John Meyer Books
Top 5 Thefts in My Life AKA Stop Stealing My Stuff!
And everything was cool for a long time. We were dancing, we were sipping back beverages, we were reminiscing about the best British bands…. and then someone stole my jacket. So that sucked. What sucked even more? My BlackBerry was inside one of the pockets.
Sigh.
It marks the fifth time something significant was stolen from me. I don’t know if that’s a significant amount or not. All I know is… each and every time it sucked. And each and every time I bounced back somewhat wiser… and certainly less trusting about my fellow man.
In Los Angeles, my Toyota Celica was once stolen from me outside my apartment. And because I was living there somewhat illegally, I couldn’t report it. That one hurt. That one hurt so much that I refused to buy another car and simply replaced it with a bicycle.
And then that bike was stolen from me two weeks later while I waited for my food inside a Jack in the Box. My bad for wanting something delicious on sourdough bread, I guess. That one hurt so much that I had to master the Los Angeles transit system. And for anyone who’s ever lived in L.A., that’s a bummer.
But since then… bigtime thefts have somehow turned into something positive.
In Rome, after my moneybelt was stolen, I got inspired to write Bullets, Butterflies, and Italy!
I wrote about it here: https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/robbed-in-rome/
In Pamplona during the city’s San Fermin Festival, while doing my research for Bands, Bulls, and London, someone stole my digital camera inside a busy bar. I had just taken a photo and returned the tiny camera into the side pocket of my shorts. By the time I ordered a beer and paid for it, someone had picked my pocket.
That one sucked too, but not because of the cost of the camera… but because it meant I had to retrace my steps to all the places where I took my original photos and replace them.
After an initial search inside the bar and around the street, I gave up and knew that someone had stolen my camera. So I sadly walked back to the Plaza Castillo and sat down on a plot of grass to jot down my plan of attack.
While writing down every place I had to return to in London and Pamplona, a young woman walked by and asked in English, “Why are you so sad?”
I briefly explained my loss.
“That is too bad.” She then offered me a sip from her bottle of red wine.
I went back to my notes and five minutes later, she returned. She then sat across from me on the grass, grabbed my hands, and said, “Okay, tell me what happened.”
So I told her all the details.
She nodded along and then said, “Okay, I am sorry that you lost your camera. But this is our festival today and I don’t want you to be sad. Yes, you have to go back and take pictures. But this is a festival of celebration.”
Then she smiled wickedly and said, “You want to party with my friends?”
After that, it was honestly one of the best parties of my life. All day and all night her friends and I partied throughout the medieval core of Pamplona. We drank, we ate, we danced, we laughed, we partied in the plaza, we partied in the streets, we partied in the hottest bars. It was beyond awesome and I’ll never forget that day and night.
I kept protesting, “If you want to cut me loose, just tell me, I understand…”
She always laughed, “Shut up, don’t be stupid. Of course, I want you to be here!”
It lasted until 5am and properly prepared me for the morning’s running with the bulls.
Her name is Jordana. And that’s why the main female character in Bands, Bulls, and London is named Jordan (sorry, I Anglicized it…).
I told her too. “Do you mind if I name a character after you?”
“I would be honoured.”
So now my phone was stolen from me inside a Toronto bar. Now technically, it’s not while I was travelling or living illegally abroad. But the night still felt like a road trip. I was returning in time to the 90s. The music was all British. It was about all the music that I just mentioned in my latest book. And it felt like a night of rock ‘n’ roll research…
Now, so far, nothing positive or creative has come out of the latest theft. But it’s still early.
So I remain hopeful… and once again, less trusting about my fellow man.
For more festival travel experiences, check out:
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/horses-and-bulls/
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/greatest-week-of-the-year/
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/its-not-easy-being-green/