WHO IS BACKPACK & EXPLORE

Backpack & Explore is a travel blog by Sinjana Ghosh. We discuss traveling with a full-time job and family. Our website is currently monetized through affiliate links. This means, if you buy any product or service from our recommended partners like Booking.com or Amazon we may get a commission without any difference in your experience or price you pay.

Backpack & Explore found at https://www.backpacknxplore.com (“Website”) is governed by the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”). The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.

DISCLOSURE & TERMS OF SERVICE

Backpack & Explore respects your privacy. We do not spam or sell your data to external sites. We will only ever store and use your data in ways that you authorize and are necessary to operate our site.

We will never buy, sell, or trade your data to anyone. Your data will only be shared to our third-parties and only with your consent.

Your data is only stored for as long as it is needed.

You can browse Backpack & Explore without logging in or providing any personal information. 

You should only enter the information you are comfortable being used to improve your experience on our site. We never collect your data from outside sources, such as public records.

By using our site you agree to our terms of services and agree to the information we do collect, how we share it and the use of this information by our third parties.

MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

As mentioned in our intro, we monetize the site through affiliate programs, display Ads and paid partnerships with brands. 

 

We will always disclose on the individual pages, where these affiliate links are in place or sponsored opportunities have paid for a post. Please note that by interacting with these links Backpack & Explore may receive money at no additional cost to you. At no time are you obligated to make purchases through these links in order to use our site? We hope that you will find the products and services we recommend to you helpful and will only buy if you want to.

These are the list of websites which enable our affiliate income-

  • Cuelinks – converts some of our recommendations into affiliate links
  • Amazon 
  • Booking.com
  • Get You Guide

These and all our affiliates meet GDPR guidelines, but it is your responsibility to read their privacy policy to know how your data is being used as soon as you leave our site.

PERSONAL DATA

What Personal Data We Collect And Why We Collect It

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact Forms

We use contact forms to enable you to contact us directly through the website. You can email us if you prefer. We will always indicate if your email will be added to any list when you complete a contact form and will enable you to opt out of this subscription.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site 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.

We use three types of cookies on this site:

Session cookies, which expire as soon as you close your browser.

Permanent cookies, which stay on your browser until you choose to delete.

3rd Party Cookies, collected by our 3rd parties, which may send data to our 3rd parties. 

You can alter your cookie settings in your browser. If you disable cookie use, some aspects of our site may not function fully, but it is within your right to do so. 

Our 3rd party service providers include 

  • Google AdSense
  • Google Analytics
  • Mailchimp for subscription services
  • Shareaholic for sharing services
  • Siteground for hosting
  • Wordpress for platform
  • Evanto Magplus theme for UI

Your email and name that you provide for a subscription to newsletters are stored on Mailchimp and available to us. We will never send you any email beyond the newsletters and updates you are subscribed to. You can unsubscribe any time using the link in every mails sent by us. After you unsubscribe, your information will be deleted from our mailing list and you will not receive any email from us till you subscribe again.

Voluntary Information

We may collect and store information you voluntarily submit to our website. This may include personal information such as your name or email address while leaving comments, subscribing to our newsletter and marketing campaigns or contacting us via our contact form. All voluntary information you provide to us you should only be provided with your consent and if you are comfortable doing so.

Automatically Collected Information

Information that may automatically be collected when you land on our site is your IP address, operating system, browser type when you accessed our site, who referred you, what you do while and how you behave while on our website, links you clicked.

This information is anonymous and only used for aggregated statistical purposes. The information is collected by Google Analytics, Shareaholic and other analytics services for summarized statistics

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.

How We Use The Data We Collect

The information you provide us may be used in the following ways:

  • To provide us with anonymous analytics of our user base to provide catered content and advertising to our audience.
  • To send you information about Backpack & Explore, such as in our newsletter you sign up for. You can opt out of this at any time.
  • To send you marketing material if you gave us consent. You can opt out of this at any time.
  • To respond to your emails or questions. Please note that communication must be instigated by you.
  • To respond to your comments.
  • To track and measure ROI for marketing campaigns and affiliate links.
  • To operate and maintain the website.
  • To provide you with a seamless user experience based on your browser and operating system.

Third-Party Use Of Information

Backpack & Explore shares your information with our third party service providers. The list of our service providers have been provided in the preceding sections.

Mailchimp for subscriptions: All our subscriptions are single opt in. They meet GDPR requirements.

We will not offer any hidden promotions in order to trick you to sign up for our mailing list. It is our goal to be transparent about what you are signing up for. Please read Mailchimp's terms for their handling of your data.

Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to track our traffic and website statistics. They may receive anonymous aggregated information such as your location, how you landed on our site, links clicked, you long you stayed on our site and other statistics.

Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your website visits is subject to the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can choose to opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page or the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

SiteGround. SiteGround is our hosting platform. They may receive your IP address, cookie information and any data they need to ensure our website is visible and running to the public.

WordPress. WordPress is the company we use to create our online website. They may receive analytics data from you, such as your IP address, your name, and email if you comment on our posts and other data.

Shareaholic. They collect data on what social media platforms you are sharing our posts.  

As of May 25th, 2018, all these third-parties meet GDPR requirements. Please note that each of these 3rd parties may also have 3rd party companies they share with. Each company should have a privacy policy detailing more information about how they share your data. It is your responsibility to know and understand each companies privacy policy and how it relates to you.

It is your right to choose to accept Cookies or not. This can be done through your internet browser’s settings where you can turn off the Cookie feature, which will prevent your browser from accepting new Cookies. You can also decide on acceptance of each new Cookie in a variety of ways or delete all Cookies that are already on your computer. Deleting Cookies may mean having to manually add information that has previously been saved. To find more information about managing and deleting Cookies, visit the ICO website or All About Cookies.

How Long Is Your Data Kept?

We do not keep your information any longer than we have to. Information such as your name on public comments or your name and email in our mailing list may remain as long as Backpack & Explore is online or until you ask for it to be removed. Much of the data we collect is sent to be processed by our third-party companies. Please review their privacy policy for more details.

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

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What Rights You Have Over Your Data

You have the right to know how your data is used and collected. If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us.

You have the right to opt out of emails or newsletters.

You can email us if you are concerned with the data we use and collect on you.

Where We Send Your Data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

PRIVACY OF MINORS

Backpack & Explore does not have any sensitive content which can be harmful for minors.  If a parent or guardian believes we have such information of a minor, contact us immediately.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

Backpack & Explore will never ask you for sensitive personal information, such as bank details, date of birth, personal ID numbers, race, ethnicity, background information, government information or other sensitive data that may be used to harm your identity. Never provide this information or any information you are not comfortable sharing with us or our third-parties.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions about your privacy or any of our terms, please email us at bac[email protected]. Remember you have the right to know what data we collect and the right to remove or ask us to alter this data.