Whence, in old Africa, one could get a fancy bun and 1st class return (5)
I believe the answer is:
nubia
'whence in old africa one' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'a fancy bun and 1st class return' is the wordplay.
'a fancy' indicates an anagram.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'ist class return' becomes 'ia' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'bun' with letters rearranged gives 'nub'.
'nub'+'ia'='NUBIA'
'could get' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nubia that I've seen before include "Ancient region of Africa" , "African kingdom" , "Old African state" , "Ancient Nile region" , "Region of northeast Africa" .)