We run our platform in different cities and they are all on-prem(custom server or managed hypervisor). After hearing horror stories about kubernetes on prem, we are happy that we decided to go with docker swarm.

K8s is the new platform, you're just delaying the inevitable. Get with the program or suffer when your lack of knowledge makes you deficient in the platform uptake.

However, being an early adopter is not usually wise. Better to wait until lots of other people have found the bugs and improved the documentation.