Advantages and disadvantages of traveling with travel agency

When you decide to go somewhere on vacations the first question you are faced with is how to organize your trip. At least, you need tickets and accommodation. However, if you are going abroad, the situation becomes more complicated. You will need visa, foreign passport and a little bit of information about a country you are coming to. The citizens, living and traveling inside European Union borders are in better position. They are free to visit any EU country without any additional document and visas. But let’s imagine you have chosen a country where you need visa. Well, now it’s time to make some preparations for your trip. At first, whether you trust organizing your trip to a travel agency, or organize it by your own. If you choose the first variant:

Advantages 

1) Convenience. You don’t have to besiege embassy and wait in long queues. You don’t need to worry about buying tickets and booking hotels.

2) Price. Sometimes travel agencies have special agreements with hotels and the price becomes cheaper. The same thing can be said about via and train tickets. This paragraph is sponsored by airline Umrah ticket from UK.

3) Comfort in the country of destination – you are mostly provided with transfer to hotel and the representative of the agency can solve any of your problems.

4) Your vacation is organized. You have a choice of excursions; you’ll be shown the best shops and the most interesting attractions.

Disadvantages

1) Unfortunately, not all the agencies can be relied on, some of them disappear with the client’s money.

2) Some people don’t like to be limited - by excursions, by return tickets or by the necessity of staying in the hotel they’ve chosen.

3) It’s not always cheap – often the excursions, offered by the agency representatives are more expensive than in other places in the city.

  If you choose the second variant, you should be prepared to some problems, but of course, this variant has its light sides too.

Advantages

1) You are free to choose there and when to go. You are free to change you hotel of your return ticket.

2) You are most likely to see the places, not shown to usual tourists.

3) It’s a kind of challenge. Can’t imagine your holiday without risk and adrenaline? So, this variant is for you! This paragraph is sponsored by air travel to umrah from London.

4) You can seek and find a cheaper variant and not just accept what the agency offers.

Disadvantages

1) Once again – risk. You are not quite safe when traveling alone in the foreign country. Nowadays you are not quite safe anywhere, but still…

2) It causes some problems in the stage of organization – getting a visa can be a trouble. Interview, invitation and a lot of documents – all this can be inevitable. So, prepare to waste some time and nerves.

How can we find best available Umrah serviecs through internet?

May be the best way to find cheap flights for performing Umrah obligation is the internet. However, if we do not completely protect ourselves when shopping online similarly if we do not take care while searching online for Umrah pilgrim then it can cause a big loss and suffering from us.

However, if we follow some simple then it will be helpful for you to find and purchase the cheapest Umrah services so that you can be able to get 100% satisfaction from your vacation.

The first things for searching best available and Umrah tour services is to use major search engines like Yahoo, Google or Bing by typing the following phrases: “ Umrah packages 2015, Hajj packages 2014”. You will see lots of sites that offer all inclusive services required for offering Umrah in your packages and you can check out various packages in detail.

The second thing to do is take a quick look at each site and determine whether it is a proper and registered company from which you are going to take information about Umrah packages. Mostly internet companies are good at working with business, but unfortunately not all. The tourism sector is one of the categories of case known to have made some unscrupulous operators so you need to be really careful. If you have a website which also has a brand name of a company the it is always better to book your umrah packages from such a website.

If you have any doubts about trustworthiness and reliability of a company then alternatively you can ask friends or relatives who have already performed this sacred Umrah or Hajj travel. Be careful about checking all details of your Umrah services including flight, airline on which you are traveling, accommodation, transportation, standard of hotel where you are going to stay and other services related to performing your Umrah obligation.

Once you have this information, you can search for hotels on the internet and confirm the faculties which are being promised to you in Umrah packages offered by your umrah travel agent. Alos, it can be a good idea to search for people who have recently stayed in such hotels and check out online reviews and testimonials of customers of such hotels.

Once you have checked all these things then you can book hajj or Umrah services with quite satisfaction. If you follow all tips mentioned above then it is most likely that the trip will go as planed, it would be a fantastic and wonderful experience of your life.

Ibrahim quit Haajar and Ishmael

The Holy Qur'an tells us that the Prophet Ibrahim was given the task of leading mankind.

And remember that Ibrahim was tried by His Lord, with certain Commands which he fulfilled. He said: “ I will make thee An Imam to the Nations.”

Prophet Ibrahim (A.S) was ordered to go Makkah. when he reached Makkah, he was commanded by ALLAH to abandon his second wife, Haajar, and his first born son Ishmael in this barren, rocky, uninhabited valley. 

"O our lord! I have mad e some of my off spring to dwell, In a valley without cultivation, By the sacred house; In order, O our Lord, that they may establish regular prayer: So fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, And feed them with fruits so that they may give thanks."

Soon Haajar's meager provisions of dates and water were exhausted and both mother and child became thirsty. seeing the suffering of her son, Haajar became desperate to find water. She ran to the hill of Safa but found nothing. She then ran to the hill of Marwah, But again she was disappointed. Seven times she ran between the two hills. Suddenly, close to where Ishmael lay, water sprang from the earth by the command of Allah. This source of water was to become known as the well of Zamzam.

 

Amazing Thailand Tailors

I see this question on many forums.  Guys want to know if they should buy some tailor-made clothes in Thailand.  My answer is yes, if you do it right.

