Friday, June 12, 2009

25.05.09 SV 833 KUL - MED

That morning I woke up feeling free. My deadlines completed and it felt so relieved not having anything above my shoulders. Even though I had slept rather late, the burning of midnight oil was all worth it. All emails replied and the electronic handover was completed. I had gone the day before to the office to clear my stuffs. HR informed me that when I come back, I would start at the new office. I just didn’t want to dwell with this so much yet, for it would be another new chapter all together.

The last check on our luggage was done much earlier. Abe had helped us to ensure most items on my checklist went into our bags. Once my toiletry case went it, I’d just had to put the locks on the bags. We were given bags by R*yh**, the travel agency and I've decided to just use them. If during my other trips I'd insist on using our hard boxed Lojel suitcase, for this umrah trip, the purple canvas would do. Horror stories of baggage handling by airport workers in the land of the Arabs have never ceased to fade.

I took my time getting ready. Got out my best companion doa book and flicked to the page where it showed steps on doing solat musafir. It felt very calm when I did the two rakaats of the solat. It wasn't till I recited the doa in BM, that tears started rolling. MashaAllah, I was actually going. God has stood all the way behind me and helped me, for there I was standing before him asking for more help, more guidance to complete this journey. Subahanallah...



Farah at the umrah taklimat - 1 week prior to departure

With close friends, I have shared the ups and downs in the path taken in embarking on this trip. There were times when I just felt like giving up. Work was crazy, and working with folks who refused to respect the work processes was the ultimate test of my patience and credibility. It wasn't said in so many words, but put it this way, I've sensed it all along. Me being the "operational" me, was only interested in getting the work done. I don't play politics and my work speaks for itself. Apparently, that's not how some people work, thriving on relationships rather than professionalism. Well, if that's how the game was played, so be it then. I wasn’t going to be in any part of it.

So this journey has been tough all along. But words of my late father, have been a pushing factor. I am also very grateful to Abe for guiding Farah with her mengaji and solats. Ensuring that her sebutan was correct and at times giving short tazkirah about the Prophet s.a.w and the Holy Land.

Saying good bye to Nissa wasn't easy. She was not well earlier in the week. And again because of work commitments, the time I got to spend with her was so limited. It was only during the weekend before that we managed to spend quality time together. I pampered her loads that day. Got her new clothes, stuffs she needed and even got her a new watch. The only thought playing on my mind was, if anything happened to me, I’d want her to have that weekend fresh on her mind forever.

That morning, she had gone to her mengaji class. I knew she just wanted to see as little as she could of me making my preparations. When she came home, she told me that she's going to be bored, all by herself at home during the upcoming school holidays. It broke my heart listening to her pleas, but this journey was something I had to do, more so as I was doing it with her sister. To cheer her up, I said, one fine day, she and I would embark on the same journey too, InshaAllah.

Abe drove us to the airport, another change of plan from the initial arrangement where Faris was to be behind the wheels. Abe earlier on had a meeting, but he somehow managed to reschedule. He said he’d dropped us off at the gate as he was to still rush off to his meeting. Fine by me, coz I'm one of those non supporters to having the entire clan seeing one off at airports. I know about the "berkat" thing, but I’d rather say my good byes in private. So the drop off at gate 5 KLIA was a brief one. We salam-salam and exchanged pecks on the cheeks. Both Farah and I got our trolleys and headed towards the check in counter.

I called my sister who had come to send Mom. The original plan was to have Mom come over to my house the day before. Anyway, a few things came up, and she decided to go direct from Seremban. In a way I was glad with the change of plan. Reason being I was still so kelam kabot with my things. I had only completed my packing around midnight. Something that would definitely cause displease in Mom.

The baggage check in process went smooth despite the big group that we were traveling with. I was told that there were 80 jemaahs all together from R*yh**. Apparently, the flight was full and 80% are jemaahs performing umrah. All bags were tagged and off they went. We managed to grab some quick bites at McDonald’s. Had my usual fillet and by the time we finished our food it was almost zohor. I told Farah and Mom to go perform their solats first and I'd wait at the counter for our passports and boarding passes. The other thing that I had to look into was our mahram. Well, you see since there were just us girls traveling, it was necessary for us to “latch” on to a mahram - mahram tompang they called it. It was a requirement by the Saudi government. No arguements about that. Alhamdullillah, R*yh** had managed to find us one and the person had kindly agreed. Again I am so grateful to God Almighty. I finally met the kind person, just the two of them - him and his wife. They were both from Seremban.


Bye bye KL

Immigrations clearance was smooth and we headed to gate C1 for boarding. Our flight took off on time. I sent out text messages to my siblings and Abe informing our present status, only my sister TM responded. I knew Abe was in his meeting, so I didn't expect any replies from him.

It was a long seven hours flight to Madinah. I managed to do some reading about Madinah and cara-cara ziarah. Other than that, it was zikir and salawat to the Prophet s.a.w. as we reduced the distance between us and the holy land.

19 comments:

Kak Teh said...

This brings back memories of my own trip. I was so not prepared but Alhamdulillah, everything went well. I hope that I will get the invitation to do the big Haj soon, Insyaallah.

ummisara said...

Gosh...chek pulak yang sedih baca...entah bilalah sampai ke sama...ya allah permudahkanlah rezekiku...agar aku dapat menjadi ttetamu MU

Desert Rose said...

