I definitely have the best friends in the world. When I moved to Laguna Beach from London as a newlywed, a few of them clubbed together and got us a helicopter trip over LA – can you think of a better gift?! It was such a great way to experience our new ‘homeland’ and to check out the area from the sky – Los Angeles is such a massive and sprawling city, it can be quite difficult to get your head around how it all fits together, so this was perfect. We flew from Long Beach and were up in the air for about an hour, flying over the Queen Mary and then up the coast past all the famous beaches that I’d heard about all my life (I nearly dislocated my neck whilst trying to see the bodybuilders at Venice Beach. Very disappointing), over Beverly Hills, Hollywood – I nearly peed my pants with excitement when I found myself eye-to-eye with the inimitable Hollywood sign – and then over downtown (where we flew so close to the skyscrapers that I could actually see in the windows on the 30th (?) floor and eyeball all the penpushers pretending to be working hard whilst looking at naughty pictures on the Internet)…then we were swooping along the freeways and over the crazy cement flyovers and bridges (I was flirting with cardiac arrest by this stage, as the pure scale of the metropolis that is LA was suddenly starting to sink in) and eventually back to Long Beach where we buzzed a container ship as we were heading back to the airport. Absolutely fantastic, an unforgettable experience. Thanks my darlings. Oh, and Woof, with regards to your comment (‘Next time I want you to fly it. Get married again and we’ll organise the lessons. Get married AGAIN and we’ll buy you a chopper’) – I have no intentions of multiple matrimony, but I do happen to have found a fellow boarderwho also happens to Fly Her Own Helicopter, so if I do ever find myself going Elizabeth Taylor-stylie, I may have someone for you to pay for my lessons.

Tags: California, chopper, flying, Flying Lessons, helicopter flight, helicopter tour, Los Angeles