Michael Zervos knows his epic journey across the globe will change him.
In January, Zervos, a 2006 Northville High School gradute, set out to break a Guinness World Record by traveling to every country in the world faster than anyone’s done it before.
The current record is held by Taylor Demonbreun of Alabama, who in 2018 achieved the feat in 554 days.
Just 10 months in, Zervos is well past the halfway mark, so far visiting 108 of the world’s 195 countries, participating in local customs, consuming local cuisine – tarantula, anyone? – and making memories to last a lifetime.
But Project Kosmos, as Zervos calls the epic adventure, is about more than just a globetrotting trip aimed at breaking a record.
As a filmmaker, he knew from the start he wanted to do more than just check a box at every destination. He wanted to meet people and create art; something he could share with others.
So he decided to interview three people in each country with the same question: What is the happiest moment of your life? The responses – with more coming each week – are posted to his Instagram page.
“You meet people who are extraordinary, who inspire you, and it’s like a shot of adrenaline to hear these stories,” he said. “It lights my fire in a way that very few things could, and it reminds me again why I’m doing it, and that maybe these stories can help other people.”
Border crossings and bribes
Zervos started his world tour in Russia, hopped over to Turkey then made his way into 53 of Africa’s 54 countries, leaving Sudan – currently in a state of civil war – for later.
“I’m working on how I’m going to get into that country,” he said.
From the beginning, Zervos knew he wanted to tackle Africa in the early part of the trip.
“I think if I had done Africa later on, it would’ve been harder,” he said. “I have a wellspring of energy, but I also believe that I needed every single bit of it. Getting through some countries, with the layovers and some of the visas and the language barriers…it takes a toll on you when it happens day after day after day.”
Border crossings in Africa, he said, were often an ordeal, with security protocols and corruption creating obstacles for travelers.
One memorable journey from Nigeria to Benin illustrated the struggle: a trip that should have taken two-and-a-half hours ended up lasting more than double the time he’d allotted.
“We were stopped by the police – I lost count after 40 stops – and each time, they were asking for money,” he said. “It was a pretty harrowing journey, and something Nigerians and Beninese take on almost a daily basis.”
“Police will say things like, ‘What kind of green bread do you have for me?’ or ‘How can you bless me today?’ because they don’t want to get caught asking for money,” he said.
But Zervos said he managed to avoid paying any bribes, with one exception in Mozambique when his driver was pulled over, supposedly for not wearing a seatbelt.
After an officer simply walked away with his passport, he felt compelled to fork over some cash – about $10 or $15, he said – in order to get moving again.
Otherwise, he found ways to dodge the requests with humor.
‘I’d say, ‘I’ve only got big bills, or I only have a credit card, or I left my wallet back in the hotel,’” he said. “Or sometimes would just say things like, ‘Yeah, I don’t speak English.’”
Happiest moments
After Africa, Zervos headed into the Middle East, parts of Asia, then into Oceania, back through the Maldives, Sri Lanka to India and into Central Asia.
Next he’ll head back into the other half of the Middle East, and, finally, into Europe.
While the traveling is tiring, Zervos said he’s never questioned his motivation and is fully committed to completing his mission.
“I think day by day I become more invigorated, even though sometimes I will feel physically exhausted,” he said, noting he often travels through the night and gets up at the crack of dawn for filming for his Instagram page. “It’s tough to not have regular sleeping time, even for somebody has insomnia.”
But then, he meets the people who inspire him when they answer his interview question: “What is the happiest moment of your life?”
Stories range from poignant to triumphant, like a young woman in Tanzania who survived a life-threatening illness to graduate from university, defying her doctors’ predictions.
“That was her happiest moment when she graduated, because she thought she wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said. “She thought she was going to be dead. She was crying when she told this story. I couldn’t believe she would be willing to be so vulnerable with a stranger. And then on top of that, be on camera.”
