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Four breakfasts and it’s not even noon yet… Leeds feeds my soul.

They say, of course, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

But isn’t it always the case that we skip it and only really fill up when we’re away?

And so over these two days in Yorkshire’s jewel I’ve been making the most of The Queens Hotel buffet.

To kick me off for the days spent talking to exhibitors at Travel Connection Group’s Media Getaway

The big brekkie

It’s been one of the better breakfast spreads, no skin on scrambled eggs or fatty bacon.

And a refreshing alternative to OJ in rhubarb juice and not at all tart.

And a welcoming local greeting Ey-up when you arrive in the Basement breakfast room.

That playful dialect is in evidence again when we hit the bijou Owt eaterie in the Corn Exchange.

Grub crawl

As part of our Leeds Food Tours brunch grub crawl.

Where Esther dishes out the tasting plates shakshuka which had a surprising and clearing pesto overlay…

OK, no foodie me, I nicked those tasting notes from a culinary expert in the party.

Now for someone who just slaps a bagel into the toaster for brekkie I’m making the most of this.

And turning this pit-stop into a two-course first meal of the day.

Enjoying Esther’s French bread with orange zest with strawberries and a jus… get me, real Hairy Bikers.

The new Empire

Talking of which the two whiskered biker boys popped into our earlier establishment, the recently-opened The Empire Cafe.

Where we sampled the chick pea-infused desi breakfast, well when in Asian-inspired Leeds/Bradford.

Of course, owner Sam doesn’t forget the traditional food of his Geordie gran and we pack away the fired mini-bacon rolls.

Now Leeds is a melting pot of a Northern English city, fed by the peoples of the old British Empire who came to live and work here.

In with the brics

Others from others’ empires too with our last stop, a Tunisian local favourite Sweet Saeeda in the Kirkgate Market.

Where we are offered a chicken, tuna or veggie bric.

No chewing a bric gags please, this is a filo pastry with chicken, protein and egg.

And it is for the spicy, with the bric clearing out my blocked nose in double quick time.

In a right old Flix

All of which set me up for my five-hour FlixBus journey back to Edinburgh.

That the bus blew a gasket and we were held up in Sunderland, roughly halfway, gave us the chance to sample a Tyneside/Wearside staple.

Belt up: It’s going to be a long journey

Greggs, all courtesy of the German coach company, as recompense for our delay.

I just wish I’d taken some of Sam’s bacon rolls with me in a doggie back because for sure Leeds feeds my soul.

And I’m back with more pins for my world map… but only after a 26-hour trans-Atlantic odyssey of air miles and Hurry Styles.

Now they say the last yards are the hardest for a runner to which my 16-year-old Scottish long-distance champion can testify.

And I had to put the sprint of all sprints on along Princes Street and into Waverley Station to catch the last North Berwick train.

After the peacocked Harry had left Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium and its environs in gridlock and our Citylink bus running at snail’s pace.

That said chapeau to the bus driver for negotiating the back roads of the city.

To get me to the snaking Waverley station with half a chance of my connection.

Deep in the heart of Texas

Get off your horse: John Wayne in Alamo City

It had been a long day’s journey into night.

Starting out at the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas, my base over four days of the annual American Travel Fair, IPW.

Where I had booked a taxi only to cancel sheepishly when he arrived when a colleague kindly offered me her Uber ride.

My glee at saving a few precious bucks was tempered though when my airline carrier American Airlines charged me $70 for my check-in bag.

But I’d arrived five hours early, the advice is three for international travellers, but better safe than sorry.

And I couldn’t book online, I’m old school and irrationally don’t trust the digital pass.

And then the British Airways app crashed.

Dallas mini-series

Now for all that Alamo City, San Antonio is America’s seventh-biggest city it is smaller in comparison to Dallas Fort Worth.

And with only a couple of hours to play with I’d lie if I said I wasn’t anxious.

Particularly with a shuttle to my terminal to negotiate.

What the duck: Heathrow, but the Coronation is still going on

If my last leg would be the longest my flight out of the US alas was seemless.

And here was me hoping it would be cancelled and I might be offered a free night in Dallas.

With the new pal I’d made in the line, the Dallas Stars basketball fan, celebrating a comeback play-off leg win that night.

American nights

Refuelling: With Philly cheesesteak and an Arnold Palmer

American Airlines has been a new experience for me but save for the baggage check-in surprise it went off smoothly.

Randomly I got front of aisle seating to help for the overnighter with those long legs I’d need later.

And timely films to take in such as the Civil Rights epic true story Till which brought back memories.

Of MLK50, walking in the footsteps of Martin Luther King through Tennessee and Mississippi.

Alas, and isn’t it always the way, the hardest leg was the home one?

My British Airways London to Edinburgh flight pushed out and then held up a couple of hours.

Making the whole experience longer than the nine hours it took to get from Dallas to London.

My heart is ticketying

Mind you, American Airlines were as good as their word and got my baggage home.

Albeit my address slipped out of its Universal Orlando Shrek and Donkey ‘Are we there yet’ luggage tag.

The question I fired off like a repeater all through our crawl through the Harry Styles traffic to the train station.

Now Waverley with its random platforms is a challenge at the best of times…

Thankfully the train was delayed a couple of minutes and got on, a sweaty mess, just in time.

I’d made it home after all those Air Miles and Hurry Styles.

And the Scary One was there on the platform waiting for me.

Now to break it to her that I’m off to another Travel fair in early June.

Leeds should be a breeze but my travels are rarely ticketyboo.

Still it wouldn’t be any fun following my misadventures otherwise.