Today was a super early day for my family. Anyone who knows us, knows that it’s easier for us to function at 1am than 8am. But today began with my entire family staying up from Fajr to take us to the airport. Special shout out to everyone in our family group chat.

After checking in seventeen people, we passed through passport control and headed for a quick coffee at the Slow Lounge. This led to the flight controller coming to get us for final boarding call.

After hearing the duaa on the Saudia flight, the excitement set in. It felt real. We spent our time watching the flight information on our screens and learning new African cities.

It felt surreal to make intention for ihraam and read our salaah. Before we knew it, we landed in Jeddah.

The new airport is amazing. We took the train from where we landed to passport control. After some time at baggage claim, the next stop at the airport was to get our sim cards (STC had the best deal). And we obviously couldn’t pass Al Baik without a Big Baik and chicken nuggets. We then got on our bus and began the journey to Makkah.

There is no better sound than that of the talbiyah. With every labbayk, my heart echoed “Here I am, oh Allah, here I am”.

We arrived in Makkah and then reality set in – I was home. We checked into our hotel, relaxed for a bit and decided that we would make our umrah tomorrow morning. My siblings, cousins and I went to read our Esha outside the haram. Sitting under the Makkah sky just felt different. It felt right.

After a stop at the food court for some Makkah tea, Baskin Robbins and pizza, we called it a night as we knew tomorrow would be an early morning.

Step count: 10 417