Hi Stewie,
New member here myself.
My two cents, having done some gliding and some GA flying:
Gliding - much more like 'natural' flying - no noisy fan on the front (or rear!) yet unless it is thermic or you can find sources of lift - a typical flight is around 5-10 minutes.
GA flying - you can stay up longer, not as thermic dependent (some microlights will thermal quite nicely) - not quite 'like the birds' as gliding but I would argue in terms of flying - you get more out of it (while you may have to plan to be landing every few minutes, that need not be the actual case - as it may be with gliding).
Generally - gliding is more of a club / community scene - unless you have a motor glider, you won't be able to go flying on your own.
However - as noted by others - neither of those will get you where you would like to be commercially.