Performed Hajj in 2011 right after I got out of the military, technically I was still in and was on leave at that time. Anyway, It was the last min decision. Like 30 to 45 days before the departure date. Came back from work, Hajj advert on TV, I said, let go on Hajj, Ami said, Yes. let go. The next few days, I google, selected an agent, and wrote a check, and handover the passport to the agent. which is funny, because that guy to who I handed the check and passport was not a travel agent, just an unknown middle man sitting in his apartment. What was more amazing, that year, thousand of Hajjis got scammed all over the US (including my friend in NY) to big established travel agents (because they were not approved by Saudis for Hajj). The news was big and was even on local news in the US. Not only did we end up getting Hajj visas, we got it, after submitting our vaccination and passport almost at the last moment. My leave was still in limbo.
Moving forward, Day of departure, I had a court date, for a traffic ticket, I show up in court in Uniform, My idiot's lawyer was not there and I had a flight at 1200 pm. Unknown military-friendly lawyers in court saw me in Uniform and took my ticket walk up to the prosecutor's table, came back a moment later, and said, your ticket has been dismissed. Texas is a very military-friendly state.
Now I am off to the airport with my mother. Flew Jordanian airline (mistake). End in Amman Jordon, well very tired, Anyway our travel guy told us that, he will be there with rest of the Hajjis and there is the hotel for us. Guess what, some flight mixup, and he was not there. Anyway, we shell out money from our pocket and found a hotel in Amman for the night, next day in Saudia. US passport has its perks, so we were processed relatively quicker, our travel guy with other hajjis was there. Travel guys (Arabi) collected the whole group passport, spoke arbi to Saudis staff, and next thing you know we are on the bus to Makkah. We were headed to the Azizia residential area of Makkah, which is 15 min drive from Haram. I opted for a cheaper package instead of booking a fancy hotel next to Kabba. I do not want to be extravagant on a religious trip. Plus Travel guys painted a rosy picture of Azizia like it is from a walking distance from Haram, which was a lie. Anyway, now we have to catch a van every time we need to go haram. If I knew better, I would have paid extra and opted for a hotel next to Haram.
I heard all the emotional stories about the first glimpse at Kabba. Guess what, I had almost zero emotions. either I have seen the world's architecture too much or maybe I was emotionless and dead inside after combat deployment a year earlier and or time in the military. Maybe people just over-exaggerate or lie about their feelings. Anyway, I was there for a mission, and that was for Hajj. I was not worried about emotions, pictures, updating status on Facebook, or visiting Saudis cities or Historical sites. I wanted a full reward. So I carried on with my mission. I had a strange and amazing emotional experience while performing tawaf, which I won't get into.
@Bigbang1983 already drew the picture of Hajj, so I won't get into it. Few points, At
Mount Arafat, some Africans were acting like idiots and pushing people off the cliff. At Jamaraat Bridge some Idiots (worker class) Pakistan was pushing people. They were healthy adult males, who were acting like they were paid to create chaos, They were dressed in shalwar Kameez, so they were not Hajjis, they were pushing people and running them over in the opposite direction while yelling and enjoying "Bhag O bhag, police aee, Police aee" . I seriously think someone paid them to create stampead.
So now I was throwing stones at devil also for the other older people in group. While I was doing the ritual, I felt stone hitting me. I look back and some old small Malaysian woman was throwing stones standing all the way back. So ya, watch out for weak old stone-throwers, the reach is not far enough to land on the devil.
Fast forward to Kabba, and I chose a smaller circle near Kabba in the super heavy crowd, because, I have experienced larger circle on the second and third floor in less rush and they were large and tiring. When it was time to get a haircut, barbershops were full and they were charging hajjis 5 to 8 times the regular amount. so we cut pieces of our hair ourselves.
During the Hajj day, walk to Jamrat and from Jamrat to Haram is all jammed packed with humans. You will find Saudis on bikes offering 5 min rides for to your destination for 300 Saudi Riyal to $100 dollars. They will just ask for random prices to make money. Even bus and van service to Azizia will cost 50 instead of regular 5.
Then we were off to Medina.
So long story short, Book a hotel closer to the Haram. Madina people are much nicer and softspoken than Makkah. Keep extra cash. Yes, there is a permanent change after Hajj. I Started praying. now missing them again, after so many years and due to work. I try to abstain from all major sins. So far I am successful. I had severe symptoms of some sort of magic or evil eye, which I did not know about, and it went away. I know now, I had it after I did a lit bit of research on it.
...and ya, I got married little later, paid all expenses from my pocket, even tho I was jobless and was going back to University. So, ya I do not know how but whatever I had, there was a lot of burkat in it. Somehow I think I had more money in my account after Hajj and at the time of marriage than when I was working and paid for hajj. So Hajj was more than reimbursed by the one who invited me to his house in Makkah.
Now here is your potato, if you made it all the way to then end.
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