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Dream of giant 'Scopes- but learn to love the sky first!
I do fully agree with the "traditional" approach of Brian W, on the subject of the best way to start off in observational astronomy. I speak from the experience of someone who cut their teeth on a variety of instruments in a three decade period of Regular deep sky observation.
In the olden days, we used to start off with binoculars, and get to know and love the sky, all the while training our eyes and learning, first hand, what objects look like.
These days, people start off with a big and unwieldy instrument, dial up objects using computerized devices, and so often end up losing interest due to the complexity and difficulty of the observing process and the "very faint fuzzies" that they have not gradually trained their eyes to see. Furthermore, they miss out on "getting to the object" by hopping from star to star, which gives you a love of the sky and a real feel for how objects are distributed out there.
After binos, we moved to an instrument which was physically easy to use and easy to move around. Some of us had high quality 3-5 inch Refractors, and some of us had 6-8 inch Newtonians. The fact of the matter is that these were really easy instruments to use and handle, compared to 10-14 inch "monsters". We used these instruments a whole lot, as they could be put out onto the verandah easily, and could be moved to the remote observing sites without major trauma.
But we kept using our binos to seek out deep sky objects such as bright clusters, which gave us a far more "3D" and lifelike and "real looking" view of the sky than a standard monocular telescope. The "flat" feeling of monocular telescope views tends to disappoint some beginners, so I cannot emphasize too much that binos in the 50-100 mm range will greatly increase your enthusiasm for viewing the sky. There is nothing like a view through a very high quality 80mm binocular, for realism and immediacy!
While our 8 inchers did not quite have the grunt to make all but the few brightest galaxies look distinct from each other, we found that an 8 inch in a good sky is good enough for most objects that are in our own Galaxy (nebulae, star clusters, dark nebulae, OB associations, etc.)
We did not have cheap large-aperture telescopes available, and Dobs were only just being invented. This was a blessing in disguise, as we had to learn about equatorial coordinates, which is something that all mid-level amateur astronomers eventually have to come to grips with. Further, the high cost of 10-16 inch telescopes meant that we avoided a very common mistake of beginning-to-intermediate level amateurs; yielding to unrestrained "aperture fever" by buying a giant White Elephant that is very heavy and very hard to move from place to place.
Anyway, by the time we did get instruments in the 10-14 inch range, we knew and loved the sky, from first hand experience, and we knew how to handle a telescope with the greatest of ease.
In contrast, these days, people get big and unwieldy instruments long before they have properly learnt how to handle a telescope. By "big and unwieldy", I mean instruments in the 12 inch to 16 inch range, and also some 10 inch telescopes. There are a lot of these large instruments sitting in garages, without getting much use!!
We didn't start off with BIG instruments, in the olden days.
But most of us have never lost interest, and are still fascinated with astronomical objects.
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