The very first thing to think about is money. It's a very expensive hobby, there is no way round it and it's very much a case of buy once, buy right IMO... for example a middle of the road set of main blades for a raptor 50 are about £60.
Even buying a 2nd hand IC powered heli like a raptor getting fully set up with all the starting gear, radio gear, chargers, batteries etc will still probably cost you the best part of £500.
As already mentioned I would start off with a small, electric, indoor helicoptor but I would avoid the cheap £30 ones as they will fly badly and break when you crash them. I would spend a little more and get either the Eflite Blade mCX or Blade mSR. The mCX is a coaxial (twin blade) and the mSR is single blades. Both are 4 channel and so will help you learn the basics of control and forward flight but they are both very stable and very strong so as long as you cut the power before you crash they will normally just bounce. For both of these make sure you get the RTF (ready to fly) version and the BNF (bind and fly) version does not have a transmitter.
As for a simulator I would recommend Pheonix as the flight dynamics are very real and if you can fly the sim then you can fly the real thing.. You can get a Pheonix and transmitter package for about £140 and the DX6i transmitter you get can then be used for your first 'big' heli. If you get this package you will also be able to buy the BNF blade heli.
So with the sim / TX package and the either of the blade helis you can get set up for between £200 and £250 and this will give you a strong indication of whether you want to carry on and take the next step into a full collective pitch heli and if you decide it's not for you then you can sell the stuff for very nearly what you paid for it.
It would be a good idea to find a local club and you can search your area on the BMFA web site
www.bmfa.co.uk
Also join up to rcheliaddicts.co.uk, there are a load of very experienced flyers who never tire of giving advise, I should now I was in your position 12 months ago, and there is a very active for sale section where you can buy with more confidence than on places like ebay etc..
I hope this has given you some food for though, I've seen too many people just dive right in, buy the first heli they like the look of, fly it ,crash it put it away and it never sees the light of day again. It's a very rewarding hobby when you get it but it can be frustrating and as I said, EXPENSIVE...
enjoy..
EDIT :
forgot to say, most people fly mode 2 which means the throttle is on the left side of the TX. There are other options but mode 2 is the most common and the likely hood is that anyone teaching you will also fly mode 2. If you ever driven RC cars then throttle on the left is the 'normal' set up.