Actually WPA isn't really that good. For top level you want WPA2 which is supported in most equipment nowadays. WPA uses TKIP which is software based, slow and just a trumped up WEP. WPA2 uses AES encryption which is military level, yet licensed free for the whole world to use. Better yet most WiFi products include AES support in hardware so it doesn't slow things down.

However most public wifi doesn't use any security so you should run a layer 3 VPN and then you will have no worries.