I am traveling to China for the first time. totally lost.

I have an unlocked iphone6. I do not need internet. All I want to do is call home a few times and receive calls from home. A friend said I should borrow a phone from her to put the sim card in. I would imagine I could just put it in my own phone. The hotels have business center with internet. Maybe sending an email home every couple of days would be cheaper? I am totally clueless here.