The happiness question
After struggling with his own depression, Zervos knew he wanted to talk to others around the world about the joy they’ve found in everyday life.
“I know a lot of Gen Z and millennials are experiencing the same thing,” he said. “They have the world, but they don’t have their happiness.
The questions he tested on friends and strangers included, for example, “What makes you happy?” or “What is happiness?”
Those, he found, evoked general answers like family, money or success.
“Then I found that middle ground of ‘What is the happiest moment of your life?’” he said. “That makes somebody their own storyteller. I’ve asked now a hundred people this just in the States, and I’ve realized that people are quite animated when they pull out from themselves a story that evokes such a powerful feeling like happiness.”
And so what started as a thought experiment became the foundation of a plan to break a record and create art. Project Kosmos was born.
Hardest countries first
From his experience flying around the globe to shoot movies, Zervos knew he’d have the most energy at the beginning of his trip.
“I wanted to start with the hardest countries first, the ones that were going to be the most rigorous when it comes to travel,” he said. “Africa is by far the hardest to traverse. The infrastructure is really tough, flights are sparse. Traveling across borders by land can be unsafe, so you have to know when and where. Then there’s disease, malaria and meningitis.”
To help facilitate safety and fund the trip, Zervos lined up a number of sponsors, including Moosejaw, a Michigan outdoor retailer that provided the backpack and gear he will carry throughout the trip, along with some financial support.
Other sponsors include iVisa, which helped secure 69 visas, and Untamed Borders, a company that will see him into some of the more “inaccessible countries” on his itinerary.
“They’re taking me into countries like Turkmenistan or Eritrea or Guinea-Bissau or Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
The U.S. Department of State currently has travel advisories warning Americans of dangers related to political instability, crime, terrorism and other numerous other threats in those and many other countries.
After visiting the 54 countries of Africa, he plans to head to the Middle East, then through parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands before heading back around through New Zealand. From there, he’ll head to Australia and then back into southern and central Asia before heading into Europe.
“That’s kind of the halfway point,” he said, noting he intends to conclude the European part of the tour in Portugal, then head to Brazil and into South America, the Caribbean and Canada before finally coming back to the U.S.
In each country, he expects to stay from one to five days and has made some – but not all – arrangements ahead of time.
“I’ll be going camping in Yurts in Turkmenistan outside of this massive flaming pit that’s called the Gate of Hell,” he said. “I’m camping with the Dinka people in South Sudan.”
A scientist in Angola, he said, has invited him to tour a geological site.
Back home
For Christmas, Zervos’ parents, Mary and Angelo Zervos, gave him a large map of the world that currently hangs in the library of their Novi home. Every time he visits a new country, they’ll put a gold pin in the map.
Mary Zervos knows the eldest of their four adult children – she calls him an old soul – has prepared thoroughly, as he always does.
His itinerary, visas, sponsorships, currency, packing, vaccinations, travel insurance and more were all lined up, checked, double and triple checked before he left.
Still, it’s been an emotional few months that culminated when they dropped him at the airport Jan. 17.
“It was a really tough day, but I tried to be strong for him,” she said through tears, noting it was hard to even look at her son for fear she’d break down. But she’d given Michael her blessing, as he requested. “I told him to come home safe and sound, and I told him I knew he was going to break the record.
Once he is back home, Zervos hopes his trip will resonate through the stories of happiness around the world.
“I’m going to break the record, but then somebody else is going to break it,” he said. “That won’t matter so much afterwards because I’m hoping that my contribution to help other people will be meaningful.
“There’s so much negativity and suffering and jealousy and FOMO and politics and animosity on social media. I’m hoping that if my stories pop up in your feed on Instagram or on TikTok, that it can make you smile and it can remind you that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are in the world, that happiness is accessible to you.”
Follow Zervos’ adventure on Instagram @theprojectkosmos or on his website at project-kosmos.com.
Contact reporter Laura Colvin at or 248-221-8143.
lcolvin@hometownlife.com