That was a very interesting read! You sound like you're a hybrid between Sarah Connors (terminator) and Lara Croft. That apocalypse vibe definitely reminds me of Sarah Connor. Many crazy stories and definitely an interesting/memorable childhood. I noticed that your shoes didn't look particuarly hiking friendly haha. Chucks?
My dad had the notion that life in America would be difficult for a minority immigrant so he taught me to fight as a kid to defend myself. Not sure if it was a result of learning to fight that caused me to get in many fights but needless to say, he was right. Then he set out teaching me that nothing in life is free and you have to get what you want. He made me collect rent from his tenants as a 10 year old, collect past due invoices from his customers, stock trucks, go on deliveries, taught me how to home remodel, put up walls, electrical work, plumbing work, etc. Forced me to train my body physically by running and doing calisthenics daily. My childhood memories were horrible as I was always working and and training, dreaming about doing all the things kids would do.
Hindsight, I guess our family always has our best interests at heart as they were just teaching us what they believed to be the necessary skills to survive in our environment. You definitely sound like you have the necessary survival skills and obviously a good head on your shoulders from the content you put out. Loved your story and I'm a big fan of Indiana Jones' adventures. I actually wanted to be an archaeologist like Indiana Jones at one point until I spent a month in Albania doing very boring archaeology work. I mean it wasn't even archaeology work. I literally spent a month cleaning diving gear and running USB sticks back and forth 2 miles on foot in 100+ degree weather to a weathly millionaire. Decided I'd rather fund the archaeological excavation than do the grunt work.
Wish you a successful and exciting 2019 trip!
RE: My adventurer grandfather, and how he tried to turn me into Lara Croft