mk1980

here's a link to a website that calculates some important numbers for efficient transfers:
http://ksp.olex.biz/
it also explains the process a bit.
basically, it boils down to the following:
- for an optimal (or near optimal) transfer, you have to launch during a "launch window" - the source and target planet should be in the correct constellation, otherwise an optimal transfer is not possible.
- that constellation can be described by a "phase angle". if you view the solar system from "top down" and draw a line from the starting planet (in your case- kerbin) through the sun, and another line from the target planet (Eve) through the sun, the phase angle is the angle between the 2 planets. the calculator suggests a phase angle of -54°. if you imagine the solar system as a clock, that means the constellation is about right when kerbin is at "3 o'clock" and eve is near "5 o'clock".
- the "ejection angle" from the calculator tells you where on the low kerbin orbit you should place your maneuver node. for a transfer to one of the inner planets, that ejection angle is always on the "day" side of the planet, for transfers outwards its on the "night" side. in my experience, that angle is not necessarily the correct angle for each situation. i suppose it would be if everything is perfectly aligned, but in practise you'll often have to drag the node a bit upwards or downwards to get an intercept.
- the goal of the planned transfer is that both your ship and the target planet will arrive at the same point at the same time. the numbers are calculated in a way that this intercept point is more or less exactly on the oppsosite side of the sun from kerbins position at the time of the burn.
- note that it's pretty difficult to set up such a burn with the default maneuver node interface. the main problem here is that you basically have to zoom in to kerbin to drag the node along the orbit, but at the same time you kinda have to zoom out to see the effect of that node (ie. to see if the burn will result in an intercept). takes quite a bit of practice to do it. to my knowledge, there are various mods that make the process easier. I'm probably not the right person to make suggestions since i always did my transfers with the stock tools, but i'm sure others can give you some good suggestions how to make it a bit less frustrating
if all of that sounds to difficult, an alternative solution is to bring more deltaV than suggested by the maps. those maps assume near perfect efficiency for most maneuvers, so if you want to just get there somehow, it may be a good idea to bring more fuel than the bare minimum. nuclear engines are pretty efficient. it's not hard to design a nuclear powered probe/ship that has 4-5 km/s deltaV. if you can get that thing to kerbin orbit, you can easily reach eve or duna even with farily inefficient burns.
 
 

according to the wiki (no idea if that's still accurate) flyby is 1 XP and the xp modifier of minmus is x2.5, so the minmus flyby probably only counts as 2.5 XP but is rounded up in the display.
if that's how it works, your kerbal actually only has 7.5 XP in total. 

not sure what the purpose of the nuclear engines is. that plane would probably work better without them. rapiers are good enough to circularize and without the nukes, the back of the plane is a lot lighter, so chances are you'd get less flipping during reentry.
if you have fuel left after dropping the cargo, transfer it all to the frontmost tanks to get as much mass as you can as far forward as you can. 
also, such a large plane could probably use some more wing area.
if your plane can get a TWR of 1 shortly after liftoff it may have too many engines. i balance Rapier planes so they have just enough thrust to get through the sonic barrier. they don't have a lot of static thrust, but they sppol up and get A LOT more thrust once you're getting into high mach speeds. if it can break through the sound barrier. it can also get you to space.
if you can't climb, level out and try to accelerate to get more thrust first.even losing some altitude is fine. i have made planes that would barely climb at all, but if they can still accelerate and get to supersonic speeds in level flight, the design is still viable. ramjets and rapiers produce so much more thrust at higher speeds that climbing up becomes a non issue.
every engine beyond that point is dead weight that serves no purpose, basically. just means you need more deltaV in closed cycle mode later to push AP to orbit and circularize and you'll have more mass in the back half of the plane that will mess up your empty CoM <> CoL balance.