Bridget Randolph, founder of luxury swimwear company Kiribati London, shares her travel highs and lows, tips and experiences - from luxury in the Maldives to getting lost in Rome. Read on for a special iloho offer on her stunning collection of Kiribati swimwear.

The best holiday I've ever had was...
The Maldives, without a doubt. Diving with turtles, lounging in hammocks, sundowners on the beach... heaven! We stayed at the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru (www.banyantree.com) on a secluded atoll in the Maldives archipelago.

If I could only recommend one place to see before you die it would be...
False Bay, South Africa. You can take a boat out and watch Great White Sharks feed. It's terrifying!

My one piece of travel advice is...
Pack light and do everything.

The best hotel I've ever stayed in is...
Hotel Costes (www.hotelcostes.com) in Paris. I was lucky enough to discover it before it became so renowned, but it is still a dark, mysterious haven that oozes naughtiness!

And the worst hotel I've ever stayed in is...
I have stayed in many truly horrible places, but I suppose if a hotel isn't pretending to be what it's not you can't really be disappointed. I think the most cringy place I ever stayed was a hotel called Deerhurst Resort in Ontario which was more conference centre than hotel. It had me giggling for days because it was so similar to the resort used in Dirty Dancing.

For a perfect holiday I need these ingredients...
A backgammon board, a great book and enough time to get properly lost.

I always pack...
Sun cream and the phone number of a friend of a friend who lives where I'm going. It's the only true way to see a place.

This year I have travelled to...
My husband-to-be is Canadian so we always disappear to the freshwater lakes near Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada during the summer, which I really love. This year has also been the "Year of Weddings" for us so we have also been to Italy and France a spoiling amount!

Next year I'm dying to go to...
I'm a bit of a nature nerd at heart so next year I would love to go and do some scuba diving off Australia.

The worst travel experience I've ever had is... Ryanair stranded me overnight in Rome; I was travelling alone and couldn't speak Italian. Since then I have vowed both to learn Italian and never to fly with Ryanair again.

My ideal travel companion is... Tina Fey. Can you imagine how much fun you would have?

Visit Kiribati online now and get 10% off the collection with special code iloho753 (enter the code at checkout).

Launched in June 2009, the Kiribati London collection of bikinis and swimsuits has had immediate success and is currently available at Heidi Klein boutiques in London and will be at Holt Renfrew in Canada from December. Kiribati also ships worldwide via the website www.kiribati-london.com.

Photo credits: The Maldives by daniel pozo; Great White Shark by hermanusbackpackers; Muskoka Lakes by Mary.

Halloween is fast approaching and with it an increased appetite for all things spooky and paranormal. Have you ever done a ghost tour on your travels? You might turn your nose up and say it's all a charade, but ghost tours can be a great way to learn more about the history of a place, as well as upping your adrenaline levels by a notch or two. So what's there to lose? Here are our picks of three of the world's best ghost tours.

Mary King's Close and the South Bridge Vaults: Edinburgh, Scotland
Mary King's Close and the South Bridge Vaults form part of Edinburgh's historic underworld (both lie hidden beneath the Royal Mile). As you descend into the darkness and mystery of the underground closes and vaults your imagination will get a real work out as you listen to the stories of ghosts, murders, plague victims and witches.

Mary King's Close today is the remains of a mediaeval street buried underneath Edinburgh's City Chambers and the Royal Mile - the paranormal happenings that have taken place there are world renowned. When the Black Death hit Edinburgh in 1645 there were around 500 of the city's poorest people living and working in Mary King's Close; about half of them were dead or dying from the disease. The story goes that the city decided to act against further outbreak and the Close's inhabitants were quarantined in their homes and left to die. If you go down to the Close look out for a young ghost called Annie; she's been spotted by lots of people over the years and there's one room in particular that she is rumoured to haunt.

The South Bridge Vaults were built in late 18th century, and abandoned by the 1830s - the corridors and chambers are still unchanged. Burke and Hare, the body snatchers who sold corpses to medical schools, are rumoured to have hunted for victims in these Vaults.

According to The Edinburgh Ghost Project 2001 there abnormally high levels of paranormal activity in Edinburgh's Underground Vaults. As added testament to the ghostly goings on in Edinburgh's underworld, the "Most Haunted" TV team has staged one of its live shows in the South Bridge Vaults and Mary King's Close.

For more info about the Mary King's Close tour visit Mercat Tours. For more info about the Vaults tour visit Auld Reekie Tours.

French Quarter: New Orleans, USA
The French Quarter is the oldest and most famous neighbourhood in America's "Most Haunted" city. Here ghost stories and paranormal sightings mingle with the very real, and very macabre "City of the Dead": St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, where you can visit the Queen of New Orleans Voodoo, Marie Laveau.

