Vague title I know, but I'm enough of a beginner at this to not really know what I need to ask!

I would like to rent a server, that allows me to spin up different services, including things like Windows to use as a remote desktop. Ideally, I would then be able to just migrate this whole setup to my home server.

I thought it would be as easy as renting a scalable VPS, but apparently if you run something like Proxmox on those, you'll get terrible performance?

My understanding is that I'd need to rent a bare metal server, but then my 'scalability' will suffer- I can't just wind up and down the specs as needed, correct?

My user case: For the next several months, I'm on the road, without a proper computer. I may have some work doing some CAD drafting, hence Windows. I'd also like to have some containers to run some dev tools, databases, web hosting. I'd also like to use the same service to start building my future home server environment- nextcloud, *arr, etc. Once I'm back home, I'd like to easily migrate this setup to a local machine, then continue to use the server as my own cloud and public entry point. And further down the line, hosting a gaming server for friends. In terms of location, Sydney would be great.

Will a VPS do this? Or do I need bare metal? Is there a single service that will allow me to do both, with one billing? Or am I doing a Dunning-Kruger?

Thanks in advance for your hints.