Building a new base or just use portals?

So from both a gameplay and realism perspective; should I move bases? I thought The biomes were one large mass so I thought building on the outskirts of this black Forrest was a good and safe place to build. So I built a nice base just outside the Black Forest but after getting bronze armor and being able to navigate the Black Forest, i learned that there are actually multiple, disjointed black forests and I also learned that the elder (or whatever the next boss name is) is super far away. Upon trying to get there I realized I have to cross not one, but two islands to get to him.

So now the question is do I pack up and build a new base closer to the boss or do I just build a portal and stay at my home bade. I had originally planned to build bases in all the different biomes as I progressed but now I’m wondering if I should just keep the one I have and improve it over time and use portals to navigate the world. Is there any gameplay reason that keeping this base is a BAD idea?

Also, from a realism perspective what makes more sense? I know it’s a game but idk I like to try to be realistic so if you’re a dude in Viking heaven would it be more practical to just keep the same base or to move around and build different ones as you go?