Laveau's former home at 1020 St. Ann Street is said to be one of the French Quarter's most haunted spots. People are said to have seen her spirit, along with those of her followers, engaged in Voodoo ceremonies there.

Another must-see spot for ghost-busters is Madame LaLaurie's house at 1140 Royal Street. She was responsible for the torture, mistreatment and death of many of her slaves, and apparently you can still here the screams of her victims today.

Visitors to New Orleans can take their pick from several ghost tours of the French Quarter, amongst the best operators are Haunted History Tours, New Orleans Ghost Tour, and Historic New Orleans Walking Tours.

Read more about New Orleans' most haunted destinations here.

Catacombs of Paris: Paris, France
The Catacombs of Paris (L'Ossuaire Municipal) houses a vast collection of human bones in a network of subterranean tunnels and caverns. The catacombs were created in the 1780s to house remains overspilling from the city's overcrowded and badly maintained cemeteries - it's thought that there are around six million Parisians buried in the catacombs.

Believers maintain that the way the bones were uprooted from their original resting spots and placed in the tunnels was disrespectful and this is what causes the paranormal hoo-hah in the catacombs. There have been reports of ghostly voices and moving shadows down in the underground tunnels. Are you brave enough to handle it...?

Find out more about the Catacombs Ghost Tour here.

Have you been on a ghost tour? Which one did you take and what did you think?

Photo Credits: "Ghost Tour" by thecnote; "Haunted? 1140 Royal Street" by raelb; "Catacombs" by jrmyst. All via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Everyone has a Paris that they fantasise about. Some dream of dining in candlelit bistros, others hanker after markets heaving with cheeses and warm baguettes, perhaps you imagine getting lost in a maze of old streets, stumbling upon delicious patisseries and hidden courtyards.

The sad truth is that whatever your particular Paris fantasy is, it's hard to find in reality. The City of Lights is a big and busy capital: tourists swarm, noses in guidebooks, from The Louvre to the Musée d'Orsay to the Eiffel Tower to the Champs Elysees to Montmartre. Getting off the beaten track is no mean feat. Many of the city's rarest treats are almost impossible to find, eluding even the most avid of guidebook writers behind unassuming doors.

So, what if for €175, less than the cost of a pair of Parisian Louboutins, you could find your fantasy? Richard Nahem, a native New Yorker, has been living in Paris for three years with one mission: to show people the city he loves and the one that tourists seldom see. From the moment he made the move to France he was inundated with requests from friends and acquaintances to show people the "real" Paris and now he's made a business of it, Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which dovetails with the places that he features on his blog Eye Prefer Paris.

Richard's tours cater to a maximum of 6ish people so you're guaranteed a personalised experience. Based on clients' interests tours take a specific theme – e.g. shopping, markets and gourmet food, architecture and culture. Standard tours (€175) last three hours, those looking for more can extend to a full day, three days or a week if needs be.

Most tours centre on the Marais district, Richard's home and area of expertise, which spreads across the third and fourth arrondissements. Le Marais is one of Paris's most impressive areas, packed with 16th and 17th century private mansions, secret courtyards, neighbourhood restaurants, outstanding patisseries and traditional ateliers. Unless you know where they are however they all too easy to miss, chances are you'll be swallowed up instead by the tourists who flock to the district's famous gay bars and kosher restaurants.

Richard describes the perfect three hours in Paris as exploring the Place des Vosges (the oldest square in the city, dating back to 1605); stopping for a coffee and a pastry at one of the best patisseries in town; visiting a chocolate shop where you can buy all the chocolate sculptures you could ever dream of; uncovering a secret garden where wild roses grow unchecked; soaking up impressive 16th and 17th century architecture and exploring former private mansions.

Food lovers can look forward to Paris's Bastille food market (the city's biggest), gourmet food shops and the inside scoop on where to eat. Die-hard shoppers will feel lightheaded at the prospect of speciality shops, exclusive to Paris, where you can pick up organic cosmetics, stashes of handcrafted jewellery, piles of pashminas and Parisian couture. Culture vultures can sate themselves on Richard's expert knowledge of the history behind the city's streets, buildings and gardens.

As Richard puts it, "I'm here to fulfil peoples' Paris fantasy" - everyone dreams about Paris and whether your version includes ateliers and authentic restaurants or palaces and patisseries, Richard's goal is to find you exactly what you've been looking for.

For more information on Richard's tours and to contact him please visit Eye Prefer Paris Tours.

The Eiffel Tower, the world's most visited landmark, is to open a champagne bar for tourists.

The 119 year old iron edifice is to undergo a host of modernisations, set for completion in 2015, to slash queuing times and attract more Parisians, school groups and disabled visitors.

From next year, groups will be able to book pre-paid Internet tickets.

Other plans include renovating the area between the landmark's four feet, where tourists currently queue for up to 2 hours, and opening more tourist shops.

http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/