This Saturday I get on a plane and fly to Doha, Qatar. When I started this year, I wanted to make my resolution to travel abroad this year. I have wanted to travel internationally since grade school. In third grade, I dreamed of Egypt's pyramids. In middle school, it was the greenery of New Zealand. And in high school, I just wanted to go somewhere.

Someone told me about the Peace Corps in tenth grade. I remember hearing this woman's experience and deciding irrevocably I was going to be a Peace Corp volunteer - right after college, I thought. I also told myself I would study abroad in college.

And I did try to. But I am one of those blessed children whose parents helped them with their education, but that also meant following my parents' rules. My parents are practical people (sort of like me). My dad has never been on a plane. He did all right. Why should I spend $10,000 for a European vacation? he reasoned.