First off, it really doesn’t matter which tailor shop you go to. They are all basically the same and all they do is measure you and send the order to a sweat shop.  I consider them measures and not tailor.

The ones that I avoid are the ones on the street with their little book of samples wanting to meet and greet me.  I avoid them like the plague and consider them total nuisances.

I will find one on my own and look at the quality of the material on display. Then I get a rough idea of the prices.  Of course, for better material you can expect to pay more. This paragraph is sponsored by Umrah packages 2015 from UK. Similar site http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/articles/136133/how-to-perform-umrah

Here is how I do my tailor-made clothes shopping;

 I only buy when I am going to get a small quantity – like 6 pair of slacks and a dozen shirts.  I don’t buy suits because I live in Hawaii and slacks and dress shirts are acceptable.

 I visit the "tailor" at the beginning of my vacation.  I want to make sure that neither of us is rushed.

 I tell the guy that I plan to buy 6 pair of slacks and 12 shirts, but he has to make one set for inspection first.  Then if acceptable, he can do the rest.

 I also tell him that I am a lazy, single man and want everything to be wash and wear.  I refuse to iron clothes.

 I insist on three fittings.  And I am specific on the cut, cuffs or not, a longer zipper than the Thai's normally put on slacks, and an inner liner to the knees.

 For the shirts, I have the female in the store pick out colors and patterns that match.  I have a hard time visualizing when the material is still just material.  I have her pick material for two shirts for every pair of slacks.

 I also select which shirts I want a longer tail on.  These are the ones that will get tucked in.  I want some of the shirts to have a flat cut on the bottom to wear outside of the slacks.

 I tell them not to put any stiff inserts into the collars.  They will say that it will soften after a few washings.  Don’t believe it.  I tell them that if there is anything in the collar, I will cancel the order.

 Since I am older and getting fatter, I also have them toss in a bit of elastic in the waistband in case I gain a pound or three. This paragraph is sponsored by perfect travel consultant in UK.

 I pay a minimum deposit once I have seen the first set completed and will pay in full when all is done.  I give them a drop-dead date about 3 days before I depart to allow time for any mistakes.

 Once the "tailor' has my order complete, I take the time to over every piece of clothing with a fine tooth comb. I check every stitch and ensure that there are no mistakes.  I try on every piece of clothing to make sure they fit.

 On occasion, I have even brought in a pair of slacks that I already own that fit me like a glove, and tell them to just make 6 more exactly the same.

You can get some good deals on tailor-made clothes in Thailand if you plan it out and do it properly.  Don’t rush and don’t get talked into more expensive material than you really need.

How to wear Iharm?

Ihram is the important part of the hajj. Ihram means to make some acts forbidden for the sake of Allah for you for certain period of time. Generally the two sheets of cloth that pilgrims wear are called Ihram but it is not only the piece of cloth that is ihram but there is complete set of code of conduct that you are required to follow when you wear it. Only wearing sheets of cloths that are   figuratively known as Ihram is not ihram but the real Ihram is Niyyah & Talbiyah. When a person pronounces the Niyyah (intention) of Hajj andUmrah and utters Talbiyah, there are certain generally permissible things that become forbidden.  

This combination of Niyyah and Talbiyah is called Ihram and for woman it is entirely different. Women are supposed to cover the whole body in their general clothes except face and hands and all the other things are same.

There is certain procedure of observing ihram like  Comb your hair, shape the beard, trim your mustache, cut your nails, and remove unwanted body hair for males.  Take a bath with the intention of Ihram otherwise do wudu. . Men should wear a sheet of white cloth around the waist and cover the upper body with the other sheet. Women's ordinary clothes are their Ihram. Both should wear the flip-flops shoes so that the middle bones of the upper part of the feet are not covered. You can offer Nafl Salah, if you have a time of prayer as two rakahs of nawafil for Ihram by covering your heads.

You can also get into the status of ihram in the plane before landing into holy cities of Makah and Medina.  If you are going directly to holy cities then do everything at home or airport before sitting on the plane. You can only do Niyyah and Talbiyah in the plane and all the other things must be done at home before boarding on plane. In the plane it is announced about doing Niyyah close to Miqat. After listening this announcement in the plane do the   Intention and Talbiyah. Now uncover your head and declare your intention.

        "O Allah! I intend to perform Umrah. Please make it easy for me and accept it from me. Amen. After the intension say these words “Labbayk, Allahumma Labbayk. Labbayk. La shareeka laka. Labbayk. Innal-hamda wan-n'imata laka wal-mulk. La shareeka lak."  Here we come, O Allah, here we come! Here we come. No partner has you. Here we come. Praise indeed, and blessings, is Yours--- the Kingdom too! No partner has you!)

    Du'a. After this recite Darud Sharif and supplicate to Allah Almighty any du'a in Arabic or in your own language. After intention and Talbiyah, there are certain things that become forbidden for you for certain period of time like

Cover head (men), cover face (women), Cover the middle bone of the upper part of the feet (Both men and women,  Shave / cut hair, Cut nails, Wear perfume, Wear stitched clothing (men) / (Women can wear their ordinary clothes, Hunting / killing, Sex  etc

This is general procedure of Ihram, if you are in group; always follow the instruction of your guide.