Hi, and welcome to ECF! Vaping has come a long way since I first encountered one. The array of choices can seem dizzying. There is some great gear out there, and it's good you are doing your homework first.
Mainly, you'll have to decide if you are more interested in MTL vaping (less vapor, more nicotine in eliquid, sometimes smaller setups, although you can put a MTL vape on a high powered setup and just enjoy great battery life. Or, you can be using a Direct Lung setup which produces a lot more vapor per puff and people typically have lower nicotine level juices and inhale directly in to the lungs . Some folks kind of enjoy a middle ground.
If you are serious about making vaping work for you this time and you're unsure what type of vaper you'll be I might suggest a sub0hm setup (and it doesn't have to be a kit, it can be a mod and a tank, some kits are great, others not so much) and get a sub0hm type tank or and a MTL tank, or a tank like the Crown Uwell (original) which offers a lot of variety of coils including a higher resistance MTL coil of 1.2 I think it is. The Crown is really setup as a sub0hm tank as far as airflow and driptip but it's probably adjustable enough to help you figure out what type of vaper you'd like to become. It's not a leaker of a tank, and there are lots of users that swear by this tank for flavor and coil longevity. A good MTL tank that's inexpensive but will definitely give you the "feel" of a MTL would be the Nautilus 2.
It's possible your vape shops many not carry one or more of those tanks, so you may be better off with online, although it might be worth a wander in to some of them, to actually get to hold the vape and get a sense of what some of your options are. The array of box mods can be pretty dizzying. I can tell you mod makers I like and consider reliable but keep in mind everyone's different. But for mods, I would recommend Teslacigs (it's a British company I think) they offer some good, varied, but reliable choices and I love their power board, it's very efficient with battery life and offers decent TC for not being a DNA mod (this stuff is all stuff you may get to later, but it can be good to know about, etc). I'm a fan of the Smoant Charon mod and would recommend it to almost anyone. Vapresso does "pretty" well and some of their mods are visually very appealing but the construction is also decent. I also have and like the Eleaf invoke mod, mainly for size, weight and design. It's very lightweight and portable and probably among the lightest and smallest of box mods, without sacrificing durability or design.
I'm also a fan of Innoken products (tanks and mods) as well.
Best of luck, sometimes finding a starting point can be tough. I would go into it the way you are, trying to find what works "for you." I'd also encourage you not to give up/be disappointed if you don't find the right setup for you going in. My first gear was not suitable to my vaping style (MTL) but I just took every piece of vaping equipment "not for me" and wound up giving it away, or selling it, and realizing that each step forward moved me to my "perfect vape." Even with the best prep in the world, it may take some time to land on that perfect setup, so don't give up and etc.
Anna
