

Don’t forget to convert the currency. $5 USD /gal is about $1.50 CAD /L, which is bang for Western Canada and cheaper than gas prices right now in Eastern Canada.
You’re right though, those aren’t the insane prices the original poster thinks they are for countries outside the US.

If you ever decide to set aside time to tackle a re-install, you should consider setting up a file system that supports snapshots, or since you’re used to only using flatpaks, an immutable distro. Then you won’t fear updates because you can easily roll back as if they didn’t happen.