From motorcades to VVIP lounges, my trips abroad to report on Rishi Sunak's foreign visits aren't typical.
Is a private jet ostentatious? Does it help with the practicalities of being a frequently flying leader? Does it project an image of the UK abroad that you wouldn't get turning up on a chartered plane?
On the plane, there are none of those little screens you get in the back of the seat in front of you on some flights, packed with films and playlists and maps showing precisely where you are over the ocean. Instead, we often have what is called a "huddle".Journalists are given access to the PM during a trip, so they can question him
The conversation is "on the record" - to use the jargon - meaning we can quote the words and attribute them to the prime minister. But the huddle is not recorded for television or radio. Journalistically, there is a tension on these trips: we are close to the prime minister and his team throughout. This is useful, in understanding what they are doing and what motivates their decisions. But instinctively reporters want to be detached, independent and disinterested, and being in what can feel like a bubble feels odd in that context.
Recently, we flew back into Luton Airport in the middle of the night and pulled up at a private terminal. Past the entrance to what was described as the "VVIP lounge" was a glass cabinet proffering stuff from Harrods, including a collection of pink teddies complete with "recycled polyester filling".
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