You'd imagine that can't be a saga with AirPods. You buy them, you use them. That's it. But in my case, there was a saga.

Until about 5-6 years ago, I'd probably never bought a pair of headphones. Headphones used to be included in the box with a new phone, plus I got a bunch of branded free ones because of my job, so I didn't really need to buy them.

They were all the same, they were all compatible with everything. But that began to change when Apple - who else? - pioneered removing the audio jack and began pushing bluetooth headphones.

For a while, I used regular wired headphones with an adaptor, but then my ex-partner, UX Designer, had AirPods and was never using them. So I borrowed them. And that opened the floodgates.

I'm still broke, but I was even broke-er (or broker? or brokerer? more broke, probably) back then so I started with a pair of cheapies from Amazon.

They worked fine, but then they wouldn't charge. So I bought another pair. Now, these did charge, but the audio quality was bad and they were uncomfortable. And then they also broke down.

So I bit the bullet and bought branded ones from JBL. They worked great for a few months but then, somewhere in Georgia, the right one (or left, can't remember) stopped working. Nothing I could do fixed it so I gave up and sent them back.

And bought AirPods.

Now these were great. I'm still using them as we speak, in fact. But they didn't have ANC, and so I decided I wanted the big ones as well - the AirPods Max.

With AirPods Max. I made two mistakes.

The first mistake, quite common, was I bought them used.

It's a mistake because 99 percent of the available used AirPods are fake.

So I gave them away and bought the real one - all €579 of them.

Money well spent because I liked them and I was using them a lot, but then, last week, I made a second mistake.

I misplaced at the airport. Actually no, incorrect. I forgot them on an airport lounge chair.

Look I know it's my fault - it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't left them there - but it was frustrating because they were clearly, obviously, misappropriated by airport personnel.

I know for a fact I had them when I walked into the lounge. And I know for a fact I realized I no longer had them when I was about to board at the gate. And I know for a fact I did not go anywhere between these two situations. I spent the whole time in the lounge.

If a fellow passenger had taken them, they'd now be in Paris, France or Paris, Texas. But they're not. They're located (I know this thanks to Apple's Find My) at a private residence around 5 minutes from the airport.

Come on.

I filed a report with the airport, and I filed one with the police. I'll never get them back, I think.

And now I have till Christmas to make a decision.

Do I A, buy a new identical pair or B, buy Nothing Headphones or C, buy nothing and stick with the normal ones with no ANC.

Honestly, I've already made my mind up.