I was in your position about a year ago. I actually started out with the Southwest cards from Chase (both personal and business) so that I could quickly earn a companion pass for my wife. We're not globe trotters (yet), so we actually have gotten some great value from this traveling domestically. And then I have really been focused on the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, using an Ink card. Being able to transfer points into United and IHG has been great for us as well. I have points in several other programs, but always seem to fall back to UR and Southwest for this time in our lives.

You'll find all kinds of advise and opinions on here. I've also learned a lot by keeping a few of the bloggers in my RSS feed, although after you learn the basics, their content becomes pretty repetitive.