Bore da, ~johano!
I started out the same way. It was first me trying to get Nextcloud working so I could move away from Google (spoiler: Nextcloud is more of a backup thing now, as my SO finds nextcloud slow, and so she still uses Google Fotos for most things).
Then I struggled a lot in getting an HTTPS Let's Encrypt certificate running on my home server without a public IP4 address (Spoiler: do an ssh reverse proxy to a machine that has a public IP, and forward only your port 80 so that the certificates are still installed on your home server).
And then I disappeared down this rabbit hole :-)
I'm currently dabbling in open source drone programs, converting an old Parrot Bebop drone into an automated device I can control with my Pi. I'm at stage one currently: getting the damn Arducopter firmware on to the damn drone, and communicating with it via Mission Control. The calibration is the next step, and it's way more fiddly then the original firmware. Speaking of radios, I might have to erect something serious keep the drone connected....
Messing around is fun!
Sut wyt ti gyda'r nos 'ma, ~tetris?
My path was kinda the same, I wanted to get away from using Google Drive and Dropbox, etc, so I set up Nextcloud and then wound up using it for syncing calendars and contacts and so on. It's worked pretty well, although it's getting to the point where I may need to upgrade my hardware to make it snappier... that's my other homelab project for the year, I guess.
I also had struggles getting Let's Encrypt setup while behind CG-NAT, my solution was to go ahead and pay for static IP but I might do your solution in the future.
Ooohh drones are intriguing to play with too :)