempat duduk dgn sesapa. Went to my seat and ada sorang akak ni, Kak Z kat sebelah seat aku. B went to his seat and rupanya yg duduk sebelah dia is Kak Z punya husband..alhamdulillah, so we all swap la. Sepanjang flight tu, B pun tak banyak cakap..aku rasa dia pun sama dgn aku - mixed feelings, takut2 but at the same time excited. Oh ya, because of the time zone, kitaorg tak dapat la nak berbuka puasa kul 7.20pm macam org kat Malaysia. Kul 11.30pm waktu Malaysia baru la we all dapat berbuka. So, maknanya kitaorg puasa extend 4 jam..mencabar gak la tapi pejam mata je tido buat2 tak peduli dgn masa. Ngam2 je when we landed in Madinah, masuk waktu buka puasa.

Lepas siap dapat bags and naik bas, bertolak ke hotel Al-Fayroz yg rupanya dekat sungguh dgn Masjid Nabawi yg tersergam indah tu. But by the time urusan kunci bilik semua, terawih dah half way dah so semua org solat kat hotel jek. But men semua mostly pegi gak la kat Masjid meninjau2 sekitar. Bilik duduk 3 orang. I shared with 2 other akak which one of them is Kak Z. Coincidence kan, dlm flight jumpa, pastu jadik roommate. And husband we all pun sebilik gak. Memang diatur camtu supaya senang urusan.

Ok, cukup dulu. Nanti sambung lagi..