I have a Nikon D80; it's a fantastic camera.
The Canon EOS 400D is significantly cheaper and comes very very close to the D80 in performance according to reviews. I only went with the D80 because I already had Nikon accessories and by the time I'd sold them on eBay (at a loss) and bought the Canon equivalents I'd have spent as much money.
You mentioned in an earlier post "Canon EOS 400D is a great camera, just out of my price range at the moment". I bought a lesser camera on that basis a couple of years ago and regretted it - eventually I sold it (at a loss) and bought the D80 that I always really wanted.
My advice for what it's worth - cancel a couple of flights, bank the money and go for the EOS 400D or D80.
RC