#127 - Ride a helicopter

I wouldn't say I'm scared of heights - I mean I can go up to the top of skyscrapers and be fine ... as long as I'm not too close to the edge. Its more a fear of falling than anything else. This made this particular list item pretty scary.

Helicopters are awesome. I've always looked at them and thought it would be fun to go up in one ... but they've always scared me a little. They just don't look very safe.

When we booked a trip to New York a couple of years ago, we did some research on things to do and a helicopter tour kept popping up. I had to think about it a few times before agreeing to go ahead and book it but decided it was as good a time as any to brave it and that the views of the NY skyline would be worth it. 

Now here's the scary bit .... in the run up to our trip a helicopter crashed in the Hudson river. No jokes. Just to put our mind at ease a little further. Initially this freaked me out ... but in the end I thought if its just happened the safety checks are likely to be stepped up as a result so not really much of a chance that it would happen again.

So helicopter tour day arrived and we were given a standard safety briefing about how to put on life vests etc. Bit like a plane safety demonstration. We were told that there was a bit of wind so the flight might be a bit choppy but that we'd be fine. Then they walked us out to the airfield.

My dad had decided that he wanted to sit at the front with the pilot and I was cool with that as the pilot cockpit area was made entirely of glass so you could look down, which I wasn't particularly keen on. However the pilot had different ideas. Apparently you need to distribute the weight of passengers in helicopters,  so as the lightest I had to sit at the front like a co-pilot!!! 

They gave me some headphones and a mic and I felt like I was in a scene in Top Gun (one of my all time fave films!), talking to the pilot and air traffic control on the mic. I obviously looked nervous because the pilot kept asking me if I was OK haha. But he also told me 'don't touch this' 'don't put your feet there' 'mind that lever' etc so I was concentrating all my efforts on not touching something that would result in me accidentally crashing the helicopter.

The ride itself was pretty incredible. Take offs and landings are so smooth in a helicopter and although we got a bit of turbulence where the helicopter dipped a bit I generally felt quite safe. I'd say  its probably the best way to see New York. We flew over Central Park, Yankee Stadium and past the Statue of Liberty and I got some great photos. I just kept going 'Oh Wow' every 5 minutes .. it really was breathtaking. The skyline from that height leaves you a little bit awestruck and I had to buy some prints of it which are still hanging in my house :)

I will definitely be trying a helicopter trip again at some point as the whole experience left me wanting more. Also after recalling the experience I have a sudden urge to watch Top Gun* so that's my Saturday afternoon sorted!

 

 #127 - ACHEIVED

Difficulty - 2/10 (you don't really have to do anything other than not push buttons that make the helicopter crash)
Thrill factor - 7/10
Sense of acheivement/fulfilment - 3/10
Recommend to a friend - 9/10



* I am aware that Top Gun is about fighter jet pilots and not helicopters before anyone says anything but the whole get-up that I had to wear (in the pic) just reminds me of that film

#37 - Experience New Year's Eve in Times Square

I think all of us have seen in a TV show, film or romcom that epic moment where the clock is counting down to midnight, the ball is dropping in Times Square and thousands of people are celebrating, kissing, dancing and yelling 'Happy New Year' in excitement. I've seen this scene a million times and always thought it would be great to experience that.

A couple of years ago my dad decided he wanted to take my brother and I on a family trip as it had been a while since we'd been on one and we decided on New York, leaving on boxing day and spending 10 days there ... which meant NYE in NYC :)

There was a lot of planning in the months leading up to the trip but New Year's Eve was amongst the highlights in our itinerary. We picked a hotel in Times Square and I read every Tripadvisor, blog and review in sight. Some people had said it was overrated and crowded but I still had high hopes.

We booked some 'Times Square All Access Passes' to allow us to get through the barricades and into the square with access to a number of parties in the area. 

After month's of waiting we finally boarded our flight to NYC. It was amazing!! I definitely recommend New York as a holiday destination ... so much to see and do, hustle and bustle and great culture everywhere. With one caveat though ... DO NOT GO IN DECEMBER - JANUARY!!!! It is cold. Very cold. Freezing. Painfully so. Not exaggerating ... it was -10 at most but lower with the wind chill factor so got to about -20 at some points. I live in the Med ... I'm not meant to be that cold ever!!! At some points we had to think twice about leaving the hotel room even in such an incredible city. 

So the 31st December arrived and we collected our passes, did some sightseeing, went back to the hotel. got changed, ordered some room service and chilled out in our 42nd floor hotel room whilst we laughed at the millions of people that had been queueing since about 2pm at the barricades. Jennifer Lopez and a few other celebrities were performing and Ryan Seacrest was hosting and there were people everywhere. We decided to go to a club after dinner for some drinks (our tickets were open bar) and then at about 11 use our passes to get through the barricades to see the countdown in one of the bars in the square near the ball drop. We queued for about 90 mins outside the club ... in heels and a dress (and a coat but still freezing) and it seemed like an eternity. The club was OK but I wasn't feeling amazingly upbeat as I was trying to recover from the mild hypothermia I was sure I was suffering from after the queue! When we decided to try and get through the barricades to go to the ball drop area it was impossible! We couldn't get anywhere close to the barricades because there were so many people pushing everywhere. The police we were supposed to flash our passes too were too busy controlling the crowds to pay attention to us. We just about managed to get into our Times Square hotel but even that was a mission. At this point it was about 11:40 so we had to make a snap decision to watch the ball drop from our hotel out of the cold and away from the crowds. It was fun but nothing like the moments in the movies where people rush into Times Square to find a loved one or go to amazing parties overlooking the ball drop. The rest of the trip was amazing but New Year's Eve in NYC was a long, cold, uncomfortable, expensive (tickets cost an arm and a leg), crowded, frustrating experience that I won't be repeating. 

#37 - ACHEIVED 

- Difficulty: 2/10 (as long as you can afford it anyone can book it)

- Thrill factor: 6/10 (the run up was good, the night was a bit of a let down)

- Sense of acheivement/fulfilment: 2/10

- Recommend to a friend: 1/10 (though a 10/10 for NYC itself)