In Niger, he met a shopkeeper whose happiest moment came from an unusual business encounter. Decades ago, as a boy, the man sold a painting for many times its value, earning enough money to open the shop he still owns today.
In Eswatini, he heard from a mother who campaigned tirelessly to get Down Syndrome officially recognized in her country, while in Palau, a 75-year-old woman marveled at the freedom she encountered in Las Vegas.
The project, Zervos said, shows how happiness is as individual as it is universal.
Adventure everywhere
Wherever he goes, Zervos has immersed himself in the local customs, landscapes, and communities.
From standing amid the sacred snakes of the Python Temple in Ouidah, Benin, to drumming alongside the legendary Royal Drummers of Burundi in Gishora, his adventures are varied and memorable.
In Asmara, Eritrea, he explored a tank graveyard. In Turkmenistan, he donned a traditional wedding outfit and danced with locals. Near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, he held a hunting eagle near the Genghis Khan statue, went diving near a shipwreck in Palau and in South Sudan, visited with the Mundari tribe and its chiefs, gaining insights into the rich tribal customs of the region.
He’s crossed borders by foot, boat, and vehicle. At one point, he crammed into a car for seven hours across Gambia and Senegal, enduring the bumpy journey next to a woman carrying goat soup.
“Which I tried, by the way,” he said. “Not bad.”
Eating as the locals eat
Experiencing cultures through food was a goal for Zervos, who gave up an eight-year vegetarian streak when the trip began. His Instagram page includes dozens of videos as he tries different types of cuisine in various places.
“Before leaving, I told myself, okay, when I start on my journey, I’m going to eat what the locals eat,” he said. “I want to bond with them. I want to know how they treat themselves and their how they treat their animals.”
In places like the Caucasus, Zervos found himself immersed in fresh produce, including a kilo of raspberries he bought on the roadside for $1.50.
“I was just stuffing my face full of my favorite fruit,” he said. “It was such a perfect experience and better than anything you could get in America.”
But his commitment to local cuisine has also led him to some of the world’s more unusual dishes.
He’s eaten it all: genitalia, innards, head, lungs, stomach.
Not everything on his plate won his heart, though.
“I don’t like cow hoof,” he said. “I’ve been served it a number of times, and I’ve tried over and over, thinking I’d eventually like it, but I just don’t.
“I’ve had a lot of insects,” he added.
Human struggles
Although the good times have been bountiful, Zervos’ journey also unveiled a kaleidoscope of human struggles.
His path has taken him through countries where children smile with dirt-smudged cheeks and ragged clothes, finding joy in places of unimaginable scarcity.
“Poverty in a first world country is not the same as some of the most poor countries in the world,” he said. “It’s the juxtaposition of seeing a happy child, smiling with dirt on their face, a torn shirt, eating just about garbage in a bombed out home or a shelter with holes above it.”
In his travels across continents, he has encountered the full spectrum of hardship – failed states, corruption, and societies where women are silenced, unseen in public life.
“I visited Afghanistan where you might forget the existence of women there because the Taliban is back and women are not allowed to be public places,” he said. “They’re not allowed to be educated. They are not allowed to have a driver’s license.”
But among the tragedies, he finds resilience. From West Africa to Southeast Asia, he met people who give freely – food, shelter, and whatever comfort they have to share. Despite the harsh realities, he said, these are some of the happiest souls he’s encountered.
Zervos knows the trip will change him, that somehow, he’ll be different when he comes home sometime next summer. He just doesn’t know how it will change him.
“Often when you’re trying to give meaning to your life and your past experiences, you have to be out of it before you can look back and start to assemble things,” he said. “But I do journal every day and I make videos every day about the places I go to. But yeah, I think I will change. I guess you’ll have to ask me once I’m done.”
Follow Michael Zervos’ adventure on Instagram @theprojectkosmos or on his website at project-kosmos.com.
Contact reporter Laura Colvin at lcolvin@hometownlife.com
