It wasn’t the delayed train in Vietnam or the guesthouse that looked nothing like its photos. It wasn’t even getting completely lost in the backstreets of Chiang Mai without data. The thing that genuinely caught me off guard on my first proper solo trip through Southeast Asia was how differently the internet works once you cross certain borders — and how completely unprepared I was for it.

Thailand is mostly fine. Singapore is flawless — honestly, better connectivity than most European cities. But in Vietnam, Cambodia, and especially if you’re pushing further into China or Myanmar, the situation changes fast. WhatsApp has been throttled in Vietnam before. Telegram was blocked there entirely in 2025 — Reuters reported on the order when it

happened, and travellers caught out by it had no warning. Google Maps, your banking app, the accommodation booking site you’ve been using all trip — these all behave differently depending on which country’s network you’re on and what that government has decided to restrict that week.

This isn’t fearmongering. It’s just what Southeast Asia is actually like for travellers who rely on their iPhones to navigate, communicate, and stay in touch with people back home.

The biggest mistake I see people make — and I made it too — is thinking about this stuff once they’re already there. By then you’re jet-lagged, you can’t find the app you need because the App Store is slow, and you’re standing outside an airport trying to figure out why nothing works.

The two things that actually matter: a local SIM (or eSIM — much easier these days, you can activate it before you even board), and a decent VPN installed and tested before departure. For the VPN side, I use it on my iPhone now whenever I’m travelling — it takes about two minutes to set up and you won’t notice it’s running. If you’re on iOS, a VPN for iPhone like ExpressVPN installs like any other app and connects with one tap. I’ve used it in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand — it’s become as automatic a part of packing as making sure I have my adapter.

Every travel blog (including this one, honestly) spends a lot of time on where to eat and what temples to visit. Fair enough — that’s what people want. But there’s a whole category of practical, slightly boring stuff that makes the difference between a stressful trip and an easy one.

Beyond connectivity, a few things I’ve learned the hard way on trips through Thailand and the wider region: Screenshot everything. Directions, booking confirmations, and the address of your guesthouse in the local script. Your data will fail you at the worst possible moment and offline screenshots are a lifesaver.

Keep one card that works internationally with no fees. The number of times I’ve been stuck in a town with one ATM that charges a ridiculous fee — just find a card that absorbs that and move on.

Download offline maps for every country before you go, not just the main cities. I once spent two hours trying to find a guesthouse in rural Laos with zero signal and a town name I couldn’t pronounce. Offline maps would have fixed that in thirty seconds.

None of this is glamorous advice. It doesn’t make for a great Instagram caption. But sorting out the boring infrastructure of travel — SIM, VPN, offline maps, backup payment — is what frees you up to actually be present wherever you are. When you’re not fighting with your phone, you notice more. You talk to people more. You wander more.

That’s the whole point of being out there, isn’t it?