Sven managed the feat by flying from Auckland, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia, before crossing th International Date Line to Hawaii, thereby going 20 hours back in time.
He beat the previous record for "Longest Birthday," which had been 35 hours and 25 minutes. That was set by Nargis Bhimji of Karachi, Pakistan. She flew from her home city to Singapore and then San Francisco in June 1998.
Although he spent a lot of his extra-long birthday on a plane with limited legroom and the equally-limited delights of airline food, he did manage 90-minute taxi tour of Auckland. As Sven told The Telegraph, "You will get help, wherever you are in the world."
Sven, a self-professed "huge fan" of the Guinness World Records, went on to say, "I always asked myself if it would be possible to set a record myself. After I found the perfect record for me, I felt confident I could become a record holder."
The record attempt happened last year, but has only just been verified by Guinness. In reality, the plane journey only took 13 hours 10 minutes, but the timezone-hopping won him the award.
Sven rather sweetly says that the highlight of the whole trip was actually touching down in Hawaii at midnight to meet his waiting wife, knowing that he had set a new record.
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