gypsywizard, so now that it's been almost 2 years, what did you settle on in terms of banks, accounts, credit cards, etc? Are you still traveling? I am about to go traveling through Mexico, South America and then in the summer to the World Cup in South Africa and am wrestling with the same issues you mentioned here. I currently have a local bank account which was bought out by Capital One, a Citibank High Yield Savings account with checking, a Citibank Advantage miles credit card and an American Express. I'm thinking of getting a Schwab account and moving some money there for my trip and then using ATMs to get at it.
Like you, I like the web presence of ING Direct and find them the easiest to understand but from my research it seems Visa debit cards are more widely accepted in Central America than MasterCards.
Eventually I could consolidate some of these accounts as I also have a TD Ameritrade account for stocks and such that I could move into the Schwab brokerage account if I like it as well as get rid of my Citibank high yield account and put that money into the Schwab one as well. For now though I figure I'd keep them all and see which one fares the best and lose the losers in the summer. Anyway, I was simply curious about your experience now that you've had a lot of time at it. Thanks in advance for any sage advice you can give.
