Returned home yesterday after 18 days in China. Enjoyed my trip immensly but ate too much.

My T-mobile Magenta plan and Airalo esim kept me connected. Had installed Proton VPN but quickly noticed I didnt need it since all the sites I wanted to access were accessible.

Easily accessed WhatsApp to share pictures and phone calls with family in US.

Used WeChat to communicate and share pictures within our group, but I did not activate the payment feature because I had trepidations about providing my passport info to activate credit card access. As a result, I had to channel my inner Blanche DuBois whenever (often) I encountered a no-cash ice cream vending machine.

At metro systems in various cities one person usually bought tickets for everyone because it was taking too long for 12 people to buy tickets individually (factor in that most in the group are ages 70+ years).

Used trip.com to book hotel<->airport transfers for entering and exiting China and Taipei.

Apple maps was fine when wandering on my own. Used the airtag in my hotel room as fail-safe to guide me back in case I got lost (never!)

Google Translate was sufficient; I had downloaded Simplified and Traditional Chinese pre-trip.

FWIW, my general phone hygiene when traveling outside US is to disable automatic iOS and app updates, turn off Wifi except in hotel room, not access my banking or credit card apps/sites, and keep Location off unless lost. If Columbus found India without fancy-smancy smartphones, I should be able to navigate the streets and subways in any major city!