Canon fan also, primarily because I've built up a substantial investment in lenses. Otherwise, Canon or Nikon would be my favorites. Both have great cameras, lenses, and accessories.
You'd be nitpicking to pick one over the other in general. Each brand has their strengths, but I wouldn't expect any significant weaknesses.
Currently, in the Canon realm, low-cost bodies include the T3i, T4i, and I think the T5i is out now. There's also a new, tiny SL1 body. Any of those coupled with an 18-55 zoom and a 55-250 or 70-300 zoom would make a great travel/starting kit.
If you've already made a glass investment in one brand or another, you might consider going with that brand (if compatible) for you camera body so that you can use your other lenses with it.
A couple more good sites...
http://www.fredmiranda.com (decent forum)
http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/ (also a good forum, biased towards Canon users)