Tea 101: What do I need to get started?

Any tea connoisseurs here? I’m a coffee drinker who has more recently been enjoying tea. This has been exclusively the teabag (no jokes please) variety from the market (Tazo, Twinings, etc).

I know that there are people who take tea very seriously, and wouldn’t even consider consuming that crap. Apparently fresh, loose tea is the way to go.

If I was to go all tea geek (I’ve been known to do this with other things), what do I need to purchase and/or know? What are the basic supplies? Is there a good online source for tea that anyone orders from (like Sweet Marias is to the coffee roasting world)?

And finally, is there a general path when it comes to enjoying teas, like there is with wine, beer, or chocolate? In other words, are there teas that are more accessible to the amateur palate that should be explored prior to other teas?
Thanks.