NORTEVILLE, MI — Michael Zervos is going to travel around the world on a record-breaking journey of happiness.
After a year of planning, Zervos, 35, recently set out to break the Guinness World Record by traveling to every country in the world faster than anyone ever before. The current record is held by Alabama's Taylor Demonbrun, who accomplished the feat in 554 days in 2018.
Since leaving on January 17, Mr. Zervos has visited Russia and Turkey. He is currently traveling through Africa one country at a time.
But “Project Cosmos,” which Zervos calls an epic adventure, is much more than a globe-trotting journey focused on how quickly you can get in and out of 193 United Nations countries and two “observer states” that Guinness has to visit. is. A record challenge.
Along the way, he also plans to photograph snippets of happiness and share those stories with the world on his Instagram page.
“I didn't want to just travel and try to break this record if the only thing I was getting out of it was the thrill,” he said. “I wanted to have something that I could share with other people. I wanted to make art out of it.”
So he thought: “What should people ask? What is something worth learning from this record?”
He knew from the beginning that records were meant to be broken.
After auditioning numerous questions with friends and strangers, Zervos finally decided on one question to ask people all over the world. It was, “What is the happiest moment in your life?”
long period of decreased desire to create
For Zervos, a 2006 graduate of Northville High School in Michigan, the inspiration to travel around the world came gradually.
After college (according to his mother, he was born with a camera in his hand), he started a film production company and has since lived in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Dallas.
Things went well for the first few years, but over time he found himself falling into what he called “a prolonged state of creative depression, or just plain depression.”
“Probably five or six years ago, I traded my creativity and my passion for a paycheck,” he said. “I used to do a lot of cut-and-dry commercials for Fortune 500 companies where you could close your eyes and imagine what the executives were going to say before you even got there. And once you get on set, you can probably do something like this: These commercials are sleepwalking.
“It's a good life. I could retire with it, but I didn't feel fulfilled.”
Then the pandemic hit and things got even worse. With the film industry shut down and no one willing to talk about new projects, Zervos found himself at rock bottom.
It was around that time that I read an article about Anderson Diaz, a Brazilian who traveled to countries around the world and claimed to have beaten Demonbreun's time, although the record is not recognized by Guinness.
“I thought, 'Hey, that's pretty cool.' I'm going to a country that I might not have had a reason to go to, and I'm challenging myself beyond anything I ever dreamed I could do,” Zervos said. he said. He said.
After traveling to 55 countries, jumping out of planes, eating bugs in the Amazon during Survival Week, and many other adventures, Zerbos was ready for more adventures.
“I enjoy the learning aspect of travel, and I love the culture shock,” he said, noting that he would need to revisit those 55 countries to earn the record. “I like to look in from the outside and challenge my worldview. That's what traveling gives me.”
happiness question
After struggling with her own depression, Zervos wanted to tell people all over the world about the joy she finds in everyday life.
“I know a lot of Gen Z and Millennials are going through the same thing,” he says. “They have the world, but they have no happiness.”
Questions Zervos tested on friends and strangers included, for example, “What makes you happy?” or “What is happiness?”
He found that they evoked common answers such as family, money, and success.
“Then we found a middle ground: 'What is the happiest moment of your life?'” he said. “It makes someone their own storyteller. I asked 100 people this in America alone, and found that when people elicit stories from themselves that evoke powerful emotions like happiness, I found it very vibrant.”
And what started as a thought experiment became the basis for a plan to break records and create art. Project Cosmos was born.
Countries in order of difficulty
Having traveled all over the world to shoot movies, Zervos knew that the beginning of a journey is the most energetic.
“We wanted to start with the countries that are the toughest in terms of travel, the toughest countries first,” he said. “Africa is the most difficult country to cross. Infrastructure is really tough and flights are sparse. Crossing borders by land can be dangerous, so you need to know when and where to go. Then there are diseases like malaria and meningitis.”
To ensure safety and finance the trip, Zervos arranged for a number of sponsors. Among them was Michigan outdoor retailer Moose Jaw, which provided backpacks and equipment to carry on the trip, as well as financial support.
Other sponsors include iVisa, which helped him secure 69 visas, and Untamed Borders, a company that helped him visit some of the more “inaccessible countries” on his itinerary.
“They take me to countries like Turkmenistan, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
The U.S. Department of State currently issues travel advisories warning Americans of the dangers associated with political instability, crime, terrorism, and other threats in these and many other countries.
After visiting 54 countries in Africa, they will head to the Middle East, then travel through parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands before returning via New Zealand. From there he plans to head to Australia and then back to South and Central Asia before heading to Europe.
“It's kind of a halfway point,” Zervos said, noting that he plans to finish the European portion of the tour in Portugal, then head to Brazil, South America, the Caribbean, Canada and eventually return to the United States.
He plans to stay in each country for one to five days, and has made some, but not all, arrangements in advance.
“I'm going to camp in a yurt outside Turkmenistan's giant fiery pit called the Gates of Hell,” he said. “I'm camping with the Dinka people in South Sudan.”
He was invited to tour a geological site by an Angolan scientist.
Although they only spend a short time in each location, Zervos isn't worried about missing out on the full experience of one country.
“This is about collecting people and their stories,” he said. “You can't know a country even if you spend a month or two there. Some of these countries are very complex, with 100 different languages. It's not for travel purposes, but I hope it gives you ideas for places you might want to revisit later.”
return home
For Christmas, Michael Zervos' parents, Mary and Angelo Zervos, gave him a large world map that now hangs in the library of their Novi home. Every time he visits a new country, a golden pin is placed on the map.
Mary Zervos knows her eldest of her four adult children (she calls him an “old soul”) is preparing as thoroughly as ever. .
His itinerary, visa, sponsorship, currency, luggage, vaccinations, travel insurance, etc. were all lined up and triple-checked before departure. Still, the emotional months culminated on January 17th when I dropped him off at the airport.
“It was a really difficult day, but I tried to be strong for my son,” Mary said through tears, adding that it was difficult to even look at her son for fear that her heart would break. However, she gave Michael her blessing at his request. “I told him to come home safely and that I knew he would break the record.”
When Zervos returns home, he hopes his trip will resonate in stories of happiness around the world.
“I'm going to break the record, but then someone else will break it,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter after that because I hope that my contribution to helping others will be meaningful.
“Social media is full of negativity, bitterness, jealousy, FOMO, politics, and hostility. When you see my stories on your Instagram or TikTok feed, it makes you smile and it shows who you are. , I hope it reminds you that no matter where you are in the world, you can be happy. It's accessible.”
Follow Michael Zervos' adventures on Instagram @theprojectkosmos or his website www.project-kosmos.com.
