Now that’s what I call a flying visit to London!

YOU’VE done the surprise theatre trip, followed by a slap-up dinner. You’ve skated round the festive Christmas rink more times than you care to remember. Now, it’s time for the big one. Yes, we’re i n that tricky what-to-get-the-person-whohas-everything territory and it won’t come cheap, but your star will blaze brighter than the one atop the tree in Trafalgar Square if you sign up for a 20-minute helicopter flight above London.

This latest tourist attraction makes the viewing gallery at The Shard look tame.

Take off is from Battersea Heliport, near Wandsworth Bridge. Within seconds, you’re 1,500 ft above the Thames heading East.

There were seven of us on board (including the articulate pilot, who pointed out various landmarks) and we were all given headphones with microphones in case we wanted to ask questions or proffer an opinion.

In fact, we were all rendered speechless except for one man who couldn’t help blurting: ‘Look, that’s my house and there’s the school where I drop off my kids every morning.’ What a show! I was struck by how orderly it all looks — the neat and tidy squares, the pristine parks, the seemingly free-flowing traffic. Buckingham Palace? Massive, and I’d never quite appreciated how huge is its garden.

The Palace of Westminster? Sublime when reflected in the river on a cloudless day. And if you want to get a sense of the development going on at the Battersea Power Station, then there’s no better way than this.

We went to Canary Wharf, then followed the river to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich before heading back.

There are three choices: Buzz (£150) gives you 12 minutes in the air; Sights (£200) pays for 20 minutes and Max (£1,500) gets you exclusive use of the chopper so you can invite along five friends.

‘How was it?’ asked the man who had checked us in. I told him it was ‘emotional’, that it had made me proud. And in some strange way, for 20 minutes, it made me feel I owned the greatest city in the world.