First, welcome to the AT forums.
Once you have figured out the category of camera you want, take a look at the digicam section of
http://www.geeks.com - they usually carry a good selection of refurb digicams at good prices. They were having a good clearance sale yesterday that had a Kodak with 5 megaPixels and 10x optical zoom for only $180. - a lot of camera for the money. Lots of good info and relatively reliable reviews can be found at
http://www.steves-digicams.com as well as the sites linked in the posts above. The Z740 that is selling for $180. again right now and for about 6 more hours got a very good-to excellent rating there.
The geeks also have a Konica/Minolta DiMAGE Z5 refurb with 12x optical zoom for just over $200. Those are usually very good across the board too and got a very good review from Steve's.
The two cameras I mentioned here are SLR sized units so not for you if what you need is a compact unit. And were both over $400. MSRP when introduced.
I also recommend that you get a camera (if digital rather than film is the way you choose to go) that uses a common type of memory card so that you'll likely be able to buy one in a pinch just about wherever you are - SD cards are my preferred type. And make sure it can use ordinary AA batteries as well as any other special battery pack(s) it may use and for the same reason - they're readily available anywhere in a pinch. But as always, thinking ahead is always best so you'll always have extra, charged batteries and memory cards on hand so you won't have to run out and buy overpriced spares at the last minute.
.bh.
PS: You might want to reconsider your choice of avatar - those military ones have always reminded me of chicoms...