The good thing about conferences abroad is that you theoretically have the chance to go to a new place, discover another culture and enjoy a different environment.
The bad thing about conferences abroad is that you practically don’t notice the difference between a hotel in Düsseldorf, Barcelona or London if you spend 18 hours working and the rest sleeping.
La puce, die Welt and everything else 
Completely agree (from a dark hotel conference room, with outside probably a very beautiful and sunny island)
My solution is to stay longer in the place you go to. Got me a few days in Barcelona right now 🙂
Yes, I will do that before the next conference in November in Japan — I will arrive one week before the conf. And Maja will come, too!
There you go. Besides the valuable content during the conference you also know what your recompense is for listening actively to it 🙂