It is about this time of year that The Diary starts to get itchy feet in readiness for the next International Bar Association (IBA) conference.

After all, when else do you get the opportunity to visit the world's most exotic destinations and call it work?

Recent years have seen the IBA's annual jamboree leapfrog from one international playground to another. From trendy Barcelona, to the red lights of Amsterdam, and from the wine lands of South Africa to frisky 'Frisco, stopping, on the way, for a pina colada or seven in Cancun.