Again, I repeat. you must decide what you want in a travel camera. I am a sometime bird photographer as well as just as racing photographer on occassion.
I have tried using my smaller Canon PowerShoot SX20is which is a step up from a P&S. I used to have a Olympus Camedia C350 about 15 years ago (my first digital camera)... it was pretty good for its day and I still have it (making sure I purchased 2 extra media cards so it would still be usable today) I took it on several trips and it was a great p&s camera... but there was a 1-2 second delay in pressing the shutter to taking a picture. I was surprised one day when I took a panned shot of a rider on horseback and it actually came out half decent. But I was always disappointed taking bird pictures... damn birds don't pose for 2 seconds very often and they had to be reasonably close. But as a travel camera it was great!
Here are examples of pictures with the Olympus Camedia... the picture of the horse riders was a panned shot that worked.
Not the greatest picture but considering the time from pressing the shutter to taking the picture was 1-2 sec... not bad and it certainly brings me back to the day it was taken.
Here is more of a candid shot with the same camera
Again a decent candid of people feeding Koi in a park
Now here is a step up from a P&S to the Canon PowerShot SX 20
Well what did I gain with this camera? More control of the exposure in a rather shady Mumbai street showing a tailor and key maker at work. I also gained a zoom lens that allowed me to be further away from my subject and more mega pixels and video if I want it. Again a nice reminder of life in Mumbai.
Neither of these cameras would have a chance at taking these pictures.
These are taken with my Pentax ist DL with a Tamron 70-300 zoom. The first is a Northern Harrier about to capture an unlucky gopher and the second are mallards on the wing... both are panned shots.
The Pentax ist DL with the Tamron is still my working camera... I have resisted upgrading to a better camera...so far anyway. But I reserve it for nature and racing photography that I do... I use the Canon Powershot for travel and actually I now have a tiny Canon 1953 that I got at a surplus store recently for $30.00... 16 mega pixels and 5x zoom. Hopefully it will be a great candid camera on a trip.
As I have said before, deciding on what camera you want starts with deciding what you want to do with it.