Hajj... the pilgrimage of a lifetime. The one trip we must all eventually take to the House of God. So why was i freaking out? hmmmm, well mostly coz i was convinced id burst into flames before i even stepped foot in the sacred citys. Being a big time sinner and all, i was almost sure that i was beyond redemption.
Funny how things turn out.

But on the off chance spontaneous combustion was a no show. I wanted to be prepared, so i read like 2/3 books on the subject (the do's and donts) as well as brushing up on my Salah (which was a good idea in retrospect). And as my dad had already been once before he already knew what was what as did my mom (since shes the one whose wanted to go for aaaaaggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeesssssssss). But being dad, he's not really one for words so i didnt really expect long explanations about anything from him (hence the books). And my moms been known to go off on a tangent during any conversation (pfft women). My brother on the other hand, did zero prep and decided he'd just follow me and do what i did? (lazy bum).

Its been my past experience that me and flight food dont mix. Im glad i was wrong, Saudi Air was really good as was the food and the inflight movies. Although i did find their censorship a lil funny (all pictures of booze, low cut tops blurred out and curse words dubd to sound stupid).

As we were a lil early for Hajj our group (oops forgot to mention. If your going on Hajj you HAVE to go as part of a group. If your going on Ummrah you can pretty much go by yourself) decided to visit Medina first I think it was supposed to be something like a 6 hour journey to Medina from Jedda. It took us just over 24 hours to get there (checkpoints and security stops all over... plus the coach driver drives slow enough to drive Ms Daisy). But we got there eventually, even if we were dead on our feet. So after crashing for a few hours we were off to Masjid Al-Nabi. And let me just say for all those who've NEVER been. You aint EVER... EVER EVER EVER read a prayer like they pray here. OH-MY-GOD!! Did i feel the vibe her or what!! Just reading a single prayer the way they did shifted my entire world 2 inches to the right. Visiting the Prophets (pbuh) tomb was beyond words. What did upset me was the beggers. The audacity of these people. To come into this Mosque and beg ME... of all people for money. Who am i to give you anything? When you're in Masjid Al-Nabi (and the guy didnt even look poor). But realising where i was, i thought i couldnt let him go empty handed. So i passed him a few Riyals and bid him farewell. Ofcourse it was only later on did i realise that EVERY single begger from Medina to Makkah was telling the same story. How they came to Saudi for Umrah in Ramadan and decided to stay for Hajj but then ran out of money. ARGH! Hajj is NOT OBLIGATORY on those who cant afford it! And doing Hajj by begging will most likely not be accepted either!! Of all the beggers i was approached by I only really felt sorry for 1 old guy (but i rarely turned them away empty handed). And then came the time to leave. Now im not really the emotional type of guy and it takes ALOT to affect me. But leaving Medina was one of them. I think i had like a single tear in my eye as i left. Or that could just have been the sand in my eyes {shrugs}. Oh and i fell ill for a day (stomach problem... but i bounced back in record time).

The journey to Makkah, supposedly takes 5 hours (give or take) took 12 hours for the same reasons as before, security, check points and a slow driver. I was soo tempted to tell him to pass off and drive myself. ITS A CLEAR ROAD FOR CRYING OUT LOAD!! The entire group chanting labbayk allahumma labbayk (Oh my Lord, Here I am at your service). One of the things that was amazing about the trip was hearing the azaan and as soon as you step outside youd be confronted with the sight of the entire street filled with people all walking towards Masjid Al-Hareem. And then it came, time to go see the Kaaba. Once again i was convinced if God was gonna strike me down... now would be the best time. Looking above, not a cloud in the sky. As soon as we got there, my dad told us to lower our gaze and he would tell us when we could look up (at 1st glance of the Kaaba our the 1st dua would be accepted).
As soon as he said "Look up" I did and then ................................................................................................................................ "huh i thought it would be bigger lol...... oops oh yeah my dua {Seraphs Dua}".
On the bright side I wasnt up in flames... maybe im not as bad as i thought. Ofcourse after that came the rituals of Umrah (the tawaaf, the Sa'ee and the shaving of the head lol). We all went into the baber shop and dads like "Yeah we'll all get our heads shaved!" he was soo excited. Long story short he was the only one who got it shaved me and bro just got it machined
Bro instantly fell ill from the 1st day we got there. I basically carried him through Tawaaf & Sa'ee. He gradually became more and more sick (his temperature sky rocketed) until we took him to the hospital. An injection and a bottle of glucose (i think) later and he was fine. Me... not so much. One minute i was stood there right as rain talking to my dad and the next I suddenly became dizzy.
All i remember saying was "Dad, i dont feel to good" and then thinking it might be a good idea to put my head between my legs... but i never got there. Woke up 5minutes later confused surrouneded by doctors and nurses.
"Hey, whats going on?" Apparently i passed out right there. Dad had JUST caught me before i hit the ground. Docs ran test everything came back normal, i just told them i was dehydrated (even tho i wasnt... didnt want to stay there).

The last 5 days were the hardest and when i would be tested the most. I was ill prepared.