The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the gold standard "starter" travel card. You earn faster (2x points on global travel and restaurants, get valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points that convert to most of the useful point currencies, and lots of ancillary benefits like free rental car insurance. If you're new to the points game, start by applying here. You'll get 50,000 points when you spend $4k on the card in the first 3 months.