. . "0"^^ . "0"^^ . "No1DP is known for his surprises. After confirming that I was going to meet him in Vegas he planned at least one surprise for me and kept on teasing me incessantly about how he had this awesome surprise planned. He gave me one hint per day upon request and after a month of hint-giving and Yelp research I finally guessed it would be a helicopter ride. No1DP used this experience and learned never to hint/tease me about any future surprises because given enough hints I WILL figure it out.\n\n---\nThere was a scheduled van pickup from Strip hotels to Maverick HQ. We were picked up by a man that kinda smelled and liked talking... quite a lot. He just kept on either ranting or repeating himself and No1DP and I considered paying him just to shut up. He did give one useful warning about an event that would allow me to make arrangements so I would get to the airport on time to go home.\n\nA Yelp check-in gets you a set of 6 magnets, which make really cute and sufficient souvenirs. \n\nOnce inside they'll call your name to check you in and weigh you. Don't worry, they won't tell you your weight. This is to get the right weight dispersion for each of the helicopters. Once checked in they'll give you your bubbly in plastic cups. We waited in the lounge for about 10 minutes before the pilots will call the group names to be assigned to a specific helicopter.\n\nHelicopter for this tour was a ECO-Star Helicopter (EC-130). Helicopter seats seven plus driver. Helicopter was definitely built for tourism as the windows were BIG and if you can get the angle right on your camera you don't have a reflection of the helicopter on your photo. No1DP and I agreed that the best seats were front and center, knowing that he suggested that I sit in the front center seat while he sat in the back. I was able to take some great pics of Vegas at night, though it was difficult for some shots because you can't use flash while helicopter is in motion.\n\nPilot was very nice, he shook each of our hands and answered questions. Unlike what it says on the site where you get a personalized narration, most of the narration was pre-recorded. The route he flew was from Maverick HQ to downtown Vegas and back through a loop. \n\nThe only con was that the actual tour was between 15-20 minutes, which is a rather short time to be on the air. An airplane can do an entire taxi/takeoff procedure in the same amount of time. \n\nMinibuses were used to shuttle the groups back to the hotels. They don't have to drop you off at your original drop off, which is ideal if you made arrangements elsewhere. Minibuses were roomy and clean and they don't make you suffer through more unnecessary talking.\n\nI now can cross off \"aerial tour of Vegas via helicopter\" from the \"life list\" and I recommend others to do the same. As a person who's been to Vegas several times this was an excellent activity to keep Vegas still an interesting travel destination. Thank you No1DP for planning this for both of us."^^ . "0"^^ . "4"^^ . . "2013-11-24T00:00:00"^^ .