What's the best digital camera for someone not quite ready for an SLR?

I'm getting ready to spend a year in Europe, and I want something more than the standard "point and click" digital camera; I don't think I'm quite ready to invest in an SLR yet though. Anyone have any ideas for something in-between?

Buy a brand name camera that has background in photography, like Canon, Fuji, Nikon or Kodak. I would NOT recommend Panasonic, Casio, Samsung, Pentax and Sony because they are not in the business of making photographic equipment, someone else makes the product for them and they just put their own label on it.

I am HIGHLY recommending you to buy Canon. These days they are the most popular and extremely reliable. Canon SD1000 sells about $220 and its an excellent camera. You can easily put it in your purse or shirt pocket. Its very solid and you can even record short movies, depending on the size of your memory card. I highly recommended this camera. I bought it from newegg.com, ...have fun in Europe! PS. if you buy it from Newegg.com, they will give you a free 1GB card too.

Hi!
I wish you a very comfortable stay in Europe.
For your requirement, SLR-Like cameras will be the best bid to make. These are the cameras which are point-and-shot cameras, with SLR like functions. But their lenses are not removeable. For an example, you can look at Panasonic DMC FZ8.
Thanks :)

There is no 'best'. There are a number of excellent enthusiast cameras that are smaller and easier to handle than an SLR, and have a much greater zoom range in a smaller package. The downsides are that they don't do as well in low light and are not as responsive and quick.

For a travel camera- I find that a wide angle (like 28mm) is much more useful than a long zoom (anything over 200 or 300mm).

Some Cameras to consider. They are all very good- but all a bit different:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasoni...
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasoni...
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm...
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/070227...
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/T1...
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasoni...
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong7/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona71...

Well if you like plenty of zoo, a camera with aperture priority shuter priority or auto and has an image stabilizer you'll like my Sony Cybershot DSC-H2. Very good on AA batteries and comes with charger. 6 megapixels, 12X optical zoom.