Supremely talented travel photographer (and Nikon shooter) Bob Krist states that there are four basic elements to a great photograph:

1. Good color
2. Good composition
3. Beautiful light
4. A sense of moment - a storytelling element

Keep these simple things in mind when shooting travel, nature...or really any kind of photograph. You'll see great improvement when you are consistently accomplishing all four elements in your images.

If you are anything like me...you've got more than a 1979 Chevy Malibu Classic station wagon worth of camera gear. And you're probably always looking for optimal solutions for transporting gear to shooting locations. You might consider checking into used "road cases" from AV supplies and on ebay. Road cases are the hard sided cases that musicians, audio-visual companies, and other media professionals use to transport gear safely. Just do a search for "road cases" on ebay and you might find exactly what you are looking for to store / transport camera, lighting, projection or other gear. You might have to do some searching to find the right size...and the case may have some road scars...but I'm a fan of putting gear in less than the fanciest cases when it comes to airline travel! It's function over finesse in my book...and a beat-up old case less obvious to would-be thieves than the latest camera manufacturer embazoned gear bag! LOL

You never know where you're gonna get a fun vacation picture. And that's the beauty of digital...you can keep shooting without spending the kind of money you used to have to in the film / develop / print days.