If you're feeling down because of your coworker talking about his vacation in France and Spain, I can tell you that I've been living there for the past few years and... they're just two more countries in the world. Believe me, I would do ANYTHING to be back in the US Midwest...

Recently, I was helping a friend move to Italy. She had had a horrible first week at work and I arrived in Milan to help her getting settled. We took a train to visit Venice in the weekend and during all the way there she complained about what a horrible idea it had been to move to Italy, how difficult it was to get settled and how hostile her coworkers were. She was feeling jealous of another friend of ours who just like her, had recently moved to Prague and was already posting photos on Facebook partying and having the time of her life. So I told her "hey, what don't you take a selfie and put it online saying something like wine tasting by the canals of Venice. People won't know how miserable you actually are but they will also be jealous of you!".

What I mean is people tend to exaggerate things. If you're feeling better visiting your friends out of state with your daughter go for it! I know for a fact that you'll be way happier than many people who sunbathe in the Côte d'Azur...