Waking up in Anaheim, cheering fpr the Penguins in Staples center – that was roughly the plan for Day 2 of my California trip in February 2020. I have been looking forward that much to the first match of my team on this trip, facing the Los Angeles King with former Cologne player Marco Sturm as an assistance coach. In addition, there have been a couple of ideas how to spent the day – a list of sights and events, which are by far too much to visit on this short visit to California anyway. Here is my second day of the trip.
Jetlag and SIM Cards
Most of my US and Canada trips are heading to the East Coast. Pittsburgh, Nashville, New York, Washington, Orlando, Toronto – all these destinations are more or less not too far away from the Atlantic Ocean. The nice side effect of these trip is the six hour time difference to Germany and the easy-to-manage jetlack: you just stay awake until 22:00hrs or so in your new US home for the next days… and typically wake up around 5:00 to 6:00 on the next morning, ready to have a good day. In Anaheim, it worked the same to me: went to bed at ten, woke up at six… East Coast time. 3:00 hrs was just a bit too early, but I just could not sleep any more. Bad luck.
At around 5:00 I gave up and decided to do sensible stuff: in the US, I typically travel with two cell phones, my normal German one and a US one. Luckily, my new phone is able to cope with the US LTE networks – glad to have the AT&T logo together with the much better camera and familiar apps – I guess it will lead to some additional entries on my Instagram feed.

I have nothing to wear!
Traveling to four hockey matches of course leads to some pressure to look good – here is my selection of fashion for this trip (I exclude all Penguins shirts, jackets, hoodies and socks I have with me as well). Even though Tom Kühnhackl is now playing for the Islanders, this will be my standard jersey for the Penguins matches – the Lemieux one is the substitute (yeah, Lemieux as a back-up for Kühnhackl… You won’t read that too often, I guess…). My home town hockey team Cologne (who finished the incredible streak of 17 matches lost in a row during my flight to L.A. the day before – congrats) will be represented by a scarf – and likely in the Las Vegas match at the end of the tour.

Old Planes and Cars in Santa Ana
My first stop of the day was the Lyon Air Museum, a nice collection of old planes and cars right at Santa Ana’s John Wayne Airport. A really interesting place, especially as all the planes are still in general ready to fly. Good start of the day!



Shopping!
Sometimes, you just have to do shopping in the US, when you are a European traveler. I headed to the Outlets at Orange, quite close to the hotel, to buy some new Reeboks… And finding out there that there is no such store in that outlet. Bought some new ones at addidas now – nice place definitely. I especially loved that barbecue restaurant with all the Western figures on the building. And they have a Dave & Busters, so that I may come back during my trip.





Honoring the Small One
Heading towards Los Angeles, I had to stop by at Hawthorne. The shortest street of the city has been dedicated to one of the city’s shortest adult inhabitants: Michu Lane reminds of the Hungarian actor Mihaly “Michu” Meszaros. Don’t know him? The just 84cm tall one was the person in the ALF costume. Unfortunately, he died in 2016. It was possible to honor him in a special museum near Hollywood – which closed down two weeks before my visit. Sad. But still I had to honor and memorize him on my trip.

Would have loved to visit the grave of Max Wright aka William Tanner, who passed away in 2019, as well. Unfortunately, he the location of his grave is unknown (there are even different places of death in the press).
Planes, Pt. 2 – This time with a Burger
Next stop: Los Angeles Airport. Not flying that day, but visiting a very special fast food place. In-N-Out Burger is a California classic – but the one on the Northeast tip of Los Angeles Airport is a legend by itself. Not just as the burgers are delicious, but as the restaurant is right at the end of the approach of the 24R runway typically used for flight arrivals. I was not there during the peak hours of traffic – but still had quite some fun at this very special place.




Missing Weird Al Yankovic & good staff at the Grammys
Time to head in the direction of Staples Center for the match. Los Angeles means traffic jam – and at least I could thus spot the Lufthansa plane, which would have been my alternative (First Class) option to fly into Los Angeles Airport.

,
I had pre-booked parking for the match and could park my car there early. Time to explore L.A. Live, the event space, which also features Microsoft Theater, restaurants and more places.


Before the match, I had time to visit the Grammy Museum. The place itself was nice, unfortunately very concentrated on the winners of the key Grammy categories. Thus, I could not spot any references of my very dear Weird Al Yankovic, for example. Even worse, the staff did not tell me that they will close down a whole floor thirty minutes after I reached the museum (by the way, the floor which they recommended me to visit last…). Terrible service attitude!


