Lot of different ways.
Spawn on runway
Spawn in parking bay
Load DEP and ARR in world map
Create flight plan in LNM with various options DEP, ARR, waypoints. loading, fuel and any thing else I feel like on my laptop. Then transfer to flight PC.
It all depends on time I have.
Personal Comments:
This is the bottom line. We all have our own preferences. There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy MSFS.
If you like to simulate real life airline ops (like I do), then you carefully create a flight plan for a real life airline, load the aircraft type used for the flight in cold & dark (or turnaround) mode onto the correct departure gate, prepare the cockpit, fly the route with live weather, land and pull up to the actual arrival gate. Or, if you just want to bore holes in the sky and look at the impressive scenery, then there’s an entire globe full of opportunities. And there is so much more in between those options. The sky is the limit… literally. Just enjoy it!
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Always C&D; it just feels “right” to me, but that’s just my preference. I’m not saying that’s what everyone should do. On landing I also taxi to gate/parking and shutdown for the same reason.
(I should point out that I have CDO; that’s like OCD but with the letters arranged in alphabetical order.)
And I use the built-in world map to make a flightplan as it’s quick and easy.
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Always cold and dark and always at the FBO / GA parking. On the VATSIM network you’re not allowed to connect on the runway.
Im much the same way. I have a tendency to penalize myself for small mistakes. like Forgetting to turn off the landing lights at 10 000ft or forgetting to set the VOR1 frequency in the rad/nav page, or if I dont get the aircraft down in the touchdown zone. All these small things build, and if I dont have a “perfect” flight. My OCD requires me to start over. Its maddening. But also so very satisfying when things go as they should.
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If I’m be honest (why not) … it depends. One of the things I like the most about this game is it allows for an infinite amount of variation. From low and slow to high and fast AND all in-between. As I fill out my airplane hanger I can ‘see’ and pick the mood I’m in. But to your point my fav enjoyment is the learning I get from ‘flying’ around the world to see things I’d never be able to see.
dw
Always cold and dark. Own flight planning done in LittleNavMap.
Cold and dark here.
For me doing it on the runway, especially at a busy airport, risks a back up of traffic of both AI and actual users trying to get into the air or others trying to land.
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I feel your pain. If I forget to put landing lights on at takeoff, I usually remember at cruise altitude. I then turn them on so I can turn them off again 
Very OCD in my flight planning, and flying.
Printed checklists are a godsend for me 
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I always do cold and dark when flying good add-on planes since so much love is put into the startup procedures. I enjoy clicking buttons.
If I’m flying some fun VFR in say a Spitfire, I don’t really flight plan, I just take off and go and fly pretty impulsively.
I’ve recently been flying mostly airliners so preflight is a lot more involved. Currently flying the PMDG 737 - I’ll start by flight planning in Little Nav Map, then starting up the 737 and manually entering flight plan into the FMS, and very diligently getting everything set up so the flight is as automated as possible.
Cold and dark for me but iwould like to pick any spot on the worldmap and start from cold&dark.
Those airports without parkingspots we are forced to start on runway with engines running.
I do cold and dark as well. Some aircraft, such as the PMDG 737, you need to configure it to start cold and dark.
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I’m sure I sound like a broken record but… Always Cold and Dark.
I mostly fly the PMDG 737 and the Fenix A320 these days, Always from Cold and Dark at a gate
I inport from flight plans from Simbreif, I love these 2 planes
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I’m getting to the point where i think i’ll need to start using checklists more. In the Fenix, it’s not unknown for me to have forgotten something, as i start my take-off run.
It might be seatbelt/no smoking signs, moving the taxi light switch up to TO, turning the TCAS to the right setting, pressing the chrono button or usually omitting to press the take-off readiness test button. In a sim, this won’t cost any lives, but I do tend to “kick myself”, so checklists i think it’s going to have to be.
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I mostly do VFR flights, which are less ‘process-intensive’ than IFR flight plans, so your mileage may vary. 
I tend to start from cold & dark because I enjoy a little bit of startup & taxi process around local airports (whee!), and depending on the details of my flight plan and the on-board navigation systems, will either manually program in some waypoints or go entirely with off-board navigation tools I have already configured before “getting in the plane”. (I have MSFS connected to ForeFlight running on my iPad for maps, weather, traffic, etc; there are less expensive and free tools available for most of this stuff too!)
Remember though there’s nothing magic about starting from cold & dark – it comes down to whether doing those initial steps are fun for you or not! With new planes I’ll often cheat and do an auto-start of engines the first couple times so I can get in the air quick.
Cold and dark, from the gate. I only start from RNW when testing anything.
I only use the MSMS world map to load into my depature airport
From there I plan my route in LittleNavMap and the set up a flightplan from there.
Once landed I don’t back out, I just shut down the plane; work out my next route in LNM and do a cold start again.
I can’t believe that LittleNavMap is free! ■■■■ I’d pay good money for it as it’s sooooo good!
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It’s actually donationware; I’ve bunged him a few quid.
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