I second this, if it’s only you that needs access then Tailscale will be all that you need. You can use Tailscale funnel if you want it to be available to the wider web, but then you have to manage SSL certificates and it is slightly less secure.

I would caution against port forwarding and leaving your server open to the wider web.

Water’s boiling point and freezing point depends on the pressure of the local atmosphere unfortunately! But I like your logic.