>Tried Krispy Kreme for the first time ever
>Holy shit this is delicious
>Go back to the spot 2 weeks later
>Permanently closed
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>Next location is hours away
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I feel you.
In a similar way, when I first went to Japan, I had a multiple hour long layover at Seoul Incheon airport.
As someone who hasn't been in a lot of airports, I'd say Incheon is nice but the selection of shops and restaurants is pretty poor.
On our flight into Japan, we went to a Lotteria (a sort of Asian KFC) just to get some nutrients after waiting for hours in an airport that seemingly only had shops that sold hard liquor and perfume.
It wasn't amazing, but in that moment that bag of slightly soggy chicken bites and under-seasoned fries was a godsent.
On our two and a half week stay in Japan, we'd often pass Lotteria stores, debating on if we should go again, always coming to the conclusion that no, we should go in Incheon again on our flight back. We'd built up a sort of mystique around it and planned to make it a pilgrimage on our second layover. The excitement built up as we got closer and closer to our departure towards Seoul, and some of us skipped meals on the day in anticipation of getting a big menu at Lotteria.
Once the day arrived and we made our way to Haneda to check in, discussion in the group bounced between missing Japan, not wanting to leave and excitement for Lotteria. Sure, we were sad to go but at least we could look forward to something on our journey back home.
When we arrived at Incheon, it took a few seconds to get our bearings, but soon we remembered where we were. The Lotteria was on the far side of the terminal and we were on the exact opposite side.
We started our stroll towards Lotteria, taking in our surroundings of countless Perfume and Liquor stores. We weren't in a hurry, this second layover was about to be even longer than the first, but we still didn't want to leave our visit to Lotteria much longer.
On our way, we made a small stop at the only store in that massive terminal that sold bottled water, and then we embarked on the final stretch. The excitement at this point was palpable, none of us spoke a single word for the whole walk from the bottled water merchant to Lotteria, everyone was salivating.
As we got closer, we started to notice that some things were odd, the lights were dim and there wasn't the sort of bustle around the store that you would expect for the only fast food joint in the terminal.
And as we walked up to it, it hit us.
The place was shut, the insides of the store were in disarray and at the doors there was a single A4 piece of unlaminated paper that simply said: This location of Lotteria has been permanently closed, we thank you for your patronage.
We dropped to our knees. We were devastated. Devastated to have waited so long to eat at Lotteria again only to have it snatched from us at the final moment.
We couldn't believe it.
Once again without saying a word, we made our way back to the water bottle merchant to make camp for the 6 hour stay in front of his shop.
The mood didn't ever lighten again for the rest of our journey and we arrived back home, still with our heads held low.
So basically, yeah I get how it feels when a store closes on you, haha.