On a high quality flash drive, it will be decent. or, you can do the cheaper, more convenient way by installing Oracle’s free VirtualBox program and testing a bunch of distros. Be sure to try out as much of the software that a distro comes with as you can even if you dislike the distro itself. And, makes notes of the themes you like. I’d think an external drive might be a convenient option that can be used at work, at home, while visting your family in Kentucky…But, VMs are the cheapest and there is even software to clone a VM into an iso after you’ve customized it how you want it, then load the .iso onto a driveshaft to permanently install on “bare metal”.
so you have the ultra-cheap Mullvad service and it is fast enough for you? This is the same one where I can send in cash to Mullvad to pay - umm, the super-anonymous Mullvad VPN?