Home comforts

For me, it's always nice to get home after being away for any period of time and this time was no exception. I was in Algeria for just over 5 weeks and we were all so happy and relieved to step in the front door last night.

It was a good journey; the first leg of the journey was from Algiers to Istanbul and took just over 3 hours. The airport in Istanbul is fairly cosy but well equipped so the first thing we did was to go to the prayer room and do our Zuhr and Asr prayers. After that we freshened up, changed baby's nappy and then went back to the prayer room to wait 10 minutes for Maghrib prayer and we joined our Maghrib and Isha prayer. After that we made our way to the lounge and it wasn't long before we boarded our onward flight to Riyadh. The plane was almost empty so I was able to move and have 3 seats to myself and lay baby down next to me instead of juggling her and my food when dinner was served. It was a nice meal which I was able to enjoy for once!

Our arrival in Riyadh was smooth too, the airport was quiet, no queues and long waiting at immigration so we got through to baggage arrivals quickly and since the plane was less than half full, the luggage came quickly.

A truly hassle-free journey and I think I have DD12 and DD10 to thank for making so much du'a and reminding me to do so too that day and the days beforehand!

Back to quite a mess and a very warm, dusty house but I am so happy to see my washing machine, tumble dryer, Comfort fabric conditioner that makes the clothes smell so delicious (!) and my bed. Also nice to have air-conditioning and not feel sweaty and melty all the time... Algeria is nowhere near as hot as Riyadh but the humidity knocks me out. Nice not to have 3 brothers-in-law and 2 teen nephews about the place too which means I don't have to live in my abaya and hijab.

It's the little things I appreciate after being away from home. We had a good stay in Algeria, it was nice to see the family but it's nice to be home.