I am looking for a traveler camera "tripod" that is durable, sturdy, and won't break the bank!!!

Manfrotto is my choice of tripods. You can practically drive a truck over them and they'll still be ok. They have a wide variety of heads that meet anything you could possibly need. But they may also break the bank.

When shopping for a tripod you have a number of things you need to consider.

First there's the head, you can have one that allows you to adjust all axies, which is handy for architecture and group shots and stuff but a pain for most other things. You can get a pan head that allows you to track a bird or a sporting event with one single handle. They're wonderful for sports and wild life but a real pain when you have to set things up precisely. There is the ball head that allows you instant position changes in any direction, they're amazing if you need to constantly reposition the camera but they're a pain when you have to do it precisely. So make a decision on what kind of a head you need.

Then the legs are the next issue. Depending on the weight you intend to load on it, you may need really robust legs. Keep in mind it's not just the weight of the camera and a lens, you may need to hang a twenty pound rock from the tripod to keep it steady in a strong wind. The legs should be easy to adjust but securely locked once adjusted. The other thing to consider is whether they should go flat on the ground (perfect for macro photography) or remain upright, simply spread out. Some tripod legs are aluminum which cuts down weight and that's usually the material of choice. However there are carbon fibre tripods too (read - very expensive though) which are incredibly light and yet also strong.

Then you need to decide on what kind of a column you need. Many consumer tripods have a central column that has a crank for raising and lowering it. That's fine but it's a rather slow way and jittery way to get it up and down when you're in a hurry. I find columns without the crank more practical and faster. But then the column also gets in the way when doing macro photography so one of my tripods doesn't have one for that reason.

Once you've made those decisions all that remains is how tall it should be fully extended and what should it weigh. My tripods vary in weight from about three pounds for a light flimsey one to about twenty pounds for a really tough robust one. Weight is a factor for stability and also a factor for carrying around all day. My tripods also vary in height from flat on the ground to about nine feet.

So those are the decisions you need to make before buying. Once you've made those decisions, leading camera stores can offer you something to fulfill your needs. The brands aren't too important unless you're into the high end.

To answer your question another way, I have that I travel with. One is the new heavy duty gorilla pod which doesn't stand very high (about a foot) but allows me to wrap it around a tree limb if necessary. It weights about a pound. Another is a really short cute Slik. It's aluminum with a pan head, that stands, fully extended to about two feet. It weighs about a pound and looks like a regular tripod except in miniature. Once in a while depending on my subject material, I have a larger Slick also out of aluminum that is about eighteen inches folded and about six feet high fully open. It weighs about two pounds. I take that one when I really have to have the height. So those are my usual travel options.

However when I'm not flying but driving instead I'll have my Manfrotto and sometimes my macro tripod too because they provide me solid support under all conditions.

Expect to pay about $35 - $100 for my travel options. The others go up to about $500.

I hope that helps a little.