Local resident Michael Zervos graduated from Northville High School in 2006. Little did he know he’d be breaking two Guinness World Records in the future.

“Two hundred and thirty flights, 195 countries, 499 days,” he said. “I left January 17, 2024, and returned a changed man on May 30, 2025. Officially, I broke the fastest time to travel to every sovereign nation (male and overall). It was exhilarating and transformative. My book is being published by Penguin Random House in 2027.”

Dubbed Project Kosmos, Zervos’s world tour was intense.

“I spent a solid year planning the trip,” he said. “Project consultants, sponsors like iVisa, and about 15 professional guides from Untamed Borders helped me complete the trip. Only about 600 people have traveled to every country in the world. More people have been to outer space!”

Zervos returned with renewed appreciation for the USA. “We’re the world’s most diverse country,” he said. “Most countries do not have our extreme level of ethnic diversity, which we often take for granted. I was grappling with depression during the pandemic and wanted to help people via storytelling. I wanted to explore at the global level, collect positive stories from people around the world and share this journey via social media. Mission accomplished and it feels great.”

Some trip favorites include: “Parts of Southeast Asia, the sensibilities, art, architecture, food, and spirituality of these very warm, hospitable people here deeply fascinated me,” he said. “I loved Southern Africa’s mild climate, variety of wildlife and unexpected cultural diversity on the islands, especially the Sky Kingdom of Lesotho. The Andes, particularly Peru, Ecuador and especially Bolivia, were fascinating. La Paz has a cable car that criss-crosses above the entire city.”

Having lived in Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta and Dallas, and traveling the world for a year and a half, he’s glad to be back to see family.

“Traveling is an exciting chain of transition,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to explore new avenues of being. Love being home, though. Like most places we call home, returning is like walking through a museum of memories from my own life story juxtaposed over the current scene.”

A 2012 grad of Grand Valley State University, Zervos worked in the film industry.

“Feature films, commercials for Fortune 500 companies, my first industry gig was Wes Craven’s ‘Scream 4’, shot right here in Northville,” he said. “At
heart, I’m a visual storyteller but my first love was books, especially ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (1865), which captures beautifully the grandeur and absurdity of children’s imaginations.”

Some hobbies include: “Cooking, exercising, sports, reading, gaming, live music shows, music festivals, outdoor extreme sports,” he said. “I also collect masks. Hundreds of ritualistic, traditional, ceremonial masks, including ones from Papua New Guinea, West African voodoo masks from Benin, the Fang tribe in Gabon, Brazilian Carnaval, New Orleans Mardi Gras.”

You can catch Zervos around town at Red Dot Coffee, Parmenter’s, Maybury Park, and Fountain Walk. Contact TheProjectKosmos@gmail.com.