I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, but a much easier place to colonize is the atmosphere of Venus. There's a band of altitude in Venus's atmosphere where it's equal pressure to earth and you'd be able to get out and walk around with a simple oxygen mask. Huge blimps could suspend colonies in this zone (think Bespin from Star Wars).
Interesting stuff, more info: https://bigthink.com/hard-science/how-to-colonize-venus/