With no cache on my local network, Chrome reports the page loads fully in ~500ms, using the "slow 3G connection" performance tab preset it takes ~4s.
If you're nowhere near Little Rock, Arkansas; that might be the issue. I don't yet use a CDN and it always loads the same resolution image ("high" quality JPEG, ~200kb apiece).
One interesting hiccup: I had to introduce a NAT at pfSense because MacBooks don't listen to ICMP redirects, the packet would go laptop -> router -> k8s and then k8s -> laptop. Since the MacBook ignored the ICMP redirect, it drops the reply packet.
I host a web site on an LC III+ which is often compiling and multiple tens of megabytes in to swap, so I know what slow looks like:
(the page is about an LC II, but currently it's hosted by an LC III+)