Was the Apostle John's exile a major hardship? From what I understand, tradition says that the Disciple John was exiled to the Island of Patmos. Would this have been an inconvenience or a major hardship?
John exile to Patmos was a way to get rid of him. They tried killing him by immersing him in boiling oil, but God preserved his life. I think more out of shock and fear, his Roman captors sent him to Patmos to keep his influence away from the populace.

For further reading see the 1883 book Acts of the Apostles by Ellen G. White

EDIT:

Here is a brief description of the conditions on Patmos in White's Book, Acts of the Apostles.


  Patmos, a barren, rocky island in the Aegean Sea, had been chosen by
  the Roman government as a place of banishment for criminals; but to
  the servant of God this gloomy abode became the gate of heaven. Here,
  shut away from the busy scenes of life, and from the active labors of
  former years, he had the companionship of God and Christ and the
  heavenly angels, and from them he received instruction (p.571) for the
  church for all future time.


|


  While his surroundings might (p.572) be desolate and barren, the blue
  heavens that bent above him were as bright and beautiful as the skies
  above his loved Jerusalem. In the wild, rugged rocks, in the mysteries
  of the deep, in the glories of the firmament, he read important
  lessons. All bore the message of God's power and glory.


Though I'm not sure it's relevant, for full disclosure the author was a Seventh Day Adventist Christian.