Unless you are planning an 'extreme' trip i wouldn't recommend a steel frame to anyone these days and given the carbon forks are nigh on indestructable, whats to worry about?
Whatever you decide to go with remember the most important things are:-Enjoy yourself
maintenance
enjoy yourself!
in that order
Somebody had to respond to this so.
I have several bikes including steel, carbon and aluminium frames.
Unless your wanting to ride competitively I would recommend a fairly good to great steel frame every time. The frame weight issue is a non issue. (I can't comment on titanium never had one)
Me, and my mates have broken carbon. aluminium and steel frames but the steel ones do take a lot more use/abuse before they fail. Carbon and Aluminium are in my experince less reliable.
My personal preference is for something at the sporty/credit card touring end of design unless carrying a lot of kit. which I don't have the time for at the moment. (Small children and all that)
Once you've been cycling long enough to start know what you like, there is still a very good case for putting together/selecting exactly what you want rather than a factory put together machine.
I'm guessing this steel machine cost me about £1000. I won't be asking 'upgrade' questions because its great as it is. No rack on in this picture but it has the braze ons to make fitting easy when needed.
Whilst I'm at it, I would recommend good enough hand built wheels. I think they are more comfortable to ride, wheels wear out and they are repairable.
And yes enjoy yourself and enjoy yourself.