I am going on vacation and I know I want to take a lot of pictures. I don't have a laptop. Is there any other way to go besides loading up on expensive memory sticks? I am sorry if this is a dumb question :?

sure , portable photo bank.There are reviews at stevesdigicams.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/digi_...s.html#storage

For vacation pictures the awesome choice is Mavica CD-500. I took over 2500 photos on 2-week vacation last year. Had more fun than anyone. Two batteries and 30 mini CDs ($20 for 50 CDs) did the trick. Everyone else took a few shots and hoped for a few good ones. I took enough to ensure lots of treasures. I don't know if I'll ever get to return and didn't want to miss anything. I was shocked because even the ones from the moving, bumpy bus turned out. Only a few ringers in the whole set. I didn't even have to spend any time downloading since the CD-R makes great storage. I've had fun working with them all year and FotoFusion makes it easy to share quickly. I can then spend time if I want with the ones I really want to keep "forever". Contact sheets make it easy to work with them.

2500 pics on 2week vacation.U must be kiding!U had to take picture avery 8 minutes!!.I cant imagine how someone can take more then 500 useful pictures over 2 weeks.Or u are a kind of photographer who takes pictures of hotel toilet or what?

And mavica is BIG and nasty camera, but thats only my opinion.

I like the *image tank* type of devices. However, I think most are over priced.
The one I like best is the X's-Drive. The review here on Steve's is for the VP-2030, however there is now a newer one available - VP-2050, I think, which is USB 2.

What I like about this unit is that it can be purchesed for about $85 without a hard drive. Just add your own. You can also get it preconfigured with various HD options.

The bad news on this model, is that while the USB connection is USB 2, the media card interface is not. It still seems to hobble along at the old USB 1 speed.

If you don't want to buy a laptop, the *image tank* offers a very cost effective solution with lots of storage. Definately much cheaper than buying a lot of media cards.

Declan

You didnt say what model Mavica you have but...
If you dont have one at all now, consider a Mavica that is a CD platform camera. Buy a box of CD-R disks and start shooting photos.
The suggestion above about a CD camera is the way to go.
On a recent trip from the States to Japan, my CD1000 took about 2000 photos in a bit over 2 weeks. All of the disks stored well.