A Trip to The Clouds

A TRIP TO THE CLOUDS

For nearly a year, my boyfriend and I have been planning to take to the skies, and go on a helicopter trip. For one reason or another, due to our busy work schedules, and life generally getting in the way, we weren’t able to arrange a suitable weekend, until finally in April the stars aligned and we found a weekend where we were both free! We could finally book our helicopter ride.

We’d had a look at some of the best London helicopter tours, and we eventually booked ourselves onto a 6 Mile Blue Skies Helicopter Flight, organised by Adventure Helicopters 001, through Bubbly Experiences. These guys run helicopter flights across the UK, so we were able to find somewhere relatively close to home to fly from – Hayleys Manor Farm, in Epping, Essex.

I was so delighted we finally were able to find the time to do this – for some time now weekends have essentially been non-existent for me, as work has taken over so much of my free time, so this promised to be an excellent little break for me.

My boyfriend has a tendency to…misinterpret directions, shall we say, and this trip was no exception. As usual, our first destination turned out to be the wrong one, although it was actually rather a beautiful mistake to make! We ended up on private land, in some picturesque botanic gardens overlooking a lake. The owner found us enjoying the view, and was very kind and understanding of our mistake. He was able to give us detailed directions to the actual Hayleys Manor Farm, which turned out to be situated in a rather less attractive industrial estate, surrounded by warehouses and parked trucks. Oh well!

It was an unseasonably cold and rainy April weekend, so after checking in with the organisers we took ourselves off to the food truck to get something warm inside us. After that, it was time to go!

The helicopters take 6 people per ride, so we weren’t totally alone, which was a shame, but didn’t spoil the experience. Private helicopter rides are far too expensive, after all. We buckled up, put on our aviation headsets, and away we went.

I have to say, as soon as we were in the air, I regretted my preflight burger. For anyone who hasn’t flown in a helicopter before, take-off requires a whole load of sharp manoeuvres and sudden movements, and I struggled to keep my hasty and ill-advised lunch down! My recommendation for any first-timers would be to make sure you eat well before the flight, to give everything a chance to settle down, and not have to worry about what the pilot is going to do next!

The flight itself, once we’d got going, was pretty special. The whole 6 mile flight only took about 15 minutes, but it felt like a good amount of time. We started right on top of Epping Forest, which is beautiful, and even more impressive when seen from the air. The view was great, and seeing London laid out in front of you is a really excellent experience. Sadly, due to the rain and the clouds we couldn’t see much of Central London, so the skyline was hard to make out. However everything else was so lovely that this really didn’t matter too much.

This was the first time I had been in a helicopter in my life. Overall, it was a great experience, and a pretty special day. The thrill of being high up in the clouds, and seeing the world that you know from a completely different perspective is hard to convey, but incredibly exciting. My boyfriend and I had a wonderful time, and if you are looking for London helicopter tours, I would highly recommend Adventure Helicopters 001. It is a fantastic day out for anyone looking for a slightly different, alternative experience, or just searching for a new thrill!