If diplomatic achievements were measured by the number of countries visited, Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the most accomplished secretary of state in history.
Despite the mind- and body-numbing time zone hopping, Clinton joked that she was ready for more.
While
historians will debate and eventually rate her tenure as America's top
diplomat, Clinton is already assured of a place in the State Department
record book.
When her plane touched down at Andrews Air Force Base
outside Washington early Tuesday morning, the former first lady
completed an epic 13-day journey of 27,000 miles — about 2,000 miles
more than the circumference of the Earth — through and over Europe to
Asia and then doubling back to the Middle East.
One well-traveled
Clinton staffer described the
France-Afghanistan-Japan-Mongolia-Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia-Egypt-Israel
itinerary as "especially absurd, even for us."Despite the mind- and body-numbing time zone hopping, Clinton joked that she was ready for more.
"I appreciate being here, I am only sorry that I have to leave," she told reporters on her last stop Monday, in Israel.
"My
traveling team is anxious to get home. I'd like to be hanging out in
Jerusalem, but, you know, I have to do my duty," she said with a sigh.
Since
becoming secretary of state in 2009, Clinton has logged 351 days on the
road, traveled to 102 countries and flown a whopping 843,839 miles,
according to the State Department.
While some previous secretaries may have flown more miles — mainly due
to shuttling back and forth to the Mideast on peace missions — none has
visited more nations.
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