Same thing happened to me when I moved to China for work. I remember sitting in my hotel trying to open Gmail and just staring at the endless loading circle. I ended up digging around online and found this guide 
this list of paid VPNs which explained everything about how the blocks work and which VPNs still function reliably there. Got one set up in like 15 minutes, and suddenly everything worked again. Total lifesaver.                    
 
        
                
Man, that sounds stressful. I rely on a few sites daily for work and entertainment, so I can’t imagine losing access like that. Even when my internet goes down for a few hours, I feel totally disconnected. It really shows how much of our routine depends on being online — not just for fun, but for basic communication and info too.
So last month I woke up and suddenly half the sites I use daily just… stopped loading. At first, I thought it was my Wi-Fi acting up, but nope — turns out they were actually blocked where I’m staying right now. YouTube, Reddit, even a few news pages wouldn’t open. It was honestly such a weird feeling realizing how dependent I’d become on those. How did you guys handle it when your go-to sites suddenly went dark?