small heads up:

BIP324 is proceeding apace. looks like we could see it as early as bitcoin core version 27.0, if not 28.0 (so ~ next summer or later).

(that means bitcoin nodes can encrypt the data sent over (but not authenticate) their network connections with one another, for anyone wanting the tl;dr). This is a step toward one day obviating the need for VPN or Tor with Bitcoin clients, but is not sufficient on its own. It still improves privacy whether using VPN/Tor or not.