Travel pool note #5 // Wheels down in Ankara

Good afternoon from Ankara! AF1 was wheels down as of 1:51 p.m. at Etimesgut Air Base. We had no visitors to the press cabin during the flight.

To give you a sense of what an overnight is like aboard the new Air Force One: The lights were dimmed, and your poolers got a mostly restful night sleep aided by the new lie-flat function of the brown leather seats in the press cabin (the buttons take a bit of trial and error, but after some finagling you can get it to properly lie all the way flat), lulled to sleep by soft blue light of the ocean on the in-flight plane tracker and/or Fox News on our individual TV screens.

We also got some lovely footage of greenery flying over Europe in the morning, courtesy of the five on-board cameras that broadcast the live view outside the plane from forward, aft, right, left and down.

We had an Americana themed mini-dinner shortly after departure consisting of one miniature hot dog, one slider with a tiny pickle and two red, white and blue cake pop bites. It was served on a small butcher block / cutting board of sorts with the presidential seal on it. Breakfast was an “all American” theme too — eggs with chives, pancakes with a cinnamon butter and a cherry parfait.

As a reminder, per the White House daily guidance, this is what’s on tap today — all times local. (Again, Ankara is seven hours ahead of D.C.)