Alhamdulillah I just completed my Umrah yesterday Friday 29/12/2017. I thought it wise to share a few tips as there has been little info on here as regards Umrah planning. I will try as much as possible to give a detailed breakdown of the process and hopefully this will help any intending traveller in future Insha Allah.

The Visa Process:
I contacted a friend of mine that linked me with an effective Umrah visa agent (not NAHCON approved) that sorted me out within the shortest of periods (2 days). The visa was for me and my wife and it cost us 90,000 naira each making a total of 180,000 naira.

Air Ticket;
We plan to go to Dubai from KSA after Umrah so we only bought a one way ticket from Medview for about 180k/person. We now organised a one way EmiratesAirline from Madinah to Dubai for 125k/person in addition to Dubai to Abuja for 145k/person. A total of 450k/person but this was coz we intend staying for a few nights in Dubai.

Accommodation:
The plan was to get to Mecca on Friday morning and complete Umrah, then go to Madinah Saturday for Ziyarah, and leave for Dubai from Madinah on Sunday. I made some bookings through booking.com; Ibis Styles in Mecca for like 20k/night plus buffet breakfast for 2, and X Platinum hotel in Madinah for 18k/night without breakfast though.

Interesting! Could you please share more details concerning the Umrah-proper? Please.

May Allah accept your worship and reward you abundantly.

Salaam everyone.

The Trip Proper
So we left for Jeddah on the Medview flight from Kaduna; flight left about 3 hours later than stated, went through Kano and finally took off to Jeddah. There was no announcement for the meeqat unfortunately so we were not able to change to the Ihram and make proper Niyyah till we landed in Jeddah. According to scholarly opinion, this attracts a fidyah (sheep sacrifice) both for me and my wife which can be paid for at any of the Al Rajhi banks branches around the kingdom.

After like 2 hours passport control, we booked for a taxi for 150SAR (15k naira),were finally in Ihram state and reciting Talbiyah on our way to Mecca. This was around 11am local time with estimated time to arrive the hotel by 12:15 pm. This meant we missed the Juma'at salat unfortunately for us but Allah knows best.

Arrival at Mecca
We got into Mecca, checked in at Ibis Styles around 12:20 pm and headed to a local mosque for Jumaah prayers just next door from the hotel. The hotel has a complimentary bus service to and from Haram which we took at around 2:45pm to begin the Umrah process proper.

Umrah Activities at Haram
We got to Haram just in time for Asr, prayed and then began the Umrah proper. We hired a wheelchair as my wife is heavily with child and do had to the Tawaf at the upper floor of the Ka'abah. Each circuit took us like 15minutes to complete and that meant we were done with Tawaf just in time for Maghrib

The umrah is set at a level of profound virtue for the muslims. it is neither specifically or vitally, a commitment for the muslims. umrah consist of 3 pillars. here the names of the umrah pillars
1-Tawaf
2-Sa’i
3-Ihram
https://www.dawateislami.net/medialibrary/13443