Thanks for the reply! Most of my travel is US (CA, generally SFO) to Europe (Germany/UK). And yes, I am not anticipating to earn massive amounts of bonus miles with my current income -- but I would like to make the most of what I have for now. I could, however, comfortably manage a 3-4k spend in the opening 3 months; and an average spend of up to 1k/month on credit would certainly be possible, depending on credit limits etc. It's just a question of finding the right card, and it seems to me more a problem of eligibility/approval rather than of finances.