[esther_a]

I bought 'the traveller's camera', a Panasonic Lumx TZ, when we went travelling two years ago. It was a little larger than cheaper P&S but had a 10X zoom. It had a Lithium-Ion battery, and that lasted easily for a full day's photography. I just charged it overnight. The charger was very compact. The battery lasts so long I rarely charge it now. Disposable batteries take up so much room in a camera that they make the camera bulky. I didn't like the thought of carrying heaps of spares with me OR of trying to find a store that stocked them in a foreign country. And they don't last as long. And they're not that great for the environment.