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We went to DragonCon this last weekend; that's another post.
To increase the flexibility of my time, I decided to fly myself there in my club's Cessna 172. It was fun and a great learning experience for me, both going down and coming back. For student pilots, here are a few lessons on the day.
When talking to approach controllers, they will sometimes specify that you are to fly at "VFR altitudes". They mean 3500,5500,7500 etc. if you're going east-bound and 2500,4500,6500 etc. if you're going westbound. Coming into the Atlanta airspace from the northwest, I had been flying at 4000 feet get get below some clouds. I was told to "fly VFR altitude", and it took me a couple of tries to figure out what the controller meant.
A common direction when coming into an airport is to join the approach on the downwind leg. I'm used to being able to see runway when I do this, and so when I got to Peachtree-Dekalb airport in Atlanta, I got confused because some of the runways are concrete (white-ish) and some are asphalt (black). The downwind leg will be the reciprical of the heading of the runway itself. At the time, I was flying toward the airport from the northeast and I knew from the ATIS that I was going to get landing directions for runway 2L (with roughly a magnetic direction of 020). That means when I got close to the airport, flying southeast (or rougly 135), I needed to turn about 70 degrees to the right to around 200, which would put me with the airport at my left and flying parallel to the runway.
As far as flight planning, remember: if you're having weather issues, it makes sense to get closer to your destination. That means that you can hit a narrower window in the weather. It also means that if someone has to drive and get you, the driver will be shorter. I had originally intended to fly down to Atlanta in one shot and back the same. Both times, due to weather in Tennessee and North Carolina, I ended up landing in Chattanooga to check weather.
When you're under control of air traffic control, if you need something or aren't sure, ALWAYS ASK. If you're just getting used to flying under control that way, then this will get you the proper information, it will also let them know that you're a little less experienced and they might well give you a little more time or room or consideration as a result, which is nice for you. When I got confused flying into Peachtree, I got confused about which airport was which. I acknowledged that I was to turn downwind for runway 2-left, but that I couldn't tell which runway was which and could the controller give me a steer to turn the proper direction. She did so, and once I got turned properly, I could see the markings for the runway at which point I knew where I needed to be.
And always be polite. It's the controller's duty to assist you and to do everything they can to make you and everyone else safe, but they're human too--if you ask instead of demand you're far more likely to get what you want.
Some airports will set you up for departure with a discrete squawk code (Chattanooga does this). Others will just have you set the squawk code for VFR enroute flying (1200). Maybe class-C airports and larger do the former, and smaller airports the latter? Don't know.