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Home / Travel

How to have a 47-hour Christmas Day: British man spends two days flying through time zones

Daily Mail
27 Dec, 2016 05:34 AM4 mins to read

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The incredible journey means Fraser Watt stretched his Christmas Day to a whopping 47 hours. Photo / Facebook

The incredible journey means Fraser Watt stretched his Christmas Day to a whopping 47 hours. Photo / Facebook

A British man has broken the record for the world's longest Christmas day after spending nearly two days flying in different planes and countries to have a 47 hour December 25th.

Christmas-mad Fraser Watt, 58, started his race against Santa at midnight on Christmas Eve from Auckland.

He passed through Hong Kong, London and Los Angeles before eventually arriving in Honolulu in Hawaii at 11.38pm local time.

In doing so he also broke the record for the furthest distance travelled on commercial airliners in a single day and the record for the furthest distance travelled in any 24 hour period.

The incredible journey saw him travel almost 20,000 miles - and stretched his Christmas Day to a whopping 47 hours.

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Fraser, originally from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, has managed to raise nearly NZ$16,700 for UNICEF for his unenviable feat.

He said: "I'm currently incredibly tired but very, very happy to have managed to do this.

"There were a few moments where it looked like it wasn't going to be possible.

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"At Los Angeles, it took forever to get off the plane and at the check-in desk I had to argue my case to get my boarding pass after initially being denied a place on board.

"We were 25 minutes late in leaving Los Angeles but actually managed to arrive on the ground early in Hawaii.

"The transfer at Heathrow turned out to be a lot tighter than I thought it would be and we ended up leaving half an hour late.

"I've been running on adrenaline for the last two days and have managed to stay awake for the majority of the time. But as soon as my head hits the pillow in my hotel, I'll have the best sleep of my life."

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It was only on his London flight that he was finally given a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings - with the rest of his journeys offering standard airline fare.

Fraser first thought of the wacky challenge while he was sitting in a bar with his friend in 2015.

He added: 'We were both approaching big birthdays, and talking about how to make the most of the time we had left.

"We began wondering if you could make a big birthday a 'big birthday' by chasing the sun around the world.

"A quick Google identified that the current world record for the longest day was by a German guy who made 46 hours in 2015, but by cheating and going backwards across the International Date Line.

"The challenge was on.

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"The big issue to overcome is can I stand eating four tepid tasteless tin-foil-wrapped turkey dinners at twenty-thousand feet?"

Fraser is no stranger to flying, and is himself a private pilot, but the scope of his challenge dwarfs the Piper prop planes he is used to.

Connections made the timing of his challenge razor-thin - he will only have around 30 minutes from the time he lands in Heathrow from Hong Kong to connect to his LA-bound flight.

Thankfully Christmas Day is one of the days in the year with the lowest amount of air passenger traffic, which should help Fraser brave the transits and the queues.

Fraser also shunned alcohol for the entirety of his journey.

He said: "If you're going to be on multiple flights you've got to stay hydrated."

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Fraser, who works as an Environmental Scientist in Australia, wore a special red suit decorated with reindeers, snowmen and Christmas trees for the whole haul.

He said: "That suit has been acquired especially for this trip. I had a collection of Christmas vests but if I'm going to do this I want to grab as much attention as I can."

Fraser is no stranger to the jet-set lifestyle. As well as living in Australia, he's worked in the Philippines, Vietnam and India.

The dad-of-three admits his globe-trotting adventures make quite a change from growing up in a little house in Clydebank.

He said: "Back then to go to Spain on a package holiday was considered exotic."

The Watts always try to share a family Christmas, but this year Fraser caught up with them on the 28th instead.

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He married his wife Rosie, 52, in Erskine in 1985 before emigrating to Australia in 1996.

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