I'm almost 75 and my hands shake, so I'm always looking for ways to stabilize the camera.  I gave the GorillaPod a try and you can see my experience here.  I also bought an Ultrapod II and found it little more useful.  I carried a chain pod in my pocket for a while, and I have a Bogen-Manfrotto monopod which is useful under some conditions, but is almost as much trouble to carry as a lightweight tripod. 

I've been using a beanbag pod since my early thirties and still find it the most useful, short of a tripod.   My wife's been making these for 40 years.  I keep them in both cars.   The number of beans in a bag is done by trial and error.  The 8" one shown here is new and has a few too many beans. You want to be able to squish them around so you can put the camera in almost any position.  A rule of thumb may be to press into the middle of the bag with the side of your hand and see if you can work it around until you reach the surface the bag is on.

The illustrations below are on the sloping trunk of my car.  The first 6 pictures are of a single 8" bag.  The last 4 are using two 6" bags.  I think the two bags may be more versatile but it's more stuff to keep track of.