Due to the easing of restrictions on Saudi Tourist visas, it was finally possible to undertake the journey of Umra from Kuwait using one’s own vehicle after a decade-long hiatus. We all were quite excited. Our family had grown from 4 to 6 and the older ones are teenagers now, making this their first adult Umra.

To ensure a safe and smooth driving experience, especially when you have a 14 year old car, adequate planning and preparation is very necessary. I began the planning around a month before.

Before The Journey

Applying for Saudi Tourist Visa.
The entire visa application process is online and very simple and straight forward. After filling in the form and paying the fees, the visa is sent to your email address within 5 minutes. Impressive!

Per person the cost was around 35 KD, which is not very cheap and not very expensive. Considering you can enter Saudi Arabia multiple times during a year, I would say that the price is just about right. The only hitch in the process was the multiple payments that one has to make for a single visa application e.g. Medical Insurance, Processing fees, visa fees etc. In all, if  I remember correctly around 3-5 payments have to be made for one application, so if you, like me, are applying for your entire family from the same credit card, then your credit card will get blocked. In which case, either call your banking service provider and have it unblocked or use a different card.

Car Servicing and Repairs (if needed)
Since the entire journey was to be made in our car, therefore, I had my car serviced and checked from the main service center. I also took a second opinion and then undertook the necessary repairs. Since we were going in winters therefore I didn’t bother myself with AC checkup and repairs. A day before, I had the tires rechecked, since they have to bear the brunt of the journey 🙂

Read and revise the steps of performing Umra, the restrictions of Ahram etc.
Umra, like all acts of worship (ibadah) must be performed according to specific requirements and steps. Neglecting any of them may render the entire effort void. Also, it is not something that one does regularly, therefore we gathered as a family and revised the steps and requirements, explaining the entire process to ourselves and our kids, with special emphasis on the mental and spiritual conditions (adaab) that must be maintained during the journey. While the older kids had to adorn the Ahram in the proper way, for the smaller kids we bought stitched Ahrams, so that they too, get feel and understanding of Umra.

Planning the Route
Finalizing the route is also an important step and must be done before the start of the journey. Your hotel bookings, packing etc are all dependent on that. There are two main options that one can chose from, a brief detail is provided for each option below.

Madina First.
The first option is going to Madina first, which is nearer to Kuwait. Around 12 hours drive from our home in Kuwait to the hotel in Madina (with one hour of border time), provided you prescribe to the speed limits of the various highways. The time only caters for small breaks like fuel and prayers.

Makkah First
This is a longer route that takes around 14-16 hours with 1 hour of border time. The stoppages would have to be minimum (only petrol and prayer breaks). In order to take this route one has to leave quite early in the morning i.e. around 2 AM, so that maximum trip is covered in day light. The last 2 hours of the trip is a fenced and properly highlighted highway, with a speed limit of 140. so driving at night shouldn’t be much of a problem.

During the Journey

We decided to go with the option # 2 i.e. Makkah first, therefore we left our home around 3 am. Passing the border proved quite cumbersome for us as it took us over 3 hours to get through. This was quite unusual as most of my friends passed through within 1 hour. Our delay was mainly due to some unexpected rush at the fingerprint counter and an unusually long line at the security checks.

Speed Cameras
Quite early I noticed that there were many speed cameras installed at various points. The cameras are supposed to detect not only high speed but also seat belt and mobile phone usage. A few miles in, I decided to put my car in cruise control i.e. set the prescribed speed limit and enjoy the view instead of focusing on following the speed limit.

The Views!
The weather was generally very nice and kept on changing throughout starting from foggy to raining to extremely windy towards the end. But, Alhamdolillah, the visibility stayed clear throughout. The nice weather plus the ever changing views made it a drive to remember. While everyone slept in the car, the calming silence allowed me to engross myself in the wonders of nature around me, so many I was able to see and capture, and so many I just drove by without noticing. The entire experience brought out the meaning of phrases like ‘Life is a journey’ marching in my brain.

Driving through the vast and diverse lands of Allah allows us to see nature changing it’s colors, shapes and sizes. Some areas are fully and some partially developed, but the most serene were the areas that offered nothing but raw nature. Wonders, like a lone green tree standing in the middle of the desert, looking both peculiar and perfectly placed, or the silky and shining sands changing it’s colors every few hundred kilometers or the clouds coming down to play with a mountain. All felt like master strokes by the Master.

Safety
The road conditions, throughout, were pretty good. I didn’t notice any kind of rash driving and the highways were properly patrolled. There were a lot of sign boards along the way highlighting the emergency call numbers. Towards the end of my journey my tire busted. Within a few minutes, while I wondered what to do and whom to call, a police patrol arrived and helped me in calling a maintenance truck. The maintenance truck arrived in around 20 minutes and did the needful. On a nearby shop I was able to find a new tire.

All the highways were in excellent condition, except for a small patch where we had to take a detour.

Pit Stops
Although I noticed that many old petrol pumps were closed, maybe due a government initiative, but there were still plenty open ones available. Some of them quite cool, flashy and well maintained. I wondered what is the science or maths of building such petrol pumps, as I noticed some were pretty close to each other while the others a few hundred kilometers apart. Definitely a topic for a later blog.

The only thing I found wanting though, was the absence of mobile service providers. I had to practically stop in a few cities to search for an open mobile service provider as I needed to get a SIMM card. Although, due to it being a Friday, most of the shops were supposed to open after 4, but I found a few were closed even after 4.

The route also took us through various cities like Affif, Mujammah. So in case of any tiredness etc, a hotel can be taken in any of these cities. Due to some issues in the car, we made a stop in Dhulm, which is the last city before Taif. The price of the room was reasonable SAR 200 with excellent facilities for the price.

Before going into Makkah, we stopped in Sail Al Kabeer which is the Meeqat for people coming from Kuwait. We took a small room there for an hour and took a bath and adorned the Ahram. There are many shops selling Ahram and related stuff at a much cheaper price than Kuwait, so if one has a need then it can be fulfilled from there as well. After adorning the Ahram, we set off towards Makkah.

The Last Mile!
With our car echoing with the sounds of Labayk and our hearts filled with anticipation, we headed towards the holy city of Makkah. The proverbial last mile was around 70 Kilometers and it is hard to describe it in words. We reached Makkah and after a few twists and turns were able to reach Kudai car parking. From there I moved towards our hotel and then eventually towards Masjid-e-Haram for performing Umra.

More about our experience inside Makkah in Part 2 of this blog. And then the trip to Madina and back to Kuwait.