Every prime minister feels the need to travel.

Every so often, usually during the Parliamentary recess, they up and off to foreign parts - to meet other great leaders, to cheer up the troops, to show they're abreast of global affairs, and to impress the voters back home.

With them go a motley crew of minders, civil servants and journalists.

Julia Langdon, one time political editor of the Daily Mirror, has travelled with four prime ministers.

It's a gruelling rather than glamorous experience, constantly crossing time zones, constantly jet lagged and rarely the chance to get a good night's sleep or even do your washing.

But it's exciting, it serves democracy and for a journalist it's a great source of stories.

Julia talks to some of the others who've gone travelling with the prime minister; she hears what went right, what went wrong and what was fun.