Kak Kay dear,

Betul2, u r right, couldnt agree more. Masa baca doa' in Arabic, tak la emo sangat, baca translation in BM pun masa kat M'sia tak sedey sangat, tapi bila kat dpn Ka'bah baca BM, syahdu ya amat, rasa kecik sangat di sis Allah, insaf yg tak terucap.....

Tambah2 lah doa sai'e tu Ya Rabbi....

Tapi kenikmatan tu sungguh la I rindu, mintak2 la ada rezeki thn dpn nak pegi lagi, terbayang-bayang kak.

Kak Ezza@makcik Blogger said...

akak membaca dengan sebak...kenapa yer!

ummisara said...

Cik ROse...

bawak lah chek sekali waaaaaaaaa

Laracroft74 said...

Sis,

You remind me of my drama air mata with my 2 kids.. They were in my room when I performed solat musafir.. Doa solat musafir tu pun dah buat i sedih and when they started to cry, I pun sama2 join sekali.. really cannot tahanla.. Poor Nisa has to stay alone by herself... Sure your Abe just ikut perintah the princess for that
2 weeks...

tireless mom said...

Guess everyone who goes thru this experience would know how it feels like leaving to seek blessing and serenity from Him. Dah tunggu lama bila nak appear this special post. Sit tight, and will continue to read on. PS. Masa dapat sms from you tu rasa macam dah biasa je dapat farewell sms, if not u going, u sending mak.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

menitis air mata baca this recollection of yours.. sayu betul rasanya. teringat masa saya dan pak abu bertolak nak menunaikan haji tahun lepas.. btw, farah looks beautiful standing next to maknya yg memang dah segak..

kay_leeda said...

Dear Kak Teh,

One can never be prepared enough when making these kind of trips. Alhamdullillah I am getting better at it. My first time was similar to yours I supposed. Blurr habis, but I must really thank my parents for their guidance.

InshaAllah Kak Teh, Haj will be soon for your. When I was there, Macam ternampak-nampak Kak Teh in her telekung :)

kay_leeda said...

Edelweiss,

Laa..tok sah la sedey-sedey. Ni baru 1st entry, blum citer hak yang Madinah etc. Sabaq no...nanti saya cerita pelan-pelan.

Amin...InsahAllah, the calling akan sampai pada mu dik.

kay_leeda said...

DS,

Tak tau kenapa kan, kat sana bila baca je doa tu, hai berderai-derai lah air mata. Perhaps because we are so close to Him and kita tak fikir tentang apa dah, other than nak buat ibadah. Oleh yg demekian tissue tu wajib ada dlm bag kan :)

InshaAllah, you'll get to go again. Gi umrah & buat Haji ni to Msians, tak dak hal lah. Besides the spiritual preps, siapkan aja ongkos nya :)

kay_leeda said...

Haa...DS, edelweiss nak ikut. Alhamdulilllah...boleh buat teman di semejid nanti :)

kay_leeda said...

Kak Ezza,

Sebak? Jangan lah...nanti entry saya ni dapat award entry air mata lak :) Ade gak cerita kelakar and cerita pelik. Nanti eh....saya post kan :)

kay_leeda said...

Laracroft74,

Pelik kan..bila kita nak pi hols tempat lain tak dak pun deraian airmata. Bab pi umrah walaupun short while je, sedih shahdu nyer terasa sekali.

I guess with Nissa is a bit more difficult as she's the youngest. My other kids are bigger, thus saying goodbye wasn't that difficult.

Nissa kena pamper dgn Daddy dia? Iyer lah kot...but at times dpt gak sms frm her saying that she ws bored. Nak buat camne kan.

kay_leeda said...

TM,

That's why I didn't want many folks to be at the airport. Nanti drama woo... but I guess this is one of the beauties of the trip. It gives keinsafan to all, yang pergi and yg tinggal.

More stories to come. But looks like have to wait till I finish my 3 days training nih.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Kak Puteri,

The emotions that come along with either Haj or umrah trips are just owerwhelming. Every doa yang dibaca, every permintaan yang diminta pasti akan memberi kesan yang dalam pada jiwa kita. Not easy to face that moment of truth.

This umrah was slightly easier for me, only having to deal with Nissa who is bigger now. Masa Haj dulu, she was only 4. Haa bayang kan lah, sedeh macamana. Pastu leaving the kids with the maid. Entah lah...masa tu tawakkal je.

mamasita said...

So beautiful the way you explain to us of your pre-Umrah arrangements..

You sounded so relaxed despite the rush and anxiety of leaving your loved ones behind.

Alhamdullillah you succeeded with your ibadah Umrah.

And you're happily back home!!

Mama Safiyyah said...

kak, pi ngan pakej rayhar yea? my sis went about that time jugak...were you in the group with hjh hamidah (rayhar kuantan)?

my bro-in-law (who is staying in mekah) works with rayhar...i'm sure u've met him...ustaz hamzah?

alhamdulillah...may allah bless you.....dan umrah yang makbul....insyallah.....

jabishah said...

Kak Kay,

Alhamdulillah semua selamat. A beautiful start & looking forward for your next update.

ps- you know, I still fail to upload a vid of photostory in the blog. Any idea why?