Excellent post in every way! Thank you!
As confession is not initially easy (as you noted), I once thought of taking a train into Chicago to confess at
St. Peter's. They have confession Monday–Friday from 7:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 noon – 4:30 p.m., and every time I've been there (easy-peasy to get there by train and short walk), there have been people in the confessional and praying in the pews.
Also, I received this short video just yesterday via email on the subject of confession.
The young man in the video is a seminarian.