My father was the dentist on St Helena from 1998-2022. I visited, taking a military jet from Brize Norton airbase in the UK to Ascension Island, and then a 3-day boat on the RMS St Helena. I never took the 5-day boat from South Africa. It's a hilly and rugged place, and very green. I was a student when I went there, and I was with my twin brother and we met another set of twins who were visiting at the same time. They were our age and we all got pissed and shared the cheap cigs. My bro and one of them climbed Jacob's Ladder late at night after many beers, and they took ages while we waited at the top. They kept having to stop to vomit. That was an excellent Christmas and new year.

St Helena has "recently" (inside last decade) got an airport and a weekly service from Johannesburg, South Africa via Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Before that it was only accessible via an infrequent ship which took 3 days out of Cape Town, South Africa.

But given the air link it is a lot more accessible now.

Tristan is still only accessible via sea, and even if you make it there, there's no guarantee you can land. There is no port, so ship-to-land transfers are via small boat, so the whole process is very weather dependent.

Both islands though have a really interesting history, and are well worth reading about, even if you never get there.

And these days you can get a flavor of local life via the local newspaper online. https://sthelenaonline.org/st-helena-independent/

I'd like to see Ascension Island too, but it is apparently quite restricted.