If you are in San Diego, hit me up and we can get you up in the air at Torrey Pines for a Tandem flight. My friend is getting his "Tandem" certification so he needs to have a certain amount of flights before he gets his sign off. Normally its about $175 USD.  If you have about 5 days, and about 3k USD you can get lessons not to far from here where you will be flying after the first day. (Soboba). They have the gear, and the teachers. On the last day you take a writer test. They will walk you through everything. 
# Are you afraid of heights?
 I did it the less traditional way and learned from other pilots, books, and youtube. LOL Thats why I always say, ```don't try this at home kids```