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Title says it all. I build and play competitive lists, but my games all still occur in my home with friends or at my FLGS. Where do I need to start playing in order to be a part of the "competitive scene?" Is travel a requirement? Etc. Thanks!

Where do you live? You'll most likely need to travel if you're in the US.

Find tournaments nearby. What format do they play? ITC / ETC / Other? Or decide which format you like the best and look to see if tournaments are in your acceptable travel zone.

Start following tournaments. Hope onto GW's Twitch and watch some of the games they cover.

See if anyone at the FLGS is interested in the same or willing to play practice lists in the desired format.

Travel is certainly a part of getting more involved in the competitive scene as you go to the larger events (things like Adepticon, NOVA, LVO, etc.) however I'd say the first step would be talking with your local group and seeing who else is interested so you can start playing some games with more of a focus on competitive play.

Also just attending event local or regional tournaments is a great chance to meet new people, find out more about the scene in your area and getting more plugged in.

And it's also not just experience, correct? People who rack up these ITC points, are traveling each week or month to tournaments that award ITC points? That go into a national database? Not unlike how MTG tracks planeswalker points or whatever?

That's correct, if you check out Frontline Gaming's website they actually lay out the process of earning your ITC score in depth so you can see the how and why of the process.

It depends. Some ITC tournaments will submit scores, others, do not. It's rather frustrating when you win a big tournament and find out that they decided not to submit the scores. Ask in advance if the scores will be submitted.

As far as travel goes, a little bit will be required depending on where you live.

You can rack up points for a few RTT wins (3 round tournaments), but it's capped. These are your FLGS tournaments, if they submit scores.
You earn more points for a GT win (5 round tournaments)
You earn a ton for performing well in a major event (7+ round tournaments, like LVO, usually played over two days)

The whole idea behind the points is silly though. It's like in professional fighting. There are simply too many governing bodies, or in this case, people running tournaments with no formal scoring.

You can be a competitive player and not care about your ITC points.

Just look for tournaments within your acceptable travel radius and start attending.

Thanks for all the info.