You can just use a graphical file manager in Linux like you might have been used to in Windows. When I open mine I see my windows partition and my USB drive listed on the left side.
I know Mint has one that I use all the time, but I’m not familiar with what’s in Ubuntu out of the box.
There may be an easier way to access the external drive, It depends on what you are bar is for difficult. Are we talking about a NAS or an external USB drive?
It's not supposed to be read only every time, The nasty command you enter is likely fixing a symptom.
A lot of times if you're swapping back and forth between windows and Linux the drive will be perceived as dirty. An fsck might be enough to make it stop misbehaving.
After you plug it in if you run sudo dmesg, It might give you some insight as to why it's being mounted read only, If you fix the underlying cause you won't have to remember the command anymore