Common mistakes first time Hajj pilgrims make

The short answer. The big one is spending the budget in the wrong place: a tower beside the Haram and the cheapest Mina category, when Mina is the hard part. After that it is not training for the walking, packing as though it were a holiday, leaving the vaccination with a waiting period until last, and not telling the organiser about a parent's mobility until after the booking.

This is the practical list, not the religious one. Your scholar will teach you the rites far better than a travel agency can. What we can tell you is what we watch go wrong from an office that has been sending groups for two generations.

If you are at the very start, read Hajj from Pakistan: a complete guide first, because some of these are decisions rather than mistakes.

Before you book

Spending the money in the wrong place. This is the mistake that matters most and almost nobody sees it coming. People compare hotels, because hotels are what brochures photograph, and then take whatever Mina category comes with the package. Mina and the walk to the Jamarat are the physically hardest part of Hajj. A shorter walk there is worth more than a shorter walk in Makkah, especially for an older pilgrim. Ask about the camp before you ask about the hotel.

Choosing on the headline price. Two packages that differ a lot differ somewhere specific: the Mina category, the distance, the room occupancy, direct flights or not, or what has quietly been left out. Ask which. We have written the full question list in what to ask a Hajj agency before booking.

Not checking the organiser. It takes ten minutes and it is the only check that is binary. The steps are in how to verify a Hajj travel agency.

Booking late and hoping. The private quota is a fixed number of seats and it fills. Late does not usually mean no Hajj; it means the Mina category and the hotel you did not want.

Before you travel

Leaving the vaccinations to the end. One of them has a waiting period before you may travel. People discover this in the final fortnight and lose the departure. It belongs in the first week of planning, not the last.

Letting the passport run close. Check the expiry today. A renewal in a hurry is the most common reason a file stalls.

Not training for the walking. This is the one returning pilgrims always mention. Hajj is days of walking, often in heat, often at night, often further than you expect between one duty and the next. Start walking months before, in the shoes you will actually wear. Nothing else you do prepares you as well.

Not telling us about a parent's health until after the booking. We can plan a great deal around a wheelchair, a knee, a heart condition, if we know before the package is chosen. Afterwards we can plan very little. Nobody is judging the family; say it early.

Packing

Scented soap, shampoo and toothpaste. In ihram these are a problem. Buy the unscented versions at home, where they cost a fraction of what they cost beside the Haram.

Too much of everything. You carry it further than you think and you bring things back. The list is in what to pack for Hajj from Pakistan.

Medicines in the checked bag, with brand names only. Keep them in hand luggage and write the generic names on paper. A Pakistani brand name is not always recognised at a pharmacy in Makkah.

While you are there

Treating the first day as a normal day. Many flights land in the small hours. People arrive, go straight to the Haram, and then lose the next day. Decide in advance whether you are going straight there or sleeping first.

Not noting the gate. The Haram is enormous and the buildings around it look alike at night. Note your gate number and photograph your hotel entrance on the first day. It is the single most useful thing a first time pilgrim can do.

Saving nothing for the hard days. People exhaust themselves in the first week and arrive at Mina with nothing left. The days that need your strength are the ones in the middle, not the ones at the start.

Not carrying the numbers on paper. Phones die, roaming fails, people are separated in crowds. Everybody should carry the hotel name and address in Arabic, the group leader's number and the office number in Pakistan, written down.

Trying to do everything. Extra Ziyarat, extra shopping, extra visits, squeezed between the obligations. Fewer things, done properly, with rest between them, is the Hajj people remember well.

The money

Changing everything at the airport. It is the worst rate of the journey.

Forgetting the costs that are not in the package. Gifts are almost always the largest unplanned spend, then taxis taken because somebody is too tired to walk. Neither is in anyone's package, and we say so before you pay.

The one people only understand afterwards

Expecting it to be comfortable. It is not meant to be a comfortable journey and no package makes it one. What a good package buys is that the discomfort is in the right places: the rites, the crowds, the heat, rather than a two kilometre walk back to a bad tent at midnight.

Choose for that, and most of the list above takes care of itself.

Where to start

Our current departures, with the Mina category, the hotels by name, the distances, what each price includes and the Munazzim's name and number, are on the Hajj packages page. Send us your questions and we will answer them honestly, including the ones where the answer is no.