If you are looking for nostalgic "memory" photos and don't care too much about photo quality, then get a point and shoot.
If you're interested in getting good photos, then invest in a compact digital SLR (dSLR) with a versatile zoom lens.
I carry both a POS and dSLR. It's nice to be able to pull the POS out of my pocket and snap a pic very quickly without a lot of fuss. But it's also nice to be able to take quality photos with control over exposure parameters, or even with full manual exposure and lens control, with a dSLR.
If your primary concern is getting quality photos, then you will find a way to carry the dSLR.