# TLPP: Jailed. Deported. 195 Countries. 499 Days. With Michael Zervos

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lions-of-liberty-network-169417/tlpp-jailed-deported-195-countries-499-days-with-michael-zervos
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lions-of-liberty-network-169417/tlpp-jailed-deported-195-countries-499-days-with-michael-zervos.md
Podcast: [Lions of Liberty Network](https://stenobird.com/podcast/lions-of-liberty-network-169417)
Published: 2026-07-23T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.lionsofliberty.com/
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ENTSL8404425799.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/lions-of-liberty-network-169417/episodes/tlpp-jailed-deported-195-countries-499-days-with-michael-zervos
Duration seconds: 3437

## Resource

Michael Angelo Zervos is a Guinness World Record holder — he visited all 195 UN-recognized countries in 499 days. Along the way he interviewed people in every country about the happiest moment of their life. That project became a book, published by Penguin Random House, out February 23rd. We talked about: how the record works and what actually counts as "visiting" a country; a year and a half of planning vs. the Brazilian who claimed he did it by accident; getting jailed overnight in Liberia for taking a photo of a building; being deported from Nicaragua because they thought he was a journalist; how he got into North Korea during a two-week window that's since closed permanently; what North Korea is actually like (his answer: Plato's allegory of the cave, in real life); Cuba on the ground vs. what the left says about it; traveling through Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, and Sudan; asking people about happiness in active conflict zones; and what his grandfather being forced to fight for communist guerrillas in the Greek Civil War has to do with any of it. Get the book → The Happiest Moment of Your Life: True Stories from a Journey to Every Country in the World https://amzn.to/4pHdYav Follow Michael on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theprojectkosmos/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Michael Angelo Zervos? 0:34 — Greeks in America — diners, Coney Islands, and the varsity jacket problem 5:05 — Christopher Nolan's Odyssey — not a single Greek in the cast 6:25 — 195 countries in 499 days — how the Guinness World Record works 8:04 — A year and a half of planning — and the Brazilian who claimed he did it by accident 9:33 — What counts as "visiting" a country? The Guinness rules 11:08 — Project Cosmos — interviewing people about the happiest moment of their life 13:13 —…

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