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I've been browsing bank websites trying to learn the fees of traveling and ATM withdraws outside of Canada. It ain't simple! You've got transaction fees from your bank in Canada (usually $5) as well as the foreign ATM bank (hopefully they tell you before the transaction is completed), you've got foreign exchange fees (usually 2.5%) of the amount you withdraw, then you've got hospital fees after you get mugged withdrawing the money. Also, exchange rates differ significantly. Its not uncommon for many travelers to spend almost 10% of their money on bank fees! This is outrageous. But its great for the banks. Maybe this is an indication that we're working too much these days. People are just too tired to hunt around for a bargain.
Going to the US is much easier than beyond North America but one problem is there seems to be no bank in Canada offering a US$ account where it is accessible with an ATM card outside of the country. You'd think that'd be one of the primary reasons people get this account.
So you need to get a good Canadian to US exchange rate (best I've seen is
XE.com (you may need to log in...its very close to ING's rate).
INGdirect.ca: http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/acc...../ourrates/ (2nd from the bottom)
HSBC: http://www.hsbc.ca/1/2/persona.....y-exchange
TD Borderless: http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/f...../rates.jsp
3rd one down is the Borderless rate but this has lots of fees or a minimum $5000 balance with no interest.

Because when you're in a country like Mexico, the bank here first converts to a US currency so you get a better rate outside of North America. Nobody down there wants our silly currency. You'll notice frequently that the spread between the 2 currencies there is far greater (sometimes 5 times or more) than the spread here. That's their way of saying "don't bring Canadian money here". So your bank converts to US before converting to their currency. So getting that good US exchange rate is important.

RBC USA (US$ account on US soil though its technically a virtual bank now) offers an interesting account you can open by phone if you have a RBC account in Canada and a passport. Look for the Savings account that allows 6 withdraws/month with a minimum balance of just $300, not their ripoff checking account. Now you can seamlessly move your money from RBC Canada (from your US$ account there) to your RBC USA account to access it free from an ATM. There are lots of ATM's in the places people usually go to for vacations in the US. They cater to snowbirds of course.

Both XE and ING allow you to move your US$ money online (no other banks allow this I think) but with XE it involves XE pulling money from your Canadian account, changing the currency, then pushing it to your US account. ING allows 3 accounts to be linked. If you're buying stuff in the US, BMO has a 0.5% cash back credit card that is $25/year or that's waived if you spend $1000 annually. Of course, once you get your RBC USA account you can probably get their credit card (no annual fee but no cash back) which will be funded by that bank account. That way you can sell in the US on Ebay, move the money from Paypal to your RBC USA account, then buy with your RBC USA credit card which is funded by that account. Everything stays south of the border.

Hope this helps some people.