Does express VPN hide my searches from my network provider or do I have to turn something on ?
Your searches should be hidden to your network provider even without a VPN.
You don’t need a VPN at all. HTTPS takes care of this, and for additional privacy overall you should use encrypted DNS like Cloudflare or Quad9, and that’s it. You’re basically paying for a service (VPN) to give them your metadata. They really aren’t necessary or do much for privacy, despite their excellent PR and marketing.
So none of my searches will show to my network provider ??
Will encrypted dns also work for when you want an ip from a different location?
Questiob is what are you searching? lol