Originally Posted by toomanybooks

As a 54-y.o. old fart, I'd say the most important thing is not to get roped into paying 18% interest on a credit card balance. Regardless of anything else, that will eat you alive.

Money means little to me now. I could take 10 trips to Europe financially, but I cannot get away. Time and availability is everything.

Looking back 35 years and talking to my 19 y.o. self, I'd say "What you have now is time. Burn it. You don't have a job, or a spouse, or responsibilities, or monthly payments, or ailing parents to hold you back. DO STUFF."

Travel cheap. You can do it while your body is limber and you can sleep on overnight trains and ferries without pain and you can get drunk and be up at 6 am with vigor and you can live on bread and cheese and salami and beer and wine. Sleep in train stations, or on the beach on a Greek island. You are free.

You have fewer boundaries than I. Take advantage.

Originally Posted by nwflyboy

What's "better" is in the eye of the beholder, and will be different for different people based on both their tastes and circumstances.

Be careful in calibrating your expectations based on what you see here (and anywhere on the intertoobs, of course). You will see many people here and on blogs who brag about constantly flying first class to exotic destinations, staying in 5 star hotels, etc. To the extent those things are true, they are generally not easily available to someone "just starting out".

For example, some people are focused on flying in premium cabins to exotic international destinations. Nothing wrong with that (!) but also not very practical for everyone - especially for someone in your situation. Great for someone who applys for dozens of credit cards every year (and who has a credit score, income, and the knowledge of how to play the game and when to stop playing) and who can get away with it. But probably not for you.

My advice is to just read up and learn what you can, take it slow, and you will eventually figure out what's best for you. Be careful - if you're not, you can hurt yourself with this stuff.

Originally Posted by deant

Remember that with your age, your parents will need to co-sign for you. You have not mentioned a job so I assume you don't have any reportable income. You also state you want to spend MORE than one semester abroad. That gets costly. You will want to travel and see things abroad that will require you to spend money for "normal" housing and also for housing when you travel.

As for your parents using your card when they build their house, that will probably, for the most part, not work. Building a house means spending thousands, or tens of thousand dollars at a time. Because of your lack of income, you will probably have a very low credit limit that would not cover house building expenses.

As others have said, reward cards tend to require very good credit - and if I recall correctly, you don't have any significant credit history that has been reported to the credit agencies. Your best bet is to, in the short term, change your banking such that you can get a rewards earning debit card. After probably 6 months with that bank AND their debit card, apply for one of the reward cards WITH that bank. Don't worry so much about what miles you earn but about building your credit rating.