As the longest break in the UAE begins today, most residents have made plans to kick back and relax. Yet, the country’s main border crossing with Oman has yet to see the long queues generally associated with Eid holidays.
As it turns out, that is because many residents are waiting for the holy month of Ramadan to come to an end before they leave the emirates.
“It’s quite difficult to be fasting while travelling,” Egyptian expat Rana El-Sayeh told Khaleej Times. The Dubai resident said she intends to fly out after the holy month. “We’re fasting, so we can’t eat food at a resort. What’s the point of staying there?”
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El-Sayeh also said that she wants to be able to fast properly during the holy month, which is why she decided against leaving the country before Eid Al Fitr. “I planned in advance and decided to travel only on Wednesday, as the day of Eid had not been declared.”
‘No rush at UAE border’
Residents that have planned road trips say they cannot drive for long stretches during Ramadan. “Driving while fasting is difficult, so we’re going to offer our Eid prayers and then leave for Salalah by car. My husband and I will take turns driving,” Dubai resident Sehr Khan said.
Most people fasting have not yet left the comfort of their homes, which can be seen at the main UAE border, where there are virtually no queues.
Dubai resident M George was pleasantly surprised at how quickly he and his family made it past the border. “I visit Muscat at least once or twice a year during long weekends,” says the former Oman resident.
“From former experience as well as the reports we’ve been reading, we were expecting proper tailbacks at the Hatta-Oman crossing and planned to leave home very early in the morning to try and beat traffic. Unfortunately, we ended up starting our journey only around 10am — but to our great surprise, there was very minimal rush at the border. We were able to drive through both checkpoints in under an hour!”
“We’re now through to the other side and, although it’s been one hour, we’ve yet to see another Dubai-licensed vehicle on the roads. Usually, there are dozens of others that can be spotted alongside us.”
Meanwhile, Dubai Municipality has said that it is expecting an influx of approximately 3.6 million passengers from April 2 till April 15. Dubai Customs is streamlining processes to ease travel into the city during the period.