Welcome to the next stage
I suspect we all started cautiously, in the same area in which we’d learned to fly and navigate. Having done your qualifying cross country you are used to landing away, so the places you go to now are just extensions of that flying. I certainly gave a wide berth to any form of controlled airspace, from airfield ATZ’s upwards, for the first few months.
I don’t know if you would consider teaming up with another PPL, to split the workload and the costs? I found that initially I went somewhere on my own, had a cup of tea and came back. It’s more fun to go with someone else.
Now you have your PPL you can ‘cheat’ a bit. There are useful devices, like the Aware GPS, which may help to keep you out of controlled airspace. On some of them you can plan your route and do all the sweating about where to go on the ground, before you get airborne.
In the planning stages Google satellite view can give you a useful feel for what the area will look like. Sometimes this is more useful for the taxiway layout at the destination and helps to interpret the Pooley’s / VFR Guide airfield diagrams. This is particularly true of grass airfields, which tend to look like, er.., grass.
If you start talking to you local ATC they should pass you on to the next one along the route. If you are ever remotely uncertain of your location, talk to ATC, any ATC. Don’t worry about not sounding professional, they are much more interested in talking to you and keeping you out of the way of their airliners than they are about you not using the exact phraseology.
If you get a chance, go to one of the Visit ATC Days. It’s really useful to see things from their side of the radarscope.
Enjoy your flying, that’s what you spent all that time, money and effort to achieve.