(Please excuse the rather odd photo. You’d be surprised at how hard it is to take a photo of your chest area with no help; especially with a flash. Especially wearing a crop-top. Everything goes very…see-through.)

This is, ladies and inevitable gentlemen who have been enticed to the page by a totally unsexy picture of a crop-top, possibly my best travel tip to date. And it is this: wear a crop-top, not a bra. I’m aiming this tip at the women readers, by the way – if you’re a man, don’t wear a crop-top or a bra. There’s no need. Unless your moobs are particularly substantial and swing about like proper breasts.

Ladies: why would we need to wear an underwired bra when flying? There is no need! Not for long-haul flights! It suddenly dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that for years I had been suffering on planes, tossing this way and that, trying to sleep as the underwire in my bra poked me in the armpits and various other less comfortable places. But why do I need to support my boobs when I’m in a lying down position, thought I, and then the crop-top, beloved apparel of the pre-pubescent, popped into my head.

Rather than go utterly (udderly) bra-less, why not meet half way? Why not compromise? A soft, non-wired item of clothing that has no sharp bits, no clasp, no itchy hooks that dig into your skin, no plastic strap adjusters that make marks on your shoulders. Ah, the crop-top. Innocent, cotton, breathable, malleable… It may not hoist the ladies up to your chin, but it’ll stop them saying hello to your knees (unless you’re very large) and by GOD does it make sleeping on an aeroplane that much more pleasant!

So there. Wear a crop-top to the airport, get on that flight and snuggle up. If you’re in a tracksuit and slippers, all the more fun – you don’t have to board in them, if you don’t want to, pack them in your carry-on luggage and change in the loo. Gross, but necessary.