My latest travel dream – or, dare I say, travel plan, is St Helena.

From space, St Helena looks mountainous, rugged, rough…

How to get there? Several ways, probably. An airport is in the planning, which will make St Helena more accessible – but what I’d like is a slow, dreamy boat journey, perhaps aboard the Royal Mail ship. The ship offers the occasional game of cricket, but there are no theatres, no casinos, no golf ranges… sounds wonderful.

I wonder what Napoleon thought as he approached the island, knowing he would never leave.

Bay and Jamestown, Island of Saint Helena. Taken off the deck of the RMS St Helena
Photographer: Andrew Neaum

If one is to be exiled for life, St Helena probably isn’t the worst spot to be buried.

On the way, the boat stops in the equally mysterious Ascension Island.

Now, how to get my daughters to spend 31 days on board a boat…