Los Angeles Kings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1
Time to head to Staples Center after that disappointment. There are a lot of statues around the venue (which I took by far too few pictures of – my review will be a bit of poor…). Staples Center feels a bit old fashioned for example compared to PPG Paints Arena.



The match? We lost… Quite unnecessarily and unlucky. Pittsburgh dominated, but they were bad in scoring, good in hitting the post and the Kings just acted handier that day with a much better precision and effectiveness. At least it was a close and interesting match. Felt the jetlack in the second and third period, though (I left the venue at a time I would be in office already the next day in Germany…). Nevertheless, nice experience. Better luck in Anaheim – hopefully!
California with the Pittsburgh Penguins – Day by Day
Here is the overview of my daily postings on this trip report.
Trip Reports
Here are all (other) Trip Report postings:
The last entry of my (multi-day) trip reports is typically a bit of boring. Getting to the airport, flying back ...
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Somehow, a sad moment. The last show of Weird Al Yankovic on this trip. Day 5 would take me from ...
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No concert... But this trip is just not complete without a venue. On Day 4 of my trip following the ...
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Day 3 of my Weird Al Yankovic trip in April 2022 likely had the most relaxed schedule of all. No ...
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Pough... Pough... Keepsie? Poughkeepsie! I do love my Pittsburgh Penguins trips - like the last one in March 2022. But ...
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First day of my Weird Al trip in April 2022. I was initially even thinking about merging it with Day ...
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Sharing my travel experience following Weird Al Yankovic on tour in North America is somehow traditional on Flyctory.com. Even though ...
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After Day 9 featured the last real travel highlights including the Opry show, the last entry of any multi-day trip ...
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Back to Nashville and a fantastic way to finish off the trip on a Friday night - even though another ...
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Visiting the Gateway Arch and having the last NHL ice hockey match of the trip: the eighth day of my ...
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The longest road trip part of my Penguins March 2022 travel lay ahead of me on the seventh day. Off ...
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No flight this day, but therefor, the match I was likely looking forward to most on this Pittsburgh Penguins March ...
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Music City, Baby! The final airborne transfer within the USA on this Monday. I was so excited to be back ...
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A very interesting direct return flight and the second Pittsburgh Penguins match - Sunday in Pennsylvania felt to be a ...
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The first day of the trip without any flight - I finally decided to have a bit more of a ...
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Day 2 was just so exciting to me: the first time being back in Pittsburgh since two and a half ...
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Time to see my hockey team again! The first day of my Pittsburgh Penguins trip to the States did not ...
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Two years without visiting the United States are about to come to an end: in March 2022, I had planned ...
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Heading back home. As said in the Day 3 coverage, I did not expect too much going on on that ...
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A Day in Rome - for this Day 3 part of the Four Country Train Trip report, I decided to ...
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Being in Milan until the early afternoon, checking out an Italian rail lounge for the first time - and then ...
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So excited to travel again and do a proper. I did my first day of the rail rides through Germany, ...
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After having so many trip reports involving flights and road trips, this trip report will completely leave me on the ...
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Coming back from London from the (finally cancelled) Country To Country Festival 2020 was the last trip I took before ...
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Four ice hockey matches, Rock of Ages #32 in Hollywood, two new airlines and many more impressions - this trip ...
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Last stage: Las Vegas! My duties supporting my Pittsburgh Penguins were done, time to enjoy... some more hockey. This stage ...
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After four nights in Greater Los Angeles, it was time to follow my team and fly to San Jose with ...
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Let's play hockey - again! The fourth day of my trip through California (with a detour to Nevada) had the ...
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No hockey on Day 3 of my California trip 2020 - the day after the first match of the Pittsburgh ...
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Day 1 of my trip to the Penguins. The travel days to the US are typically not too thrilling. Leaving ...
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California, here I come. The first trip report of 2020 will bring me to California, where my ice hockey team, ...
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Flying to Barra - an aviation nerd's dream came true on 7th September 2019, when I visited the Scottish Island ...
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After two days of Weird Al Yankovic concerts and a memorable Day 4 with my sports idol Leander Paes and ...
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After having two Weird Al Yankovic concerts on the second and third day of my trip, tennis was in focus ...
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After the transfer Day 1 was haunted by terrible weather and Day 2 the expected long road trip to New ...
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After transferring to Connecticut on the first day, the second day of my "Weird Al & Grass Court Tennis" trip ...
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The first entry of a trip report is typically full of stories about airports, airlines and flying. My trip to ...
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After I did my very first trip report on Flyctory.com about following Weird Al Yankovic on his "Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised ...
