THEY don't come more patriotic, or eccentric, than adventurer-cum-Kidderminster binman John "Bindiana" McBride, who braved post- Falklands Argentina with a Union Jack proudly strapped to his back.

After all, he couldn't possibly break a tradition he's followed since his first perilous expedition 20 years ago, on the off-chance he falls prey, in true action hero style, to a sabre-swinging Arab or a pit of slithering snakes.

Similarly, he won't go abroad without 50 or so Typhoo tea bags, powdered milk and container of sugar, even though the obsession has landed him in dead stumm with Customs more times than he cares to remember.

And it seems he's not alone when it comes to barking Brits' bizarre packing practices - although, frankly, some travellers border on the neurotic a tad more than others.

According to a new survey, as a nation, we are particularly reluctant to be separated - even for a few days - from our favourite creature comforts.

A weird mixture of the predictable and the downright peculiar, the RAC poll found the phrase "taking everything but the kitchen sink" not too far off the mark.

It comes as no surprise that many grown adults refuse to leave their trusty Teddy at home or walk a plane's gangplank without a culinary kit-n-kaboodle - bacon, marmalade, mustard - dismissing European alternatives as "never as good as at home".

But, less predictably, the survey also uncovered a 35-year-old legal expert who would not travel without UK condoms, saying, "would you trust the dodgy Spanish ones without a BS kitemark?"

The motoring organisation also interviewed a 43-year-old credit control supervisor who admitted she couldn't settle into her hotel room until she'd slipped on her rubber gloves and given the bathroom a good going-over with her bottle of UK bleach.

Other surprising "must take" items included black puddings, cheap jewellery ("so you won't mind when you lose or break it"), enough shoes to match every outfit ("I'm sure every woman would agree"), a 5-metre long four-way extension cable ("so the wife can use her hair-dryer by the mirror), and reams of quilted toilet paper ("I can't stand some of the rough stuff abroad").

"European breaks are far easier to organise and much more common these days but many people still can't feel quite at home without one or two of their favourite things around them", says RAC Head of Hotels and Travel Richard Day.

"Personal travel insurance advisers usually deal with items of reasonable monetary value but often come across people who put just as much importance on relatively inexpensive - but, for them, priceless - things that they take abroad."

Travellers are also quite prepared to lug huge items abroad, simply because they are their own.

"We've had customers ask to take things like 20ft kayaks on the plane," said Catherine Thorburn, manager of city travel agent Atlas Travel.

"But the funniest query was from a lady who wanted to go on a fly-drive in Florida and, at the end of the conversation, seriously asked, 'so how exactly do I get my car on the plane?'

"The strangest customers are probably those going abroad on business - they take the bizarrest things."

Ultimate travelling man Bindiana, who is planning a jaunt around Mongolia early next year, agrees Brits are particularly fussy about their cargo.

"We English are a bit mental when it comes to this type of thing," said the 58-year-old globetrotter, who has been lugging a tin of chicken around the world for 30 years out of "tradition".

"I often have my powdered milk and sugar taken off me at Customs, which is very frustrating as you just can't get a decent cuppa anywhere else."