eos550+15-85 -> travel?

hello

at the end of september i'll be going on holiday to argentina and brazil for couple of weeks.
I travel frequently and i'm sick of my compact camera.
So i've made up my mind and will be buying a dslr (EOS550D aka rebel t2i).
I was wondering if a 15-85 usm is would be a nice travel lens?

I prefer buying quality glass instead of the kit lenses, the kit with 18-55 and 55-200 has a nice range, but obviously they aren't exactly suberb. Also they seem to be a pain in the ass when i comes to using filters (and i can see a cp being usefull around the equator emoticon - wink.
When i have some more money i'll consider buying a 70-200 is (probably f4)

any thoughts on this would be appreciated?

kind regards
meuli