How do i connect with friends?

I have minecraft, and am a redstone kinda guy, so i like to make stuff for my friends. Buuut i cant play with them unless i open a LAN at my house and they have to come over. Alot of them use some program, cant remember the name, but what is the easiest safest way to connect?

You could use Hamachi, but I don't really like using it. I prefer Port-Forwarding. Search YouTube for that

I use Hamachi, it is easy to use and safe.

But it's annoying