Agreed, it's got a lot better in the last few years in terms of the standard of clubs and in a normal year there is the opportunity to go on some great trips to great places.
I've made peace with the fact that we (Celtic) are en EL club and no longer a CL club despite the former being less glamorous and less financially lucrative than the CL. The concept of getting utterly spanked by the elite clubs for whatever financial gain has worn thin. I also think the gap between the elite and the rest has got even wider the last few years. Before it was just pot 4 teams in the main who got pastings but sides like Bayern are routinely horsing clubs with a lot of resources now like Chelsea, Spurs, etc.