Stay in the Canaan Valley (itself a fine fall destination) town of Davis at the Bright Morning Inn, renowned for hearty, hiker-friendly breakfasts.
Clay-oven-cooked entrees are $11 to $17. El Paisa Restaurante, 3322 Mission Street (Bernal Heights); (415) 550-0557, elpaisasf.com, serves a hearty Honduran and Salvadoran menu with friendly service; breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
Here, in highly coveted seats on campaign busses and charter planes, journalists aren't afraid to be friendly at breakfast the next morning or during long stretches at airport lounges while waiting for secret service to sweep bags.
Just off the main street, Pousada Aldeia is set out like a leafy little village (aldeia), with treetop walkways linking the two-storey chalets – an atmosphere further fuelled by friendly, chatty breakfasts led by the owner, Ricardo.
Among the many positives in what will be, for most, a razzmatazzy kind of stay, are the genuinely friendly staff, a breakfast selection that's cheery, robust and down to earth (the full breakfast is epic; my eggs Benedict was a perfectly portioned mix of sweet and savoury) and a supremely comfortable bed with pillows that don't wilt overnight.
When Christiane Amanpour of CNN asked him a pointed question, just as he dug into his cornflakes, he replied: "Is this an interview or a friendly conversation over breakfast?
The house, which never came to fruition, was designed to be child friendly, with the breakfast room and a breezeway angled to permit monitoring of the children at play in the backyard.
SUPPER for Ahmet Cimli, his wife and three children is a watery soup made from discarded bones donated by a friendly local butcher; breakfast is a few tomatoes and some stale bread sold at a nearby factory at half the price of fresh loaves.
Now baby foods, infant formula and many other child-friendly foods, like breakfast cereals, breads, rice and pasta, are fortified with iron.
Rooms (albeit windowless) start at £59, but even the most expensive room with a view is a budget-friendly £84 (including breakfast).
WHERE TO STAY: Nearby, in Wilton Center, the dog-friendly Stepping Stones Bed and Breakfast has three rooms set in two acres of hilltop gardens.
