Hi, all!

I’m Alec, am new here, and am now flummoxed by the cornucopia of great information here. I am graduating from college a week from today, and hope to start traveling as soon as possible.

I received a $1200 grant from my school to go to Brazil (and, for a time, Buenos Aires) for the summer (departing in early July), and am currently trying to find a smart deal on a ticket to there. I also intend to visit Europe (Holland, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece), sometime in the next year future. I'm not sure if it's at all discussed here, but I am also interested in cultural/historical/scenic/two-lane highway road trips.

I have a bank account with National City, and their card (Visa) is the only one I currently use. At the moment, I make and spend very little money. I live in South Bend, Indiana, which is 90-120 minutes from the Chicago airports.

I will be absorbing the wealth of information here over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, can anyone suggest any no-brainers for me to do relating to credit cards and other frequent flyer programs while I’m still in the blank slate stage? I just signed up for the Southwest student rapid rewards program (should I now sign up for THEIR credit card for 8 credits?), and am about to sign up for the United Mileage Plus student program (when I graduate in a week I should immediately get 10k miles, correct? Is now the best time to do it?).

Thank you, and looking forward to learning much here!

Alec