Fair point - but I think that by 2022 it was already fine where I was. I lived in a very touristic city at the time, so the period after I gained freedom of movement before the tourists returned was actually pretty nice as for once it felt like the city belonged to those who lived there.

I also very much felt during the pandemic that I was wasting one of the best years of my life. Still not complaining though - rather that than one of my more formative years.