Privacy Policy

I respect your privacy and am committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information I may collect and how it may be used.

By visiting The Flashpacker, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy. Please note that this policy does not describe information collection practices on other sites, including those linked to or from The Flashpacker.

1. Who am I?

My name is Bridget Coleman and I am the owner of The Flashpacker. I am based in London, England.

My website address https://www.theflashpacker.net/

To contact me please email hello@theflashpacker.net

2. Cookie policy

A cookie is a small file that is sent from a website and stored on your computer whilst you are accessing that website.

By visiting The Flashpacker, you agree by default for cookies to be placed on your device.

If you do not want The Flashpacker to place cookies on your device, you can refuse the use of cookies via your browser’s settings or options. However, this may stop the site from functioning properly.

There are three different types of cookies used:

Performance cookies: These allow me to understand visitors’ interactions with the website, for example via Google Analytics.

These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website; for instance, which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages.

Although Google Analytics does collect demographic data such as age, gender and which country you are based in, these cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works.

This information is only used for me to adapt the content within my website to reflect my audience and make it a better experience for them.

Cookies associated with affiliate programs: The Flashpacker is a participant in affiliate programs (see below). These affiliate programs utilise cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.
Strictly necessary cookies: These allow visitors to navigate around The Flashpacker. Any information gathered by these cookies is not used for marketing purposes. They are anonymous.

If you leave a comment on The Flashpacker you may opt in to save your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit my login page, I will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, I will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

You can learn more about cookies at allaboutcookies.org

3. How long I retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so I can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

4. What rights do you have over your data?

If you have left comments on this site, you can request that I erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

5. Where I send your data: Askimet

Visitor comments are checked through an automated spam detection service, Askimet. This helps filter out spam comments before they are published on the site.

Askimet collects information about visitors who comment on The Flashpacker. This information includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).

6. Where I send your data: Email subscription list data

Who holds your data?

The Flashpacker uses a company called Mailerlite to manage the email list and to automatically send out my newsletters. Your data are held by Mailerlite and not by The Flashpacker.

By signing up to my email list, you consent to me passing your data to Mailerlite. Your data may be held outside the European Union.

What do I do with your data?

Your email address is only used for sending my newsletters. I do not share your personal information with third parties.

What data do I hold?

The only data I hold is your email address + / – your name.

What usage data is collected?

Mailerlite tracks how many of my emails you open and whether you click on any links. I use these data only to identify and delete accounts that are no longer active.

How can you unsubscribe?

Should you change your mind at any time, you are welcome to unsubscribe. You can do this by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of each email.

7. Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

IP Address
Operating System type
Operating System version
Device Type
Language of the website
Web browser type
Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.

8. Affiliate Program Disclosure Policy

As part of my commitment to my readers, I only recommend companies, services and products that I love using and ones that I believe to be relevant and high-quality.

Some of the links on The Flashpacker are affiliate links. If you purchase products or services through these links, I may get paid a small commission. This does not incur any extra cost to you.

Here are the links to the privacy notices of the main companies for whom I am an affiliate.

Amazon

The Flashpacker is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Click here for US Amazon Privacy Notice

The Flashpacker is also a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Click here to find out how Amazon UK uses your personal information.

Booking.com

Click here for the Privacy Statement for booking.com

GetYourGuide

Click here for the Privacy Policy from GetYourGuide

Affiliate Schemes via Commission Junction (TripAdvisor and G Adventures)

Click here for their approach to the collection of personal data

Affiliate Schemes via Awin (Explore Worldwide)