I've been wanting to go on a helicopter tour my whole life and found a 2-for-1 coupon in my hotel's pamphlet for Air Ventures. I booked a Sunday morning tour for two and asked what kind of helicopter we'd be flying. "It's actually an airplane, an AirVan," said the friendly voice.
I considered canceling - doesn't everyone see Hawaii from a helicopter? Isn't that the "it" thing to do?
We kept our time slot and showed up early. There were seven of us scheduled to fly together, everyone amiable and sharing their travel stories. The flight lasted almost an hour - and we saw EVERYTHING. Also, when I asked the pilot to show us something specifically, he nodded and made sure to include it along our route, even doubling back a few miles to point out the open-air cave along the Na Pali Coast.
When we returned, we spoke to a man from our hotel who paid twice as much to go on a helicopter ride for half the time and saw a third of what we saw (and if I haven't mentioned it, we saw the entire island). His wife was none too pleased at being left behind, and he said the helicopter ride was incredibly bumpy - hard to photograph. My photographs came out spectacular.
I got an incredibly great price on this, and I think Air Ventures would lose money if everyone found the coupon I did. But if you're on a budget and enjoy star treatment, do your research ahead of time and expect to be rewarded.