When ever I travel I have to solve The Packing Formula to determine what to take with me and how to get it all in my bags.

My next trip has some special inputs as I will be working on an archeological dig for two weeks.

Tonight I will share some of the different items that I will take on the trip.

First off of course are work boots. These of course are much larger than the shoes that I usually take on a trip. On prior trips I have usually strapped them to my carry-on luggage. I am hoping that on this trip I will have room in the suitcase.

A new item to pack this year is a large shoe horn. I have always had trouble getting my boots on and it takes some time to really loosen and then tighten again the laces on my boots. I bought this shoe horn today and the boots easily slipped on. I will gain a bit of time in the mornings putting on my boots and get rid of a lot of frustration.

I also will be taking my new Marshalltown trowel which is the type that is commonly used in archaeology. It will be nice to have my own personal trowel and also to have a nice holder to strap onto my belt.

The next items are mostly about protection.

I am also packing some strap on knee pads. I will be spending a lot of time kneeling on the ground when using my trowel and these will really help protect my knees.

Of course I need a nice wide brim hat to help protect myself from the sun.

I am also packing sunscreen. I will be spending a lot of time outdoors. I will also be wearing short sleeve shirts so need to protect my arms. Those who know me well know that I almost always wear long sleeve shirts 🙂

This is an interesting addition to the packing inputs, and is also about protection. You may wonder what I will be using portion control snack size zip lock bags for.

This picture did not come out well, but you should be able to see that the zip lock bag is just the right size for my phone. You can still use the screen through the bag and the phone can still read your fingerprint. The bag of course protects your phone from dust and moisture while out on the dig. I learned this trick from one of the archaeologists during my first dig season.

You can get quite dirty on an archaeological dig, and so can your phone and camera.

There are still lots of decisions to be made about what clothes to take on the dig. Luckily most of what I need to take is already laundered and ready to go. I got a lot of pre-packing finished today.

Steven