The Eid holiday is coming, and since the majority of Indonesian are muslims, we have quite a long holiday during the Eid al-Fitr. Muslims or not, there is a tradition in Indonesia where people are going back to their hometown during the holiday; a homecoming, or in Indonesian terms is famous as "mudik".
My eid holiday homecoming has been great and smoothly. This year is my first long journey to travel around 600 KM round trip with only my little sister and little brother.
Eid ul fitr is the greatest festival of muslims. It is full of joy and hapiness. It's one of my favorite day. When all the families and relatives come together to celebrate, embrace and greet each other to say 'minal aidin, mohon maaf lahir batin' also a lot of food and sugar.
My story begins a week before idul fitri. My parents already went to their hometown. So i have to go to two destinations, Bogor and Bandung to meet them. First day of eid holiday in Indonesia to go 'mudik' was Friday, April 31. My sister and i went to my mother's house in bogor. We woke up early at 3 am in order to avoid traffic congestion. Also, we sahur on the road. At mcdonald to be exact. At that time ofcourse ramadan, a holy month of fasting. We ate our early meal at half way to bogor and we continue our trip to bogor after dawn and arrived at 6 in bogor. My sister and i spent a whole week in my mother's house. My little brother also already in there. We spent the holiday together in bogor, spent a week to visit my grandmother and uncle.
On the first day of eid, we woke up early then usual. Prepare to pray Eid Prayer in the mosque. After the prayer, we congratulate each other and say some common greetings like: EId mubarak "Maaf Born Batin" or said "Selamat Lebaran". And then return to home to eat good meals together.
On the second day, we just enjoy the day to celebrate and visit our relatives. Luckily, my trip to visit to bogor and spent a week in there is so smooth without any congestion and other things that are not desirable.
The next day, which is the third day of eid. My sister and I planned to continue our 'mudik' to visit my father's house in bandung. Also along with my little brother. I drove about 200 KM + at 3 AM in the morning alone with only my sister and my little brother. I have problem with my 'unhealthy' car, its sucks. I had to deal with radiator all the time. Kinda makes me worried all the way. But, it's ok, we good. We arrived smoothly in Bandung for about 5 hours trip on toll high-way from Bogor no traffic congestion. I have to appreciate to the government, this year 'homecoming' was succesfully without any problem in traffic (at least in my experience).