Privacy Policy

We treat any information you submit to us as confidential. It is our policy not to sell or rent any of your personal information for any kind of commercial purpose.

Information We Collect

When you visit Off Exploring, we record your Internet provider's domain name (e.g. btinternet.com); information identifying the web browser you are using; and the paths taken as you move from page to page (i.e., your click-stream activity). We use analysis techniques including Google Analytics to help us count visitors and evaluate our site's technical capacity. We use this information to find out how many people visit the site, help us arrange the pages in the most user-friendly way, and make our pages more useful to our visitors. We record information on site traffic but not information on individual visitors browsing the site, so if you do not post any content or messages onto the site then no information about you in particular will be kept or used.

Registration, Membership, and Comments

Off Exploring only collects personal information that you choose to provide voluntarily when joining Off Exploring, contacting us, or otherwise explicitly volunteering personal information. "Personal information" includes information that can identify you as a specific individual, such as your name and e-mail address. You can browse our site without submitting any personal information, but you will need to do so in order to join as a member or to post comments or messages to existing members.

As a matter of course we will not delete data that you submit due the the long-term nature of a travel blog and the fact that most members want to keep it as a permanent record of their travel experience. Information you submit will therefore be kept on our database until you request that it should be deleted.

Use of Cookies

Off Exploring uses cookie technology to identify you if you log-in to update your travel blog. A cookie is a small piece of data sent by a web site that is saved on your hard disk by your computer's browser. If you configure your browser to not accept cookies then some aspects of the website will not function correctly and you may be unable to log in and update your travel blog. You will still be able to browse pages on the website.

E-mail Contact

When you register for an Off Exploring travel blog, or send a message to another member, we use your e-mail address and any other information you give us to provide you with the service you requested. We will occasionally send specific relevant e-mails to you about your Off Exploring travel blog. We never give or sell any of your personal information to any third parties for any purpose.

Marketing Emails

We may process your personal data for the purpose of sending direct electronic marketing about our services, where we believe there is likely to be a genuine and relevant interest on the part of the person or organisation receiving the information. For example, we may contact travel blog users to inform them about our travel blog book printing service which we believe may be of interest.

The legal basis on which we process your personal data in these circumstances is our legitimate business interest to conduct marketing activities.

We will always ensure there is a balance of interests between our own and those of the person receiving the marketing.

We will always ensure that our use of your data is proportionate, has a minimal privacy impact, and that the person receiving the marketing would not be surprised or likely to object. For example we will only contact travel blog users with information about travel blog related services.

You have the right to object to direct marketing and we will honour all requests to opt-out of marketing communications. You can object at any time by contacting us at [email protected] or, where relevant, by following the unsubscribe link in any marketing communication you receive from us. Requests will be processed immediately.

How to Update or Correct Your Personal Information

To modify your personal information, log-in to the Off Exploring website with the username and password you signed up with. If you have forgotten your password you can request a reminder to be sent to your email address.

To delete your account, log in to the Off Exploring website and go to Settings. Click the "Request Account Deletion" link. Your request will be processed by a member of staff as soon as possible.

Credit/Debit Card Payments

For payments for purchases such as printed books or contributions, we utilise Stripe, which is an established and reputable internet payment service provider. When you make a payment, you are doing so via the Stripe service.

The Stripe service has a strict privacy policy and utilises 128-bit secure connections for the transfer of personal information. They collect and provide us with your name, order confirmation number and transaction amount to confirm that you have completed your payment successfully.

The payment service provider acts as an intermediary to conduct the transaction and DOES NOT provide us with your credit card number or other financial information. The information you provide is used only to process your payment. It is not shared with any outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete the transaction.

Changes to the Off Exploring Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy was last updated in February 2019. Off Exploring reserves the right to change, modify or amend this policy at any time. You are responsible for revisiting this page to review our privacy policy updates.