I avoid apt because it does silly stuff. Always use apt-get. I suppose having to know that quirk is a con of the distro.

I just don’t use snaps and it works great for me. For docker I add their apt repository and install it like that.

What is so bad about Ubuntu server?

My one 3 is terrible. Keys dying after 2 or 3 years.

I did not but it was a system wide VPN.