You can't get the aether currents in 3 of the areas the first time you go to them, that said they're a lot easier to find this time in my opinion so I'd suggest grabbing as many as you can when you first visit a location.

I'd take the HQ gear myself, specially around the 3rd dungeon, mobs hit harder and despite the small ilvl increase, the defense increase is pretty large.

And I wouldn't bother with hunts till you can fly unless you find them yourself. Hunts will be dead before you can make it to them on foot most of the time.