I can't offer tons of experience. I am planting palms from seed for the first time as well. I purchased them from seedrack.com which offers a huge variety of seeds including several palms. So far I have planted traveller palms, carboard palms, Florida coontie and pygmy date palms. Each variety came with an instructional sheet and each variety requires different handling. Some are planted in sand, some in soil. Some are kept in the dark until they germinate, some are not. Some are placed in wet ziplock bags with soil until they germinate, some are not. Depending on the variety, germination time can take days, weeks or months per the instruction sheets. I did find the prices reasonable, shipping was not bad, instructions were thorough and good and overall a good experience. My Florida coontie and cardboard palms have started their germination and appear to be doing well. I'm still nurturing the traveller palms and pygmy date palms as they have a longer germination time. I hope this helps!

I've used seedrack.com many times and they are excellent. The seeds are a good price, they dispatch quickly and the growing instructions are superb.

Personally i've had no problems starting palms indoors which is what you have to do here in the UK! You should be fine.