Telescope buying for dummies... please help! I don't know where to start!

[JOC]

Hi Hollie, I'm sure you will end up picking something suitable, but as I wrote above bear in mind that you do have a more than reasonable budget.  I think that should easily sort out something travelable AND something nicer for home use, esp. second hand - there were some nice binoculars listed in the SGL buy and sell section within the last few days, and I think they are still available.  I've seen that lots of SGLers use those on a small tripod for stargazing portably and then you can get nice second-hand scope for the home

[popeye85]

well be sure to let us know how you get on and what you eventually go for!

[Starpaw]

A Skywatcher Mak 127 on a Starwave Mini AZ mount/Horizon 8115 would be a fairly solid and light combination for planetary and double star observation, and within your budget.  I use the same setup albeit with a Celestron C6 rather than the Mak, and don't actually have a garden to observe in so I'm reliant on carting the whole lot downstairs or travelling to astronomy clubs.  If you could stretch your budget further, you could get a light but solid carbon tripod, which would shave a couple of kilos in weight from the setup I mentioned.