A previous poster beat me to it
The hiking stick/monopod is excellent because it's light, collapses easily, especially if it's made of aluminum or carbon fiber, and gives you *just* enough stability to get that shot. It's not great, but it's infinitely better than no 'pod at all. And you'll not notice it 90% of the time. And if you're getting older like many of us are, a hiking/walking stick is a fantastic thing in and of itself.
I prefer to travel light and low-tech as possible, so on trips I often bring an old rangefinder and a few rolls of film with a monopod. The whole thing fits in a jacket pocket and clips to my belt. If you have a SLR type setup, then you can easily put the pod in the bag, but I really recommend the light and simple approach as well, because you can get shots in seconds and still not look like a "mug me now" tourist who's carrying two bags full of gear.
(don't laugh - I've seen people like this more often that you'd think)
Also bring a small tabletop/travel tripod. Some are slip in your pocket tiny and there are usually tons of places to prop a camera on or against on a trip. Obviously a quick-release on both pods would be ideal - then you can move from one to the other without having to mess with changing back and forth manually.