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The final day of my trip report to Nashville. The tour is coming to an end, the next days, I ...
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After driving quite a bunch of miles the two days before, 4th June was planned to be a sightseeing day ...
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3rd June 2019 on my trip to Nashville was "Elvis Presley Day". Waking up less than a mile away from ...
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While most of the trip to Nashville was accompanied by magical places of music history, the first highlights of the ...
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The second day on my trip to Nashville was a comparably easy one: waking up in Washington D.C., sleeping in ...
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Naturally, Day 1 of my trip to Nashville lead me to the airport. The first stage of my trip was ...
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Already months ahead, I was looking forward to visiting the CMA Fest in Nashville. Not just that I fell in ...
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Wuppertal in the Bergisches Land region Northeast of Cologne hosts a very special attraction for train and rail enthusiasts: the ...
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Travelling to the NHL Stadium Series match of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Philadelphia Flyers in late February 2019, I ...
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The ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) are more and more becoming of the Carribean's top destinations. Staying a full week ...
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This is the second part of my report on exploring the largest island of the Azores with a scooter in ...
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After having some scooter experience in Spain, I felt that a good way to get a first view of the ...
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Sunday, 27th May 2018 - time to slowly head home. After quite a lot of flying, this has really been ...
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After the helicopter adventure on Day 3, travelling to the other major Spanish exclave in Spain, Melilla, was on the ...
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After having arrived in Gibraltar and Algeciras the day before, the remaining trip would not stay in the European Union, ...
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While Day 1 has been a "transfer day" with the flight from Cologne to Tangier after work, Day 2 was ...
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There are a lot of factors which made me look forward to the first destination of my trip, Tangier in ...
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No, I am not going to travel between Europe and Asia or America like a madman or do some extreme ...
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16th April, time to leave Atlanta again. At least, there has been plenty of time before to do some sightseeing ...
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Day 4, back to Atlanta, heading to where the trip started... and to my final concert of this trip. The ...
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Saturday, 14th April, has not been regarded as the most thrilling day of this trip anyway. Travelling from the very ...
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So long awaited... Time for the first concert of my trip to the Weird Al Tour 2018! Tried to start ...
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Day 1 of the trip to Weird Al Yankovic. It has been already some 14 years since I saw this ...
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My first flyctory.com Trip Report leads me to Georgia and Tennessee. Starting from Cologne airport, my key aim of that ...
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As part of my February travels, I also made a daytrip to the island of Kinmen, which precisely contains the ...
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Sports Blogging on Flyctory.com
Here are all Sports Blogging entries (no match reports or similar) on Flyctory.com:
The Winter Olympic Games 2022 are finished. I have to say, I am relieved. It may have been the two ...
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The Summer Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo are over. Two weeks of intense sports coverage are lying behind us. Definitely ...
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After the 2018 PyoengChang Olympic Winter Games, I already felt urged to do my very own medal count of the ...
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Are you currently also fascinated (or disgusted) by the Olympic Games? This posting is about cool sports - even though ...
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A typical scene at the bett1HULKS tennis tournament during the last two weeks at Cologne's LANXESSarena: Alexander Zverev (who swept ...
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After Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open 2020, charts like the one by below by the German Data Journalist Felix ...
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They did it: the German Women Soccer Bundesliga (Flyeralarm Frauen-Bundesliga) re-started a few days ago, on 29th May 2020. I ...
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Saturday, 16th May 2020, 15:30 hrs German time. The point in time at which the German Soccer Bundesliga was intended ...
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Mlada Bolesav - a 44,000 people city in Czech Repiblic, some 65 kilometers Northeast of Prague. Though the city's history ...
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You may have visited Flyctory.com the last days hoping to have some coverage of the Neuchatel World Floorball Championships this ...
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The "Road to Neuchatel 2019" - as only the Swiss team is qualified for their home World Floorball Championship in ...
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No floorball competition is changing that frequently like the Champions Cup. While previous season, six men and women teams each ...
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Though I am a huge opponent of the Davis Cup reformations becoming active in 2019, I have to give in ...
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There have been so many discussions about Rio 2016. Not just about whether the country itself is able to stand ...
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Tianjin, China. Tennis Davis Cup, one of my most beloved sports competitions. He was intended to be the hero, the ...
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Yeah, I have to give in: as a German, you just hated when there has been a race with our ...
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