You can even do the first and dont let it stop the second.
There are several free and not so bad sims, you know.
So you could practice on the the sim and try it out on the real thing.
Have a google for FMS or Heli-X.
I use FMS and there's a lot of models for this one.
Generally speaking: a sim is worth the money.
That's why they aint cheap.

René