The world's most expensive selfie: State Department blows $11.5 million on Obama's trip to Mandela funeral not including the cost of Air Force One

Via Knuckledraggin' My Life Away

Obama arrived and departed on the same day, spending less than 13 hours on the ground in South Africa for Nelson Mandela's memorial service

The State Department budgeted $11,519,617 in three separate contract documents covering ground transportation and lodging

Hotel rooms were authorized through the middle of January even though Mandela was laid to rest on December 15

The nearly $180,000-per-hour cost of flying Air Force One, the president's customized Boeing 747 aircraft, was not part of the cost estimateThe State Department set aside a staggering $11,519,617 on hotels and ground transportation costs for President Obama and his entourage to attend Nelson Mandela's memorial service last week, it was revealed today.

One contract letter budgeted more than $8.2 million for 'passenger vehicles, SUVs, vans, and buses, as well as supplies and goods vehicles such as pickup trucks, box trucks, and larger capacity vehicles,' according to documents first posted online by the Weekly Standard.

Two more authorized State to spend in excess of $3.2 million on hotels from December 6 to January 20, including costs for a whopping 5,730 'hotel room nights' overall – a number that works out to represent more than 127 separate rooms.

It's unclear how much the State Department actually spent. But the president, it turned out, spent less than 13 hours on the ground in South Africa on December 10 – arriving and departing on the same day.

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