Once we d seen the lava, it was then time to have a look of more of the island of hawaii and to see

Everywhere you go in Hawaii there are advertisements to take a helicopter ride over the island. After deciding that this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity that was not to be missed, we decided to take a tour  of the Big Island. After lots of research we decided to use Paradise Helicopters . At the time, this was due to the fact that you were able to take a doors-off experience, where you were able to fly over the active volcano with the doors off and actually feel the heat of the lava hitting your face. They were the only company that offered a two-way communication channel with the pilot so that you could ask questions as well as listen to what they had to say. We chose the 50 minute Doors Off with Waterfalls experience, at a price of $225 per person.
The helicopters depart from Hilo, and as we were currently staying in Kona, on the other side of the island, we had a long drive to reach Hilo airport. Upon reaching the airport, it was easy to find the place where we would depart from, there was a huge Paradise Helicopters sign marking the correct place. We had to remove our jackets and be weighed beforehand so that they would be able to evenly distribute our weight in the helicopter, as well as check we were within the weight limits (265lbs). We had a 30 minute wait in the departure room, which did nothing to calm my nerves, and I was feeling extremely venetian site hotel rooms apprehensive! Once everyone had arrived, we had to watch a safety DVD which was similar to those that you watch before take-off on a plane, just outlining emergency venetian site hotel rooms procedures and what to expect on your flight.
We were strapped in to the helicopter by some assistants who attached our seatbelts, gave us our headsets and made sure we were happy and comfortable. Once this was done we had a wait of about 10 minutes of getting settled and learning how to use the headsets, whilst waiting nervously for take off.
After being introduced to our pilot and using the headset venetian site hotel rooms system to communicate to each other it was time for the take-off! Having never been on a helicopter before it was quite a nerve-racking experience, and actually surprisingly loud!! The take-off was much gentler than that of an airplane, you just simply lifted up very slowly into the air, and it was all done very smoothly! I started to feel very nervous after we were about ten metres in the air, but once I d had about two minutes of being in the air, my nerves were calmed and I was really enjoying myself!
Lava from the volcano travels all the way across the land, and eventually pours into the sea, causing huge amounts of smoke to be expelled into the air. We spent a good fifteen minutes circling the smoke, and it is really hard to get across just how much of it there was, from only a tiny bit of lava!
This was when we were glad to have chosen the doors-off experience. At this point we could really feel the heat from the lava hitting you in the face, similar to that of when you are standing close to a bonfire. The only difference was that we were really high up in the air! The colour of the lava was amazing!
Once we d seen the lava, it was then time to have a look of more of the island of hawaii and to see some of the waterfalls. The following shows the smoke from the lava being blown into the forest by the wind:
Earlier on in the day when we were driving over to Hilo, we decided to take a detour venetian site hotel rooms and go and  see Rainbow Falls, an 80 foot waterfall descending into a 100 foot pool below. From ground level they looked as shown below:
Once we had seen the waterfalls unfortunately our 50 minute tour was then up and it was time to head back to the airport. We took a scenic route along the coastline of Hawaii and it was beautiful to see the contrast in colours of the volcanic rock, the grassland and the sea.
The landing was very smooth and easy, you could barely even feel the helicopter touching the ground. Once the propellers slowed to a stop you suddenly were reminded venetian site hotel rooms just how loud they really were and everything appeared to be eerily quiet. We took a photo with our pilot before thanking her and heading off on our next adventure.
We decided that as it was still light, we d actually like to go for a drive and decided to drive to the point at which the lava poured into the sea to have a look at it close up! It was about an hour s drive from the airport, and the road was quite rough and bumpy due to all the volcanic rock.
It was possible venetian site hotel rooms to actually walk over the lava rocks and see the lava up close, but by the time we got there it was getting dark, and you had to use torches and walk very carefully over the lava rocks. Through fear of damaging our camera we decided to leave it in the car, but it was definitely something worthwhile doing, although probably much better to do during the day than at night.
We had a fantastic time on our helicopter trip, learnt lots of interesting facts about Hawaii and got to see some truly spectactular sights. I would recommend doing this to anyone who is planning a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, and although it is quite expensive, it is definitely worth it in my opinion.
Those are the three islands that I went to. Maui was definitely my favourite, venetian site hotel rooms and is great for just relaxing and chilling out. Oahu was great too, and there was so much to do there! The Big Island was probably my least favourite, even though I got to do the helicopter ride there!
I think Hawaii venetian site hotel rooms should be the place! You get to see so much of it that you wouldn t normally, and there s not many other places in the world you can fly over volcanoes and waterfalls that are only a few hundred metres away from each other!
In July 2011 I left England for what was supposed to be a one year trip around the world. Within a few months of leaving I knew that a year would never be enough. I now work online and travel permanently, seeking misadventures in unique, beautiful and fascinating venetian site hotel rooms places.  Read more. I'm here to show you how  not  to travel. Since I've been on the road I've been "poked" during a massage in Bangkok, punched a scammer in Shanghai, been attacked by monkeys in Bali, sat next to a dead woman on a boat in Laos and so much more. I call these The Incidents and you can see a full list of them  here . My current location:  I'm on a 10 day motorcycle road trip through the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. No tourists venetian site hotel rooms and lots of rice paddies = a very happy Lauren!
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