Best device for taking photos and storing them??

Will you have a laptop/notebook with you? Is your Panasonic Lumix WIFI compatible?

We prefer to take photos with a point-and-shoot such as your Lumix. (I now use a Canon Powershot.) No, not a fancy DSLR but I take far better photos with the control the P&S offers versus my Samsung Galaxy. Every couple of days we download the photos from the camera to a laptop (mine is very light and I would not travel without it) and they are then saved to the cloud via MOZY (www.mozy.com). I also save photos I like that I snap with my phone by putting them on the laptop so they are all in one place.

As to the weight of technology, whether for one week or two months I take my phone, iPad, and Surface. Each has a different use. They all go into my daypack with my jacket for travel days. I also have a 21" rollaboard. That's it. I am willing to lug the tch for the convenience.

Smartphones take very good photos and can match or even outperform many basic cameras.
I assume you have a google account with the current Moto G5. Photos you take on that will sync over Wi-Fi into Google Photos

If you buy a Samsung Galaxy add your google account to that phone and photos will sync into the same google account.

You can do the same with the iPad.

If you buy a new camera make sure it has Wi-Fi capabilities to upload photos (once again they can all go into a goggle account)

Log into you google account on a PC/Mac and see your photos in all their glory

It’s easier than you think.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photos&hl=en_GB

No, we don't have a laptop or tablet, only the ipad.

Panasonic camera is a 2007 model...I'm thinking clouds were still used for rain, back then.

What model Canon you have, that you are happy with?

Can photos be downloaded from a camera to an ipad, and sent/stored to mozy or google photos?

My phone Mi4C take perfect photos)

No, we don't have a laptop or tablet, only the ipad.

Your ipad is a tablet device.

Can photos be downloaded from a camera to an ipad, and sent/stored to mozy or google photos?

see here https://support.apple.com/en-gb/ht202037

once transferred to the iPad they can then be synced to the cloud (i.e. Google photos or Apple's Photos).

Use that adapter to transfer the photos on the SDCard to your iPAD. I did that for many hears, every night when when traveling. Now I use my iPhone as a. Camera and the photos transfer to the ipad automatically when using wifi.

Okay, I think we just synced our moto g5 cell phone to the ipad.
Now all the photos that we are taking on the cell phone appear on the ipad shortly after, automatically.

Is this the way synced devices should function-automatically sending all photos taken on one device, to the other synced device?

Is there a way to set the operation to be able to send only those photos of choice, rather than all that are taken?

That Panasonic camera is capable of taking great tourist/travel photos. It's simpler to use than a DSLR (and smaller to pack) and will take better photos than most, if not all, cell phones.
Get a couple decent-sized SD cards for it, and offload the files to your iPad as needed.
If your iPad doesn't have a card reader built in, you can probably get one for less than $20.

I carried an older Sony on my last trip to Italy which is similar in function to your Panasonic.
I've always been interested in photography, so I recently bought a Nikon DSLR to use on my next trip.
I'll take quick snaps with the phone, but lug out the Nikon if I want to do any nicer shots.

Is this the way synced devices should function-automatically sending all photos taken on one device, to the other synced device?

Yes

Is there a way to set the operation to be able to send only those photos of choice, rather than all that are taken

In Google Photos Settings turn off back up and sync

Take your photo(s)

In the Google Photos app, press and hold to select the photo(s) you want to manually sync

A + symbol should appear on the blue bar at the top your screen

Tap the + symbol and create a new Album

The photo(s) will upload into a new Album

Name the Album and select the tick symbol to save and selectively sync your photo(s)