If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that the British have a very confused sense of self-image. Nowhere is this better illustrated than with the depiction of the Brit abroad. Historically, the British see themselves as the embodiment of rationality, with a handle on everything from science, politics and the arts to cuisine and style. When travelling overseas, they bring with them civility, which they aim to disseminate across foreign lands, usually by speaking English very loudly and slowly.

However, the modern-day British tourist – and specifically the English tourist – is more likely to bring with them disorder. That is the perception, at least. And not just to those who man the service industries where countless stag dos and lads on tour shore up. A recent poll by YouGov found that, of 26 nationalities quizzed, the British thought their own behaviour away from home was the worst.  

Still loud, today’s traveller is also rowdy and drunk. And where more than half of Europeans can hold a conversation in English, amid an embarrassment of other languages, the English can barely speak their own.

Then there are the clothes. As TV shows from the dramatised Benidorm to the real-life The Secret Life Of The Holiday Resort document, this brand of Brit can largely be seen sporting oversized football shirts and undersized swimwear alongside questionable choices of apparel in lurid colours. The British take less time off from work than their European neighbours, and it shows. Both their temperament and their wardrobes, not to mention their skin, seem ill prepared for holidays in the sun. Or so we are led to believe.

There is some truth in this depiction, but it’s not the whole story. Which brings us to The Trip, Mr Michael Winterbottom’s exaggerated yet somehow entirely plausible fly-on-the-wall portrayal of Messrs Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon together on the road. Over its four excursions, three of which have been abroad, the series has taken semi-fictionalised versions of the two comedians on journeys reminiscent of the grand tours of 17th and 18th-century gentlemen. But much like the string of impressions they reel off as they parry and bicker – from the highfalutin Mr Gore Vidal to the crowd-pleasing Sir Michael Caine, via Sir Roger Moore, Mr Al Pacino and an awful lot of Mr Richard Burton – this is all a performance.

For one thing, the show has a costume and wardrobe department. Whether the clothes are the actors’ own is perhaps irrelevant because, as this is a dramatisation of sorts, a certain amount of artifice is involved.

Nevertheless, Messrs Coogan and Brydon do provide a template for the Englishman (and Welshman) abroad and what they should pack. The clothes worn across the series are typically tasteful, kept to a palette of navy, neutrals and white, and often made from materials more in keeping with the climate, such as linen. There are no loud patterns or prints, which would jostle for attention on camera. The methodology is a British approximation of Italian sprezzatura, if unbuttoned more for comfort than studied dishevelment. In place of the handkerchiefs Brits once placed on their heads, tidy Panama hats.

The current amble across the Aegean in the footsteps of Odysseus – himself not quite fiction and not quite fact – once more provides some instruction in what to wear for such a pilgrimage, whether you’re following Homer’s heroes or Mr Winterbottom’s. The key is to turn to items better suited to your adventure than your everyday wardrobe. Think about tones and fabrics, what works well together and what you can carry in a suitcase. Although, maybe the odd print wouldn’t hurt, provided it’s your camp-collar shirt that’s a bit rowdy, not you.

In short, be sure to make a good impression.

The Trip To Greece will air from 3 March at 10.00pm on Sky One and NOW TV