Comment Physical security is a bigger problem. (Score 1) 312
First, don't forget physical security. Assume that someone WILL attempt to steal your netbook. Keep it in sight or locked up. Encrypt as much as you can (whole hard drive if at all possible). Make backups, even if that's just "webmail and flickr/picasa", to keep data loss to a minimum.
That said, I'd keep it simple. Get everything for your online banking set up before you go. Take a look at the certificates. Don't worry too much, but just know whether your bank's certificate has the name of your bank or the name of some parent company. Really, you want to know if something changes later.
Seriously consider two browsers: one for "safe" targeted work (checking bank balance, for example) and one for "browsing". Personally, I'd use Firefox for the safe stuff and Opera for everything else. The Opera Turbo http://www.opera.com/browser/turbo/ feature is really nice for slow or flaky connections.