I finished packing all the bags this morning and Mark, TJ and Sophia loaded the car up. We then headed to the Boot Barn as Greer had been wanting some Cowgirl boots since Dallas but we told her she has to wait until Houston. They had a huge array of clothes and boots to choose from.
Shopping done and squeezed into the bags, we headed to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It is free on Thursdays but because we wanted to go to the King Tut’s Tomb exhibition it still cost us US$180 including car parking. We had an hour until our entry time and the kids wanted food so we went for lunch – kids had burgers and curly fries which were actually quite tasty for museum food and Mark and I both had a wrap/roll.
We headed to the exhibition, which is an immersive re-creation of his actual tomb. Now that the Grand Egyptian Museum outside Cairo is open, the relics of Tutankhamun are no longer traveling outside the country for museum tours. Instead, the museum has specialized in crafting and selling one-to-one replicas of the artifacts for places who want to build exhibitions. This is what we saw – it was very well done but having seen the real thing, at a fraction of the cost, it definitely felt like a huge rip-off to me.
We viewed the permanent exhibitions and then decided to head to the airport, arriving around 4:15pm. By the time we got from the Rental Car Centre to the airport we didn’t need to wait too long for check-in to open. We had the usual issue with Air NZ and the hyphen in my name so it took a while but as a result she waived the fee on our additional bag which was good because it was apparently going to be US$110.
Security was quick and easy – their machines are such that you don’t need to take anything out of your bag – just shoes off so it makes for a smoother process. Once through we went to the United Club lounge – still no Koru in Houston but they have an arrangement with United. That said, we were only allowed one guest each which meant we were going to need to pay US$59 for the additional child … or make them draw straws as to who would wait outside for us ?. I think it was too hard for the lady to sort and so she waived the fee for us ?.
We had something to eat and drink and killed the time until our flight was ready to leave. We boarded the plane and left on time for our 15 hour journey home.