I agree with those last two comments. Learn as much as you can and practice a lot. The most important part of the equation is the photographer.
Personally I've settled on Micro4/3 as my system of choice, especially for travel. The bodies and lenses are smaller and lighter than a DSLR would be and there's a huge assortment of lenses available for whatever your situation.
But if you don't think you're really going to get immersed in photography a better quality P&S (as noted above) could be a better investment.