About the trial lesson thing . . . .
I always see a lot of people telling prospective students to get a trial lesson, and in my personal experience this is what happened,
The first time I climbed into an R22 I really hated it. The thing was small and flimsy, noisy, slow, underpowered, etc. etc., it was very hazy and hot, flying around the pattern was really boring, so I thought it was not for me, I was 18 years old.
Then I came back here and got a couple of hours in a modern turbine helicopter up in the mountains and fell in love with it, there is a huge difference.
So don't be fooled by the trial lessons, the R22 around the pattern flying is nothing like you will experience out in the real world of helicopter flying.