After getting about 4 hours of sleep, we woke up to my mom knocking on our door at 5am because we were already late for the airport. We got ready, packed up and headed downstairs where the taxi was waiting for us. 

It was a 20 minute drive to the airport. We dropped off our bags and went straight to the lounge. It turns out we weren’t late at all and we now had two hours to kill which we spent eating breakfast and scrolling on our phones. At this point, the adrenaline of the day before had worn off. 

This time we left for our boarding gate 10 minutes before boarding time (lesson learnt). It was so heartwarming to see people in ihraam and that umrah feeling was starting to settle in. 

We boarded the plane fairly quickly but I can’t tell you much about the flight because I fell asleep almost immediately. I woke up just in time for our descent into Jeddah. 

We disembarked the plane and then followed the signs to passport control. Surprisingly, it took only a few minutes for us to walk through, we went straight to get our bags and walked out of the airport. 

The first thing we saw was the aquarium which I still find so cool. We bought our sim cards, some mandatory big baiks from Al Baik (at this point, I was really, really missing my cousins) and went to meet our driver. We booked a transfer with Safa Marwa transport which was super efficient. 

We then set off on our journey. As we drove from Jeddah to Madinah, I couldn’t help but look at the mountains and wonder if our Nabi ﷺ saw these same mountains in His ﷺ lifetime. 

Now you see, I am used to this drive being extremely long  because our family usually takes a big bus and the last time it genuinely took us 7 hours to get from Makkah to Madinah. This time it took us 4 hours but I really missed singing Tajdar e haram with my uncles and yapping with my aunties and chilling with my cousins. 

Before we knew it, the air had changed and we could see the Green Dome. My heart was so overwhelmed and my eyes could not believe that I was in the City of my Beloved ﷺ.  

The driver dropped us off at the hotel and we were greeted with qahwa and rutab at reception. Thankfully, our room was ready on arrival and so we took the elevator up and freshened up. 

About an hour later, we walked to the haram. It felt so so so surreal to be here. The umbrellas were open. The fans were blowing water. The people were walking everywhere. We were in Madinah. The city of peace. The city of our prophet ﷺ. 

We walked into Masjid un Nabawi itself and you could feel the air change. Life felt lighter and brighter. 

We then caught the sunset outside and heard the athaan. The athaan in Madinah honestly has my whole heart. There’s just something about hearing “Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulu-Allah” where Nabi ﷺ actually is. 

After Esha we got some karak, walked back to the hotel and had supper. We chilled for a bit and then set out to walk a bit. There is nothing better than walking with your siblings late at night in Madinah. After having some ice cream, we went back to the hotel, hit the pillows and went straight to sleep. 

Step count: 13 901