WASHINGTON — He travels with a green duffel bag stuffed with nonfiction books about military campaigns and political affairs. He has an iPod and noise-canceling earphones to listen to oldies and some country-western. Oh, and he has two planes, including a C-17 military transport with a 40-foot silver trailer in its belly for his privacy and comfort, and round-theclock bodyguards and medical staff. Aides pack the Diet Sprite — a Cheney favorite — keep the decaffeinated lattes flowing, and tune the tube to Fox News.

Vice President Cheney is not your regular road warrior.

Mr. Cheney returned Wednesday from a 10-day trip to Iraq, Oman, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian territory, and Turkey. The rigors of travel and ever-present security concerns make sightseeing difficult. Still, he squeezed in a little on his final stop in Istanbul.

The vice president, his wife, Lynne, and daughter, Liz, saw Topkapi Palace, seat of the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years. For all his globe-trotting, Mr. Cheney had never been to Istanbul, home of the Bosphorus Bridge that links Europe and Asia.

More often, Mr. Cheney’s days on the road are spent holed up on planes, helicopters, hotel rooms and stuffy government buildings. They are long, grueling days. His staffers say they have to run fast to keep up with a schedule that seems especially rigorous for a 67-year-old man who has had four heart attacks. Like the gadget inside his chest that makes sure his heart is beating in sync, Mr. Cheney paces himself.

“Because he’s been doing it for so long, he has a pretty good sense of what’s important and what’s not important,” a former administration official, Liz Cheney, said. “He keeps his perspective, doesn’t let the little things get to him, you know. They sort of roll off, and he keeps his sense of humor,” she said in Saudi Arabia.