Actually I'm interested to hear your perspective because I have no experience of anything like that.
I just feel like star trek has romanticised space exploration to the point where most people can't conceptualise the hardships that would be involved.
Just as an example, on the ISS, just outside earth's atmosphere, ive heard that the air smells putrid. Astronauts just deal with it because they're passionate about the project.
I guess my pessimistic view is that "life on Mars" would basically be very similar to life on a submarine but with no ports or shore leave or furlough.